SOUR NOTES: Mountainview School Division takes God Save the King off its playlist

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A Manitoba school board’s plan to reintroduce God Save the King to its schools’ morning routines is on hold, while some have accused the board’s chair of attempting to ram through the playing of the song without consultation.

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During a Tuesday evening Mountain View School Division (MVSD) trustee meeting, Jason Gryba, the chair of the Dauphin-based division, defended a decision announced earlier this month to reinstate God Save the King into MVSD’s morning exercises, claiming the decision was a simple case of following the law.

The chair is referring to decades-old legislation in Manitoba that states that portions of both O Canada and God Save the King should be played daily in Manitoba schools, although schools in Manitoba for the most part, have long since stopped playing the royal anthem.

In a release on Jan. 11, Gryba said the song was added after the division reviewed parts of the Schools Patriotic Observances Regulation (Manitoba Regulation 472/88R), and determined that it is a “legal requirement” for O Canada and  God Save the King to be sung in schools daily, as part of “patriotic observances.”

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“This has fallen into question, but when you look at the law, it is quite clear,” Gryba said during Tuesday’s meeting. “It is not something we should have discussions about or pick and choose what we follow.

“When we take the oath we are stating that we will follow those laws, we’re not necessarily saying that we agree with all of them, but we are going to uphold them, and if we want change, we are going to go through the proper avenues.”

Gryba added the division, which is currently under a provincial governance review, has an obligation to be “accountable” to the province and that is why the song was brought back to schools.

But MVSD schools will stop playing the song, as concerns were raised by trustees and community members about reinstating the song, in light of the large Indigenous population in the area and what many believe is the royal family’s strong ties to colonization in Canada.

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On Tuesday a majority of trustees voted in favour of a motion brought forward by trustee Jarri Thompson, asking that the song be axed temporarily from the division’s 16  schools, and for consultation to be done before any decision on the song is made.

Thompson also told trustees at the meeting she has consulted with the Manitoba School Board Association (MBSA) and says the association has informed her that the division is “well within their rights” to no longer play the song in schools.

“So there should have been a discussion before the decision was made,” Thompson said. “And I’m not speaking on behalf of myself in any way, I am speaking on behalf of the people in my ward who reached out because they were outraged.”

Trustee Scott Lynxleg also spoke in opposition to the song being played at school.

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“I believe in law, but some of those laws are so outdated that they just don’t belong in our society no more,” Lynxleg said.

“There are some laws that are outdated and they hurt people, and singing God Save the King is one of them, so I follow the laws, but when you disagree as a person and as a trustee you have to speak up.”

Trustee Gabe Mercier said he believes there was a lack of community consultation on the decision, while he also questioned why the move was made so suddenly considering he said it was “not urgent and not a health or safety issue.”

“You should have consulted with the board,” Mercier said during the meeting. “We’re not trying to undermine the law. We’re saying, ‘Let us have a procedure by which it can be implemented.’”

In October, the division also banned the flying of all flags on school property except for provincial or federal flags, or flags that represent MVSD’s 16 schools.

— Dave Baxter is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of the Winnipeg Sun. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.

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