OCSTA spokesperson Sharon McMillan said the video — one of seven that had been posted and featuring Marc Kielburger, co-founder of Free the Children — had been well received in the Catholic community but it was taken down after several complaints.
"Certain advocates in the public school sector voiced some concerns that we felt was taking away from the focus that we wanted,” McMillan said.
McMillan said OCSTA is trying to be sensitive to the concerns being voiced.
“It is disheartening because the intent was never to create controversy and the other thing is it is well received in our Catholic community,” she said.
“That is where it is most disheartening, that our Catholic community so embraced this video and understood its intent.
"But if we are really going to be followers of Gospel teachings ourselves then we are sensitive to the feelings of our coterminous boards across the province and if they feel that we are somehow comparing ourselves to them we don't want that to be the message that comes out of these videos.”
Posted on Jan. 14 the video, which had more than 1,400 views in its first 24 hours, was removed from YouTube on Jan. 24 despite OCSTA president Marino Gazzola previously stating it would remain online.
“To remove the videos would be denying our distinctiveness in Ontario's education system,” Gazzola told The Register on Jan. 20.
The video featured Kielburger, a Toronto Catholic alumni, along with current members of Ontario's Catholic school system, and was part of a series on leadership. It was created to promote the positive and distinct characteristics of the Catholic school system, according to the OCSTA.
But Michael Barrett, president of the Ontario Public School Boards' Association, objected to the video because he believed it slighted the public system. He said that the comments in the video that "talk about the great strength of the separate school system" tended to discount the values being taught in the other school systems. He also objected to Kielburger's presence in the video.
“I found that particularly offensive since his organization certainly depends as much upon the public school board as they do on the separate (Catholic) school board.”
Barrett and several other public school trustees from across the province sent e-mails to Kielburger to express their concern.
Kielburger subsequently stated that he would no longer be part of the video, which is to be revised and re-posted at a later date.
“To avoid any confusion about the intention, my testimonial video was taken down,” said Kielburger. “We work closely with Catholic and public school boards and we value greatly our relationship with all.”
Although Barrett is pleased to see the video removed from YouTube, he still has an issue with the remaining videos.
“They all should come down,” he said. “This is a first step but all are equally offensive in being able to make the case that you can only get a values-based education in the separate (Catholic) school board.”
Barrett, who noted he was Christian and that this was not a battle of the non-religious versus the religious, continued by saying that the public system is also values based but those values are not rooted in one faith. Values in the public system, he said, start with the idea "that no kid is refused" which then branches out into things such as community, concern, multi-faith, inclusiveness and diversity.
“(Our) values are very similar to the Catholic board, just not rooted in faith.”