DFA slams penalty for Fil-Canadian boy

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said yesterday the Philippine embassy in Canada fully supports the action taken by the Filipino community in Montreal and the parents of the seven-year-old Filipino pupil who was allegedly punished for his table manners.

Foreign Affairs spokesman Gilberto Asuque said in a press briefing that Ambassador to Canada Jose Brillantes submitted a report to the DFA on the incident that happened on April 11, which the diplomatic mission considers an "affront" to Philippine culture and plain racial discrimination.

In its report to the DFA, Brillantes said a report on the incident was published in The Chronicle in the province of Quebec involving a lunch program monitor and seven-year-old Luc Cagadoc of Roxboro School in Montreal.

The caregiver reportedly criticized and disciplined Luc for using a spoon and fork to eat his lunch.

Luc’s mother, Maria Teresa Gallardo, learned about the incident from her son on the same day and said that Luc was too embarrassed to eat his dinner because of the punishment.

She complained about and confronted the concerned caregiver on April 13.

"What is objectionable here is when the teacher noticed the boy and she moved the child to a table to sit by himself," Asuque said.

He added that Brillantes has been actively coordinating with the members of the Filipino community in Montreal who were outraged by the incident.

The director general of the Center for Research Action on Race Relations in Montreal lodged a complaint against the caregiver before the school board. The center sought moral damages in Luc’s favor.

Brillantes said the embassy is fully supportive of the moves of the Filipino community and the student’s mother to protest against the teacher’s actions.

"Buo ang suporta ng embassy sa ginagawa ng association sa Canada na laban sa discrimination sa isang Pilipino. Nasa likod ang suporta ng embassy upang itama o iwasto ito (The embassy fully supports the actions of the association in Canada against the discrimination of a Filipino. The embassy backs moves to correct or remedy this)," Asuque said.

He said the embassy is supporting the action taken by the Filipino community and the boy’s parents because it is the embassy’s duty to protect the integrity of and respect for the Filipino nation.

"The embassy is supporting the action of the Filipino association in Canada to protest this action by a certain individual criticizing the way a Filipino uses kitchen utensils. We leave it to the concerned agency in Canada that will deal with the issue," he said.

Asuque said the embassy received information on the manner by which Luc used a spoon and fork to eat with instead of using just a fork, for which he was repeatedly reprimanded and punished.

Such actions on the part of the teacher were "unacceptable" to Luc’s parents, who do not find anything wrong in using spoon and fork, instead of eating "Canadian-style."

The Chronicle quoted Luc’s mother, who said the lunch program monitor criticized her son’s manner of eating in a customary Filipino manner.

"Luc Cagadoc’s table behavior is traditionally Filipino: He fills his spoon by pushing the food on his plate with a fork," Gallardo said.

But after being punished by the school lunch monitor more than 10 times this year for his mealtime conduct — including his two-utensil technique — the seven-year-old told Gallardo that he was too embarrassed to eat his dinner.

"Mommy, I don’t want to eat anymore," Luc told Gallardo at the dining table on April 11. "My teacher is telling me that eating with a spoon and fork is yucky and disgusting."

The Chronicle also reported that Luc said that when he eats with a spoon and fork instead of just a fork, the lunch monitor moves him to a table where he must sit by himself.

Gallardo said she confronted the lunchtime caregiver on April 12, after learning about her son’s segregation from the rest of the students over his table manners. On April 13, she telephoned the school’s principal, Normand Bergeron.

Bergeron’s reaction shocked Gallardo and brought her to tears: "He said, ‘Madame, you are in Canada. Here in Canada you should eat the way Canadians eat.’"

Gallardo, a native of Misamis Oriental, moved to Montreal from the Philippines in 1999, where she began work as a contract worker and is now an immigrant.

"I find it very prejudiced and it’s racist," Gallardo said of Bergeron. "He’s supposed to be acting like a professional. This is supposed to be a free country with free expressions of culture and religion. This is how we eat: We eat with a fork and spoon."

Gallardo now operates a day-care service out of her Roxboro home and is close to completing her studies in early childhood education.

Luc’s father, Aldrin Cagadoc also said he was surprised by the principal’s comment.

Gallardo wrote a letter to and lodged a formal complaint with the school authorities last week.

She said she disagreed with the lunch monitor’s approach to teaching children how to eat, adding that the punitive approach used to inculcate Canadian table manners was emotionally upsetting for Luc.

When she questioned Bergeron about punishing students for their table habits, the reply she got was: "If your son eats like a pig he has to go to another table because this is the way we do it and how we’re going to do it every time."

The Roxboro school principal said he explained his position on using two utensils to Gallardo during their telephone conversation.

"I want them to eat correctly with respect for others who are eating with them. That’s all I ask," he said. "Personally, I don’t have any problems with it, but it is not the way you see people eat every day. I have never seen somebody eat with a spoon and a fork at the same time."