The Eagles' Nest

Our thoughts are with Asian community members following last week’s horrific mass shooting in Atlanta, Georgia, that was rooted in racial misogyny and white supremacy.

Although last week’s attack happened in the United States, anti-Asian racism is pervasive here in Canada, too. Canadians have actually reported more Asian hate incidents per Asian capita than the US (source: project 1907). Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, incidents of verbal harassment and assault have gone up considerably and Asian business owners are also experiencing the financial impacts of declining business.

We cannot be complacent. Together, we all need to support our community members and step in to stop anti-Asian racism when we see it in action.

Here are a few tips from The RepresentASIAN Project on actions you can take:

1. Learn about the long history of anti-Asian racism in Canada including racism specific to Covid-19 (Fight Covid-19 Racism, Events in Asian Canadian History).
2. Report anti-Asian hate incidents.
3. Speak up if you see racism happening in person or online.
4. Support local Asian-owned businesses in the neighbourhood (i.e. Little
   Ones Closet, Cafe Cocoro, Gotamago, Queenie’s Cards, Yanagi Sushi and many more).
5. Donate, if possible, to organizations involved in racial justice work.

The Earl Haig SAC will continue to work towards dismantling systemic racism, gender- and race- based violence and queer and trans phobia.

For resources on talking to your children about anti-Asian hate, here are some good links to get started:

1. Anti-Racism for Kids: An Age-by-Age Guide to Fighting Hate
2. How to Talk to Kids About Anti-Asian Violence
3. Addressing Anti-Asian Racism: A Resource for Educators

Q: What is a sea monsters favorite snack?
A: Ships and dip

Ba Dum Tsh

Speaking of snacks… can we talk about our snack program for a minute? This year, our nutrition program did an incredible pivot in order to keep providing nutrition for our students. Our program has always relied on funding from both grants and family donations, and now that the tweaked program is in full swing we could use a little help from our school community. If you are financially able to, please consider a monetary contribution to help us continue to run the snack program. The suggested donation is $1/day or $20/month, but as always, any amount is appreciated. Regardless of family donations, all children will continue to be offered a morning snack.

Payment (monthly or yearly) can be made online or by cheque to the Toronto Foundation for Student Success at the addresses listed below. The school office and classrooms can’t accept payments for this program. Tax receipts will be issued for any donation over $10.00.

To contribute to our nutrition program, you can donate online (choose 4 – Student Nutrition Programs under the Fund option and enter Earl Haig Public School in the message box) or by cheque. Cheque donations can be sent directly to the foundation. If you’re mailing in the donation, please complete the nutrition program donation form for 2020-2021 and send it to:

Toronto Foundation for Student Success
Attn: Finance Dept.
2 Trethewey Drive
3rd floor Annex
Toronto, ON
M6M 4A8

Our nutrition program is a success thanks to your generous support. We welcome your comments and suggestions by email to the nutrition program committee.

Thank you for your help!

We had a great discussion with Shayle Graham from the TDSB equity committee at our SAC meeting earlier this week about discrimination and racism. For anyone who wasn’t able to join us on Tuesday, Shayle provided us with some links to further resources to help parents and caregivers continue these conversations with our children. We’ve shared these below.

Earl Haig and our SAC will continue to work towards our equity goal and there are a number of initiatives in the works on that front. We will keep you posted as information is available.

Protecting and promoting human rights and addressing discrimination in our schools

Talking about race and racism with children

Selecting and rating titles for social justice books