Welcome to the Canadian National Multilingual News Group (CNMNG). This is a project made possible through funding by Canadian Heritage. CNMNG aims to gather news researched and written by a corps of Canadian-based journalists/writers from the country’s multilingual community groups. The overall goal is to inform, analyze and critique the issues of the day in a professional manner and to provide that to publishers and editors active in the ethnocultural-multilingual press and media whose experience provides them with a perspective that is sensitive to news relevant to their own language group.
TORONTO – Last week, Corriere Canadese interviewed five York Catholic District School Board (YCDSB) trustees: Rose Cantisano, Dino Giuliani, Maria Iafrate, Maria Marchese and Domenic Mazzotta. All of them of Italian background, although only one was born outside of Canada. They had had enough of the not-so-subtle, often overt, discrimination to which they were being subjected because of their “ethnicity”.
TORONTO – More than half of Canadians can’t keep up with the cost of living and gets into debt to meet ordinary expenses: rent, food, gasoline. An alarming situation, to say the least, photographed by the Angus Reid Institute through a research conducted online from 8 to 10 August 2022 on a sample of 2,279 Canadian adults. →
TORONTO – Brampton continues to be the epicentre of political turmoil. Just when one thinks some issues have been laid to rest, a related one surfaces. On the eve of final registration for candidacy in the 2022 election, the “eligibility” for office issue has raised its head again.
TORONTO – Endless emergencies. There is no end in sight for the long waits in the Emergency rooms of numerous Ontario hospitals. As things stand, before receiving the necessary care, you may have to wait almost eight hours. Sometimes even longer. That may be the norm in the near future.
TORONTO – 750 publications in more than 65 languages: the ethnic press plays an important role in the Canadian society and the NEPMCC (National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada) unites it all across the Country, as well represented today at the CNE, the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto. Publishers and journalist from every language media not in English or French gathered together to speak about the state of ethnic press in Canada and to promote their newspapers. During the event, Thomas S. Saras, President of NEPMCC, talked about the goals of the organization and the Honourable Joe Volpe, publisher of the Italian newspaper Corriere Canadese, underlined the force of the ethnic media in a Country where 23% of people speaks languages other than English and French.
After the speeches, officials cut the ceremonial ribbon to open the NEMCC booth at the CNE (in the pic below).
In the next edition of Corriere Canadese, more details about the event. Here below, some pics from the event (by Priscilla Pajdo and Marzio Pelù).
TORONTO – There must be a way “to qualify” candidates for political office or to disqualify those with a proven record of transgressing publicly accepted standards with inappropriate behaviour. For better or for worse, the bureaucracy of recognized political parties conduct a selection process for potential nominees for office. These are open to abuse and to the whim of the leadership and its entourage, but at least there are standards against which approval or criticism can galvanize.
Not so in the in the hurley burley wild west that we see in Municipal politics. The much- touted office of Integrity Commissioner has done little but develop an industry (lucrative for the practitioners) of “tut-tut ism”. Conflicts Commissioners (Ethics Commissioners in some circles) are as eunuchs in a harem.
John Tory, full-time employee of media giant, Rogers, can occupy the mayor’s chair, make decisions that suit his employer and still run for office. School board trustees can violate their oath of office and still offer themselves for election.
It seems endemic to our democratic system: do anything, no matter how egregious – lie, cheat, malign – if you can escape the public’s wrath.
It is a disease that afflicts even the boards of cultural institutions like the Art Gallery of Mississauga. A reading of the Agenda (and its Appendices) of the Annual General Meeting of the Gallery, held August 4, 2022, obtained by the Corriere Canadese would cause a reasonable person to shake their head in disbelief.
It is a “cleaning house” document approved by the assembly following a litany of disruptions, allegations of harassment, bullying, intimidation, questionable circumventions of rules and procedures, obfuscation, “people” sitting as arbitrators of complaints against them personally, falsification of financially sensitive documents etc. It is a wonder the AGM has survived the ordeal.
The Board of the AGM finally succeeded in liberating itself from the cause of all of this turbulence appears to be, its now former President of the Gallery’s Board of Directors, Leslie Silvestri. After an internal revolt structured to secure a legitimate meeting of the Board, it hired Scott and Associate (Scott) to conduct an investigation into the preceding allegations and to report – which it did on July 29, 2022.
