The Culture of Life Award that Halton Pro-Life presented to the Halton Catholic District School Board in March has made the news across the 29 Roman Catholic School Boards and five Catholic School Authorities of the Ontario Catholic School Trustees’ Association. A report on the presentation to the School Board was published in the “Good News” section of the Association’s on-line newsletter distributed to the boards and authorities across the province. 

The report quoted HPL’s letter of congratulation and president Tom Bartlett’s presentation speech highlighting the growth of the pro-life clubs and the culture of life in the secondary schools. It commended the School Board, principals and superintendents for their encouragement and support of the teachers and chaplains who have been guiding the student leaders of the pro-life clubs.

The report also trumpeted a number of the pro-life activities that had taken place in the eight Halton secondary schools prior to the March 23^rd presentation:

• The Culture of Life seminar at Holy Trinity Catholic Secondary School, Oakville, in November, 2009, that gathered students from all eight of the Board’s Catholic secondary schools.
• The pro-life day held at Notre Dame Catholic Secondary School, Burlington, addressed by Theresa Gilbert, of the National Campus Life Network, and Angelina Steenstra of Silent No More.
• The Culture of Life Conferences held for several years across the Halton region that preceded what are now annual events across the school boards of the Hamilton diocese and this year drew 300 students.

Halton Pro-Life has been pleased to partner with the School Board and the schools to promote the culture of life. We chose the HCDSB to receive the Culture of Life award to applaud the Board’s pro-life efforts, and we are pleased that this news will now help to inspire other boards across Ontario to greater efforts also.

The 29 School Boards and five Authorities educate approximately 600,000 students and represent more than one million Catholic school supporters.