SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Although Yellowknife Catholic Schools wants all students to feel safe and included, it doesn't necessarily encourage gay-straight alliances.

A l b e r t a passed Bill 10 this month, a cont rover sia l measure that forces publicly funded schools in the province to allow gaystraight alliance groups if students want one.

But although the NWT gets much of its education policy from its neighbour province, the move doesn't necessarily mean there are any changes ahead locally.

John Bowden, assistant superintendent of learning with Yellowknife Catholic Schools (YCS), said the debate has been held within the district.

Two years ago, a group of students at St. Patrick High School who were part of an

"Irish Inclusion" student support group wanted to start a gaystraight alliance at the school.

B o w d e n explained that the board's stance at the time and now is that it is "more interested in assuring we support all students" rather than specific interest groups.

The bishop at the time, Murray Chatlain, met with the students who planned to start a gay-straight alliance.

"After a lengthy discussion, (the students) decided on their own that they were no longer really interested in starting a gay-straight alliance at the school," said Bowden.

The students chose not to make a group that focused solely on sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression.

"They felt this diminished their overall efforts and ability to focus on supporting the holistic growth of all students within the school," said Bowden.

Other, broader support groups in the school address issues such as bullying and gay bashing, he said.

Bowden wouldn't answer directly if a gay-straight alliance would be allowed in a Yellowknife Catholic school.

He said staff resources to assist student groups must be used wisely and broader-issue groups might be a better use for staff time than singleissue ones. He said the decision would ultimately be up to school administration. Iman Kassam, arts coordinator with NWT Pride, said there aren't enough spaces for young people to freely talk about gender and sexuality. When she was in high school, there were no gay-straight alliances, but an LGBT centre in university helped her come out and find a support network.

She thinks a broader support group might not tackle the issue as deeply as it needs to be.

"I think the issue with opening up and broadening it is it's going to water down a really important issue," said Kassam.

"When you really break down what a gay-straight alliance can do, you've opened up a massive umbrella. I think having gay-straight alliances in schools has so much potential for students to discover themselves and become one with themselves at a younger age."

Mark Hagemoen is the current bishop who informs YCS of Catholic policy. He said any students who feel their identity or human dignity is threatened need to know the school system supports them.

Hagemoen also expressed a preference for broader groups than gaystraight alliances.

"The response of the YCS ... would opt to recognize the issue broadly as opposed to narrowly focusing on any specific issue," said Hagemoen.

"To my knowledge, the issue has not really come up in YCS, which lends me and others to believe that such students are not in a situation of feeling that their needs aren't met."

Hagemoen compared gaystraight alliances to groups that might focus on religious or racial issues, emphasizing that a broader approach is encouraged.

"If students wanted to have a group that dealt with a particular cultural issue, I would encourage them to find the support they need but be open to a wider spectrum," he said.

The Catholic teaching, he said, is that sexual activity is for married people, and marriage is between a man and a woman. Bowden said YCS follows the Alberta Catholic Schools' health and sexual education curriculum.

"This is a great issue for discussion for our students," he said. "We are more than happy to engage in those sort of discussions because they increase awareness and increase consciousness."