Here is an excerpt from Scott’s Workplace Investigation Summary:
“…the allegations of bullying and harassment made against Ms. Silvestri are substantiated…Ms. Silvestri has engaged in, among other things, psychological harassment of others, as well as workplace violence as defined by Ontario’s Occupational Health and Safety Act, and that the complainant(s) fear reprisal, reputational harm from Ms. Silvestri. Scott concluded that [Silvestri’s] conduct contravened both the Occupational Health and Safety Act and the Human Rights Code…”
Armed with this background, Ms. Silvestri has registered as a candidate for Mississauga City Council.
Silvestri and complainants were notified of the findings. Corriere’s attempts to reach Ms. Silvestri went unresponded as of going to print.
TORONTO – Five trustees in the York Catholic District School Board (YCDSB) have had enough of the climate of discrimination being tolerated, if not nurtured, by some of their colleagues against Italians and Catholicism. Yes, you read that correctly, against Italians, in 2022.
They appear to be an easy target. There are so many of them in York Region. In fact, two Federal/Provincial ridings (King-Vaughan and Vaughan Woodbridge) are home to 110,000 people who self-identified as being of Italian origin in the 2016 Census. Including those from other areas of Vaughan (Maple, Concord), they comprise 38% of the population in that city. While not as dominant in the Eastern part of York Region, there are sizeable numbers in Newmarket, Aurora, Richmond Hill, Thornhill Stouffville and Markham.
They are predominantly Catholic. Without them, the York Catholic District School Board might well cease to exist. For some unexpressed reason that bothers people… not all, but some trustees resent the influence the impact of such numbers brings.
One trustee in particular, Theresa Mc Nicol, began a public social media “campaign” suggesting that there would be earth shattering revelations at the upcoming August 30, 2022, Board meeting and encouraging all her followers to attend in person. She sent a similar invitation to the Corriere Canadese, without particulars. Shortly after posting the message, McNicol sent the same message in Italian.
When asked why she was communicating in Italian, she apparently made the comment, “that’s the only way ‘they’ will understand…”. In fact, several email responses from McNicol were written in Italian. Corriere Canadese has asked for a copy of those emails, but, as of going to print, no one from the Board has responded.
Furthermore, evidently, through subsequent communication, she expressed [alleged] discomfort in the presence of her ‘Italian’ colleagues and a sense of insecurity for her personal safety, even in the sanctuary of the Board offices, implying a relationship with the American underworld. She emailed the Chair suggesting it might be prudent to engage security as a sign of an abundance of caution. This is 2022.
Four of the five trustees (Maria Iafrate, Maria Marchese, Domenic Mazzotta and Dino Giuliani) were born and raised in Canada, and Trustee Cantisano, who was born in Italy, immigrated to Canada at the age of three. All 5 Trustees are upstanding Canadian Citizens. Dino Giuliani has been a Trustee for the last 25 years. Domenic Mazzotta, also a previous Chair, has been a civic minded activist since very early in the 1980s.
All of them are motivated by a sense of civic duty. None of them deserved to be tarred by the besmirching of their heritage. Or to be treated as second-class citizens in their own home.
Regrettably, it seems an attitudinal problem at the YCDSB. When Cantisano and Iafrate attended their first Board meeting after the last election, the then Chair stated “oh great, two more Italians”. In a meeting with former Minister of Health, Christine Elliot, current Chair Crowe wistfully noted that the staff at the YCDSB was “predominantly Italian”. To her credit, Elliot asked, “What’s wrong with that?”.
But the request that the police be called to secure the safety of non-Italian trustees from the potential danger posed by the “Italians” was the proverbial last straw. The sting of discrimination directed at the ‘Italians’ was palpable and no longer ignorable. Its latest manifestation warranted action.
Dino Giuliani insisted that the police investigate McNicol’s not so subtle allegations. His colleagues agreed. As expected, the police found absolutely NOTHING; because there was nothing to investigate, nothing that would cause concern to even the most innocent of children.
