Newmarket’s St. Paul Catholic Elementary School students have a message of their own in response to the hateful graphic images and words spray painted on their William Roe Boulevard school.
The anti-Semitic and anti-Black graffiti, which included sexually explicit images, had a profound impact on the schoolchildren, principal Tracy Stuart said.
“They were definitely hurt, and wondered how someone could do this to our school,” Stuart said.
The York Catholic District School Board is cooperating with York Regional Police in its ongoing investigation of the Jan. 27 incident, which is being overseen by the force’s specially trained hate crime investigators.
After the incident, the school held a forum for students in grades 4 to 8 so they could share their feelings. That led to the student-driven initiative to create a large banner illustrating what their school and its community meant to them.
Grade 8 student Samantha Smith, who came up with the idea for the banner, said she was devastated when she heard about the graffiti.
To keep students’ “hopes high”, she thought positive affirmations in words and images should be used.
Classmate Caitlyn Chiu agreed, and said she felt it was important that the school come back with a positive message.
Other students said they were “disturbed, mad, concerned, angry, feared for their safety, and heartbroken” over the hate-filled graffiti.
About 300 children in the school from kindergarten to Grade 8 wrote positive affirmations on the banner about what the school means to them.
The words and images they chose declared the local school community as welcoming, awesome, connected, kind, loving, friendly, peaceful, and understanding.
“Since the incident happened, we begin every day with positive affirmations and quotes about equity to remind students about the importance of being a community, that we don’t want injustice, and the unfortunate racism that still occurs,” said Stuart. “We talk about the context of the words that were written on the wall and where they came from, and just how much words can hurt.”
The banner will be laminated, and hung outside for all in the community to see.
