The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

§ & > © : insi Milton Canadian Champion | Thursday, April 5, 2018 | OPINION * EDITORIAL - Cathols ® 1 the mark The Halton Catholic District School Board is way off base with its ban on donations to charities that may fall foul of its interpretation of religious doctrine. The board's trustees aré getting a lot of push-back on their decision, and rightly so. Some 21,000 people signed an online petition against it. Students spoke out and the leader of the board's teachers union called the ban "needlessly divisive." Even the chair of the board, Diane Rabenda, made it clear she personally disagrees with it. Nonetheless, the trustees forged ahead with this ill- advised measure. It bans fundraising or donations for non-profits and charities that "directly or indirectly" support abortion, contraception, sterilization, euthana-- sia or embryonic stem-cell research. The ban is so broad that it catches many mainstream charitable groups in its net - including the Canadian Cancer Society (which currently isn't funding stem-cell research but has in the past and could in the future). The board and its 33,000 students raise about $12 million a year. : No wonder one of the students protesting this deci- sion, 17-year-old Ben Sabourin, told a board meeting: "I will not stand here and be told by this board that I am any less of a Catholic for helping sick children and can- cer patients." £ The trustees who voted for the ban should ask them- selves a few questions. They should wonder, for exam- ple, why none of Ontario's 28 other English Catholic school boards (or the seven French Catholic ones, for that matter) have felt it necessary to adopt such a prohi- bition. * They should wonder about the wisdom of adopting a ban so comprehensive that it prohibits donations to an organization that even "indirectly" supports contracep- tion or stem-cell research. A publicly-funded school board should not be trying to ban charitable giving on the basis of a few trustees' strict interpretation of religious doctrine. Aside from being wrong, it will Snly fuel opposition to the whole idea of separate Catholic boards. The Halton Catholic board has been down this rocky road before, and it has always led to a dead end. The board refused for five years to allow girls to receive the HPV vaccine in school, arguing it sent a "mixed message on chastity." And it tried to ban "gay-straight alliances" until protests forced it to change it® mind. This is another wrong decision. / CONTACT US Letters to the editor All letters must be fewer than 200 words and include your name and telephone number for verification purposes. We reserve the right to edit, condense or reject letters. Milton Canadian Champion 2-5046 Mainway Burlington, ON L7L 521 $ Phone: 289-293-0615 Classifieds: 1-800-263-6480 * Digital/Flyer/Retail: 289-293-0624 A} CHAMPION TRACKS Sharon Richardson photo Campbellville' s Sharon Richardson, left, and Ruth Kranendonk of Acton strike a pose with 'The King' after taking in the Elvis Tribute show at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas. The pair attended a creative painting convention that saw them paint with different art teachers and hundreds of other artists from around the world. Going away? Pack a copy of the Champion in your suitcase, snap a creative photo and email your Champion Tracks submission to information. - _ cohara@metroland.com. Please include everyone's name and destination The Milton Canadian Champion, pub- lished every Thursday, is a division of the Metroland Media Group Ltd., a wholly- owned Subsidiary of Torstar Corporation. The Metroland family of newspapers is comprised of more than 80 community publications across Ontario. . 'metrolandmedia . Comnected to your community The Milton Canadian Champion is a member of the National NewsMedia Council: Com- plainants are urged to bring their concems to the attention of the newspaper and, if not satisfied, write The National NewsMedia Council, Suite 200, 890 Yonge St., Toronto, ON M4W 2H2. Phone: 416-340-1981: Web: www.mediacouncil.ca anc Jhocna, National @ ideHaiton.com Ba editor@miltoncanadianchampion.com Lf MiltonCanadianChampion 4 @Milton Champion & Prisoners fed for 15.4 cents a day: annual report . A hundred prisoners committed to jail'last year: Dills=. © Time Capsules are gems of information extracted from past issues of. the Champion and other publi- cations in order to provide a window into Milton's past. November 1922 Pris- oners in the Halton County jail, Milton, were fed for the past year for 15 2/5 cefits a day, accordingto the annu- al report just made public. Last year the cost was about 18-cents. During the year there were 100 prison- ers committed, 106 males and three females; 90 were temperate and 19 intemper- Delivery For all delivery inquiries, please e-mail kmossman@metroland.com ar call 905-631-6095. FDS A » J Accredited . P| if SB Od MILTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY Column ate, five could neither read nor write. Of the 109 prison- ers, 95 were committed for the first time, six for the . second time, one for the third time and seven for more than three times. There were no deaths and no escapes... Milton and Acton base- ball juniors played the third sand deciding game for the championship of the VP, Regional Publisher Kelly Montague kmontague@metroland.com | 289-293-0614 Director Advertising Daniel Baird dbaird@metroland.com | 289-293-0624 Reglonal Managing Editor Catherine O'Hara cohara@metroland.com | 289-293-0615 Halton Junior League at Campbellville last Satur- day before a fairly large crowd. The weather was fine, but rather cool. Acton won 15 to 4. Milton was far below the form of the previ- ous game when Acton lost 11to 8... The Farmers' Club met in Milton last Saturday evening and arranged for the collection of a carload of oats to be sent to the farmer fire sufferers of northern Ontario. Two car- loads of straw were prom- ised. The Women's Insti- tutes all over the county have been doing their full share. They have shipped a number of bales of. cloth- ing, bedding etc. Heavy shipments of similar arti- cles and a large amount of money have been sent from the towns and villages... " WHO WE ARE ° "Two minutes silence" will, by the wish of His Maj- - esty the King, be observed throughout the British Empire on Armistice Day, Nov. 11. The prime minister has received a cable to this effect from the Duke of Devonshire, secretary of state for the colonies. -- This material is as- sembled an behalf of the Milton Historical Society by Jim Dills, who can be reached through the society at 905- 875-4156. Letters See What our readers are saying x about the issues that matter to them Insldehalton.com/ letters Reglonal Manager Digital Content Karen Miceli Director of Distribution Charlene Hall Circulation Manager Kim Mossman kmossman@metroland.com | 905-631-6095 Director of Production Mark Dills Regional Production Manager Manny Garcia