They also called on the Ministry of Education to investigate and are exploring a Human Rights complaint. The Ministry responded with an offer to conduct a meeting in camera on August 16th. Such a meeting falls outside the parameters of permissible “private meetings” of any school board. Besides, the allegations made by Mc Nicol are already in the public domain. Their solutions should be aired publicly.
Trustees Cantisano, Giuliani, Iafrate, Marchese and Mazzotta have declined the offer to attend that private meeting and are considering absenting themselves from any subsequent ones until the matter is resolved to their satisfaction. Their absence would deprive the YCDSB of the required quorum to legitimize any meeting’s deliberations.
Corriere’s calls and emails to the Minister and the Ministry have so far gone unanswered. A last minute response by the YCDSB Chair and Director provided generic responses regarding courses of action that may not be applicable within the 90 days period preceding election day.
Ironically, the actions, utterances and postings of Mc Nicol and others would be reasons enough to disqualify them from seeking public office under a partisan party banner.
TORONTO – The travesty surrounding the of the “disposition” of the allegations of the alleged code of conduct breaches levelled against trustee Daniel Di Giorgio made several things clear. The report levelled against him was trumped up nonsense manufactured to bring his name into disrepute, just in time for the elections.
What we did learn is that the Integrity Commissioner (IC) does not work for the Board of trustees. Rather, he/she submits a report to the Board, but it must first clear the desk of the Secretary/Director of the Board, Brendan Browne. As it turned out, he and his staff can and do change the report to suit their perceived obligations or objectives. That is a dangerous arrogation of authority. Now he is faced with a demand by a member of the public and registered candidate who is determined to have access to similar procedure before the August 19.
The IC has no authority to do anything other than to determine whether an investigation has merit; compile and report findings and remind Trustees of their options should they agree to accept his/her recommendations. According to Secretary/Director Browne, once the IC submits the report, it belongs to the Board, meaning the Director who then can redact, alter, or otherwise change the content at his discretion.
We know this because he says so. As Marc Anthony’s Shakespeare said of Brutus: and he is an honourable man. We know this to be true because Secretary/Director Browne hired a platoon of lawyers to provide legal advice on the appropriateness of what he was trying to accomplish over the objections of reasonable trustees on the Board.
The report was not going anywhere, despite the sloppy intimidation tactics by attempted against Di Giorgio.
The former IC, who took their “expertise” to the City of Brampton sometime in April, resigned in May, but hung on until Mid-June to “lend weight” to their own personal views about Di Giorgio, the Corriere and its publisher – and to collect more “billable hours”.
Secretary/Director Browne must relish the vainglorious exercise to squander public money on legal entities who will opine on the merits of his musings on policy and procedure while he manipulates certain trustees to do his bidding, especially the nefarious gang of four who will allege anything, slur and smear anyone to avoid fulfilling their duty to Catholic electors. Anything to keep people off balance, so to speak. It worked, in part, against trustee Del Grande. It is unlikely to work against people like the trustee candidate Gabriella Mazarakis. Meanwhile, according to an insider who has seen the invoices, last year, Brendan Browne authorized a pay out in excess of $1,000,000.00 to outside legal counsel just as the TCDSB is facing student shortages, reduced revenues and teacher agitation. Children have to do without.
In house legal advisors, on the other hand, are supplemented by other legal opinion generators from law firms like BLG, Aird Berlis, ADR, Principles Integrity (it is a real name), and the Parliamentarian.
None of them were elected to discharge the obligations that trustees have to the parents who put them around the Board table.
None of their opinions on procedure can restore the ethical behaviour, lost, but still legally demanded and expected of trustees elected to uphold the Catholic ethic.
TORONTO – Catholic Schools exist because the Constitution, the Charter of Rights and the Education Act recognize and protect their existence; so does the Human Rights Code. Catholic ratepayers are expected to contribute, and do so contribute, to their financial stability.
The former Integrity Commissioner of the TCDSB seems to have had trouble understanding those fundamental concepts when he/they made themselves an instrument of others’ questionable attacks on trustees who comprehend and discharge their role. It started with the concocted attack on Del Grande in November 2019 and ended with the failed attempted defamation of Di Giorgio on August 10, 2022.
So, what is the role of Catholic trustees?
