TFS - Canada's International School

TFS 15 EDIJ. is four-leer acronym, meaning Equi, Diversi, Inclusion and Justice, is the name for a commiee, a student council and a plan – and all three are thriving at TFS. Over the last several months, many EDIJ initiatives have been launched, with the intent of building on the achievements of our already celebrated diversi. e goal is to further deepen the sense of inclusion in our communi. A school where everyone can find their place. Calvin decided to turn his indignation into purpose. After all, he told himself, he could not be the only one at TFS to have been intimately affected by this painful episode, even though he was relatively spared. Said Calvin, "We are fortunate to be a very diverse and open-minded school; however, when stupidity spreads everywhere in society, even a school like ours cannot be totally immune." At a time when some of the older students were becoming vocal about school inclusivity, he decided to approach them as a first step in sharing his experience. "It's good to realize that in spite of different backgrounds and different sexual orientations, we face the same challenges on issues of inclusion." These thoughtful and open conversations gave rise to the idea of formalizing awareness of these issues and developing processes to actively promote an ever more inclusive culture at TFS. And so, the EDIJ Student Council was formed in 2021, and Calvin quickly became a leading figure among the younger student members. In addition to creating a safe space for personal discussions, where problems can be articulated, the group also works to craft new initiatives to further understanding of what inclusivity is and isn't. In the first year, they achieved a significant change, ensuring gender-neutral language was used to refer to the two top elected student leadership "The only living societies are those that are animated by inequality and injustice." Did Calvin M. ever read these words by French playwright Paul Claudel? Because, no doubt about it, Calvin is driven by his determination to shake up the established order. For him, the COVID-19 pandemic was a turning point. When the first health alerts were coming out of the Chinese city of Wuhan, followed by the long weeks of lockdown, this young Senior School student was deeply affected by the way Chinese communities, and more broadly Asian communities, were being targeted around the world. "First, there were the gratuitous insults aimed at people from my country of origin, then physical attacks were reported by the media, especially in the United States, and this was cause for concern," he said, analyzing the situation and weighing his words carefully, almost three years after it all began. How could a 15-year-old process so much hatred towards his own culture? "Chinese culture is part of my identity. When I was a child, my father would read Chinese poems to me before I went to sleep, and my mother, who had been a singer for the national opera, would rock me in her arms to classical arias in Cantonese or Mandarin. That's why it saddened me to see such a beautiful culture reduced to clichés that are, to say the least, pathetic." AMPLIFYING STUDENT VOICES positions at the school, namely the First Citizens. "This was not a victory of the students over the administration, but an illustration of the legitimacy of the Council. Together they are able to address and raise issues of great interest to them, to strengthen inclusion within the school," said Aurélie Lossouarn, Executive Director, Citizenship and Global Education at TFS. This year, the Council took on a major project: hosting the first EDIJ conference at TFS in February 2023. While racism and religion were explored, the conference also looked at broader topics such as physical accessibility, mental health and truth and reconciliation with Indigenous peoples. Tamara Bolotenko, a Vice Principal at the Senior School, said of the latter, "The idea is to reflect upon, commit to, and create actionable plans for truth and reconciliation with the original inhabitants of Turtle Island. Land acknowledgments are an entry point for student discussions about the land on which we live, land rights and whether or not any human can truly own resources, but it's not enough. We still have a lot of listening, learning and unlearning to do in order to understand and appreciate the rich and diverse languages, histories, cultures, worldviews and ways of knowing of hundreds of Indigenous groups. This, as well as honouring the treaties, is crucial in building relationships founded on trust, friendship, equality and peace."

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