Public Statement - August 29th Rally.
While I am not able to attend today I would like to comment my stance on the rally actions happening in Peterborough today at MPP Smith’s office and City Hall.
A Statement on Hate and Community Safety in Peterborough
Members of our community will be gathering at City Hall this Saturday to respond to the presence of white nationalist organizing in Peterborough. Posters from an organization that advocates for the forced removal of racialized communities from Canada have appeared in our neighbourhoods.
Hate has no place in Peterborough.
This is not a partisan statement. It is a statement about the kind of community we are and the kind of community our schools reflect. What gets seeded in a neighbourhood shows up in its classrooms. The safety and dignity of every student, regardless of their background, their heritage, their identity, or who they are, is not a political question. It is a basic requirement of a functional public school system.
I believe every student who walks into a KPR school deserves to feel safe, seen, and valued. That includes racialized students. Indigenous students. 2SLGBTQ+ students. Newcomer students. Neurodivergent students. Every student.
White nationalist organizing in our city is not an abstract concern, it affects the families whose children sit in KPR classrooms and the educators who serve them every day. I support the right of community members to gather and make their voices heard against hate and racism. The concerns being raised today are legitimate and urgent. Peterborough is stronger when it stands together against hatred and our schools are safer when the community around them does the same.
As your trustee I will advocate consistently for schools where every student feels safe, not just in policy documents but in practice, in programs, and in the decisions made at the board table.
A Statement on Public Education Funding in Ontario
Communities across Ontario are gathering this week to draw attention to eight years of education funding cuts under the Ford government.
Since 2018 public education funding in Ontario has been reduced by $6.4 billion. Per-student funding is down $1,500 from where it was eight years ago. The Ontario Arts Council has been cut by $5 million. The Indigenous Culture Fund has been eliminated entirely. And the Ontario Auditor General’s 2026 special education report found that funding has failed to keep pace with the growing proportion of students who need support.
These are not partisan talking points. They are documented facts that KPR’s board of trustees manages against every single budget cycle and that Peterborough’s students, teachers, and families live with every single day.
I believe Peterborough’s students deserve a trustee who understands the gap between what the provincial government promises and what actually reaches classrooms and who will say so clearly and consistently at the board table and hold the areas MPP’s to account. I support the right of educators, families, and community members to make their voices heard on issues that directly affect public education. The concerns being raised are legitimate. The funding gap is real. And the people most affected by it deserve to be heard.
As your trustee I will advocate loudly at every level for the restoration of education funding that reflects the actual needs of KPR’s students, in arts education, in special education, and across every program that has been quietly reduced while the gap between need and resource has grown.