Commentary
Across the West, including here in Canada, absurd ideologies are losing their hold over the public consciousness and no longer dominate the heights of cultural power—but the fight to relegate them to the dustbin of history is far from over.
While ideas like political correctness, critical race theory, decolonization, and defunding the police have been discredited, a small minority of ideological holdouts who still believe in them remain in control of many Canadian institutions. Some of these institutions, such as the universities or the federal bureaucracy, can only be effectively reformed through government legislation. But many important institutions are in your local town or city, ripe for ordinary Canadians to wield enormous influence over them through the democratic process.
The most obvious institution worth mentioning is our school boards. The Toronto District School Board (TDSB) made headlines recently for its recommendation that schools bearing the names of Henry Dundas, Egerton Ryerson, and Sir John A. Macdonald be renamed “based on the potential impact that these names may have on students and staff based on colonial history, anti-indigenous racism and their connection to systems of oppression.” In B.C., Premier David Eby spoke out after a school board sparked outrage by removing Harper Lee’s “To Kill A Mockingbird” from its reading list because the beloved work did not fit within the “equity lens” used to select books.
Ideas like banning classic books and renaming schools do not arise from a groundswell of public opinion—they are the result of a concerted effort of a small cadre of activists. With an equally concerted effort, common sense can be brought back to school boards if citizens stand for trustee positions in their local communities. This has been done on a large scale in the U.S., notably in Florida where numerous candidates achieved success by running on platforms of “education, not indoctrination” in school board elections in 2022.
There is clearly a strong public appetite in Canada for schools to jettison ideology from classrooms and get back to basics. This was particularly evident in the “1 Million March for Children” in 2023, in which vast numbers of Canadians from all backgrounds took to the streets to protest gender ideology in schools. If this passion was directed towards restoring common sense to our classrooms one school board election at a time, much could be accomplished.
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Another institution ripe for a return to common sense is frequently overlooked: libraries. Much of the work done by Canada’s libraries is laudable, such as lending a wide variety of books at zero cost, hosting school events and community meetings, and providing computers for students from low-income families to use for their homework.
However, even an institution as innocent-sounding as a library is not immune from ideological infiltration. Some libraries decolonize their collections, purging older books and purchasing new releases that advocate for concepts like white privilege or gender ideology. Other libraries have ignited controversy by hosting drag queen story hours, which many parents consider inappropriate and disturbing.
Just like schools, libraries are governed by boards. While the day to day running of the library is normally done by staff and volunteers, the board is “responsible for bigger picture planning” including budget and policy. Joining these boards and pushing for common sense over ideology is another opportunity for concerned citizens to make a difference by simply engaging in the civic affairs of their local communities.
One more institution in which absurd ideas are running rampant is Canada’s museums, many of which have fallen prey to the “decolonization” movement. The Royal B.C. Museum provided a good example of what this looks like in practice. In 2021, it was announced that the entire third floor—much of which “focused on promoting the story of the European settlement of BC”—would be closed to undergo a “decolonization” process to “increase cultural safety.” Melanie Mark, minister of tourism at the time, described the move as “an opportunity to turn the museum inside out.”
By one estimate, there are 2,700 museums in Canada. Many of them are the gems of their towns, and contain archives which are the repositories of local memory. Some of them are the charming pioneer museums and villages that play such an important role in teaching future generations about Canada’s proud heritage of exploration and settlement. Canadians can ensure that these centres of history are not overtaken by ideology simply by—just as with schools and libraries—getting involved, joining the boards, and pushing for common sense.
A famous quote that has been attributed to everyone from Edmund Burke to John F. Kennedy is spot on: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” With sufficient will and effort, Canadians can ensure that our institutions serve the public instead of ideology. This starts by engaging in the democratic process in our local communities.
Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
