Toronto District School Board raises more than $1.2 million for Haiti relief

Toronto District School Board raises more than $1.2 million for Haiti relief. Pauline Public School students Aidan Gagnon (left) and Leula Arkinel stand inside Harbord Collegiate Institute March 2 and hold a giant cheque over their head, the fruits of months of fundraising to support earthquake victims in Haiti. Staff photo/ERIC HEINO

After the federal government matched the base amount, a total of $1,257,638 was donated to be split between the Canadian Red Cross and Free the Children. The money changed hands Tuesday, March 2, during a press conference at Harbord Collegiate Institute, which was attended by representatives from the TDSB, various charities and Dr. Eric Pierre, the Honorary Haitian Consul in Toronto.

At the same press conference, Director of Education Chris Spence announced the creation of an official Social Justice Action Plan, which will continue to keep schools across Toronto engaged in local and global social issues in the future.

Craig Kielburger, founder of Free the Children, was enthusiastic to show his support for the efforts of the largest school board in Canada.

"The tangible impact of this will literally change the lives of people around the world. It's a school board with a commitment to caring that represents a diverse part of the world," said Kielburger.

"They can recognize when the world has a need, we need to respond. The social justice curriculum is extraordinary because it recognizes not only the need to educate the mind, but the need to educate the heart, which is the cornerstone of education that allows children to understand the world and find their place in it."

He has spent much of the last two months in Haiti and explained that as time passes, keeping the needs of the Haitian people in the public eye is his biggest challenge. While the majority of the short-term goals are being met, a rebuilding process that may take a decade still needs to be funded.

"We are looking at a nation that already had 400,000 orphans before and another 200,000 orphans as a result of what happened," said Kielburger. "These people have literally lost everything and we need to build schools, clean water programs and everything from the ground up, which makes the need for long-term projects immense."

TDSB chair Bruce Davis was on hand to witness the presentation and would later comment about the impact the new Social Justice Action Plan would have on the board as a whole.

Through the program, each school is encouraged to create one local and one global social justice project, which could be anything from sponsoring a school in a foreign country to creating anti-bullying campaigns in their own hallways.

"We have 550 schools and it will manifest itself in 550 different ways. It's not a one-size-fits-all, it's not a template and that's part of the cool thing about it," said Davis.

He referred to the massive fundraising campaign for Haiti as an inspirational spark that can be built on in the years to come.

"It's not just about Haiti," said Davis. "Haiti is one spark, but it's really about getting our teachers and students to think differently."

Details of the Social Justice Action Plan can be found on the TDSB's website.