In January, The Gazette reported on a Raiders hockey coach who was suspended for six games after the St. Albert Minor Hockey Association found him at fault for "inappropriate conduct," over comments made about a player's skin colour, and other comments about players of a certain heritage on the team.
Multiple interview requests and questions sent to the Raiders hockey club, St. Albert Minor Hockey Association, and Hockey Alberta were met with silence, or a refusal to discuss the policies of each organization around the incident, save for a statement from SAMHA confirming the suspension.
This week, The Gazette is reporting on an "inappropriate" and "racialized" joke made by a teacher toward a biracial Grade 10 student at St. Albert Catholic High School last week, over which the teacher is facing an investigation while working on unspecified duties away from teaching.
The Greater St. Albert Catholic school board released a public statement a day after the incident, was receptive to media requests, and hosted an anti-racism workshop for staff two days later. The principal had asked the concerned parent involved to remove a social media post discussing what had happened. The principal later apologized for the request, honouring the family's need to have an important public discussion on the situation.
It's disappointing to see these kinds of incidents popping up in our community. It's also an opportunity, for organizations to show real leadership in stamping out this kind of behaviour among staff, students, players, coaches, leaders, and peers and, most importantly, to show a willingness to talk about it.
There's often a desire to sweep these kinds of things under the rug; minimize the concerns of a complainant; gaslight the victim (that never happened, you're overreacting); and spin the message — sometimes by shooting the messenger — in an attempt to stifle concerns around an incident.
But this doesn't serve the target of such comments, well intended or not, or our community entire.
Intention doesn't matter when one person steps over another person's line. And when an adult in a leadership role does it in front of young, impressionable minds, it needs to be taken so seriously. Every time.
The world has collectively worked hard toward progress in so many spaces, and creating safe ones for all, and yet, here we are. The danger of not proactively acting on a stray comment or two perpetuates a culture of acceptance.
The impact of such a culture, gone unchecked, is far reaching, beyond the locker room or the classroom in which it quietly grows, in ways impossible to measure.
The trickle effect can create a toxic mindset that will later be found in family homes, play spaces, workplaces, other classrooms, future locker rooms, in social environments, and on social media — where none of it belongs.
It is every grownup's responsibility to be respectful, with language and actions, especially when in a role where young people look up to you as a leader. It's also an adult's responsibility to own a mistake, and hopefully use it to teach kids a better way to communicate with others.
The key word here is "communicate." The only way we do better, is by talking about these things, getting them out in the open, and having important discussions about what is OK and what's not.
Yes, people make mistakes. We all do. Sometimes without meaning to. But openness and honest conversation is our quickest and most meaningful path toward learning what doing better looks like.
Editorials are the consensus view of the St. Albert Gazette’s editorial board.