A certain Gabriella Mazarakis researched The Trustee Code of Conduct outlined in A.04 on the Board’s website. It says, in part… “Trustees are expected to discharge their duties and responsibilities in a professional and ethical manner consistent with Gospel Values and the teachings of the Catholic Church… That standard includes upholding the Catholic Faith and adhering to the Oath of Office taken each year at the Caucus meeting.”
…Unless you are a member of the infamous gang of four trustees at the TCDSB. Then the rules may not apply to you – you are woke, a cancel culture zealot – you make them up as you go along… until you are called out for misuse, if not abuse, of your position.
That’s what has happened to Markus De Domenico, charter member of the self-proclaimed authority of how to be an ethical Catholic trustee. Bang, just like that, Gabriella Mazarakis, has effectively asked the TCDSB and the Interim Integrity Commissioner to disqualify De Domenico from holding office for breaches of those “rules”.
Mazarakis, a mother of school-aged children, is registered as a candidate to oust the incumbent. Encouraged by the special Board meeting on August 10, called to “punish” trustee Di Giorgio for disagreeing with De Domenico and his ilk, she submitted a request to the new Integrity Commissioner (law firm Aird Berlis) that it investigate and report a finding of fault in the allegations of egregious violations (emphasis added) of the Trustee Code of Conduct and perhaps Conflict of Interest guidelines committed by De Domenico. What’s good for the goose is good for…
For good measure, she supplied relevant sections of the Code of Conduct and the Conflict-of-interest guidelines, together with pictures revealing Markus in flagrante delicto to support the allegations. It is a copious document. She has done the research for the Integrity Commissioner.
Mazarakis pointed out violation after violation, including a ten-page newsletter, an election brochure churned out at Board expense and distributed via Board resources. She made specific reference to the Political Activity and Campaigning Policy A.40 of the Board.
It may be worth noting for Municipal election officials that De Domenico also started a finance campaign prior to registering his candidacy, as required by the Municipal Elections Act.
Mazarakis, however, raised the question of electoral integrity and fairness with the City of Toronto Municipal Elections department who manage Trustee Elections. Mazarakis’ letter points out that “they have the same black out period for complaints and similar policies regarding use of City resources on election campaign sites as TCDSB”.
She highlights that, however, “in the case of alleged violations of election policies such as those [she has] described herein, [the complaints] are dealt with immediately to ensure election integrity and fairness.” She demands that the TCDSB do the same.
Otherwise, willful breaches of the Act may compromise the election and result in unfair advantage to the perpetrator, De Domenico.
Not content with the IC’s apparent docility to take on the task, she sent her concerns to the Director and all the trustees. Again, receiving no reply, she sent a letter demanding action to the Board, copying the Corriere Canadese and the Toronto Star.
We think she deserves a hearing.
TORONTO – Hardly on the bus or in the subway you will hear people of the same origin speak in English: among them, Japanese people will always continue to speak in Japanese, Chinese people in Chinese, Italians in Italian and so on. To confirm what is already heard every day around the city, it comes a survey conducted by Leger for the Association for Canadian Studies, from which we see that the vast majority of Canadians report a strong attachment to the main language, the native one, much more than other indicators of identity, including the Country they call home: Canada. →
TORONTO – “Pharisees, Scribes and Sinners”. That’s the choice of descriptors used by trustee Nancy Crawford trying to bring her colleagues to their senses, on the issue before the emergency meeting at the Toronto Catholic District School Board, last night. She was invoking the Biblical image of the attempted “stoning of a fallen woman” in an attempt to put issues in perspective and to provide “guidance”.
TORONTO – Doctors didn’t like Prime Minister Ford’s approach to the healthcare. A sector in full crisis with the emergency rooms of numerous Ontario hospitals forced to temporarily close on weekends due to staff shortages.
TORONTO – Stronger mayors, with more powers: in the end the government led by Doug Ford really did it. After the rumors leaked in recent weeks, today came the official presentation of the new legislation entitled “Strong Mayors, Building Homes Act”, formally illustrated in Queen’s Park. →
TORONTO – The vaccination obligation is there and will remain in force. Not even the shortage of staff that has led to a crisis with more emergency rooms closed on weekends is enough to soften the hard line of Ontario hospitals that require employees to immunize against Covid-19.
