Calls for EMSB commissioner to resign following controversial online post – Montreal | 24CA News
English Montreal School Board (ESMB) commissioners Joseph Lalla and Agostino Cannavino say they and the board can’t be related to feedback made on-line by fellow commissioner Sophie De Vito.
It’s the explanation they requested for a particular assembly Wednesday evening and introduced a movement ahead asking her to step down.
“Maybe it was an error on her part, maybe that’s fine. But she did it. And we are the ones left behind having to clean the mess that was made,” Cannavino stated on the assembly.
The remark in query was posted initially of August.
“How’s the REM working out? Leave it to the French to get this working. Anglos and immigrants would have had this running smoothly. Everything has to be done in French,” De Vito tweeted.
De Vito is referring to a number of issues the Réseau specific métropolitain (REM) had after its launch.
The submit sparked a wave of response.
“She was subjected to hundreds of truly hateful messages and emails, making all types of assumptions about her, inciting violence and mutilation against her and calling her all sorts of horrible names,” stated mother or father commissioner Maria Corsi, who added she has been in contact with De Vito for the reason that incident.
Quebec’s French language minister Jean-François Roberge referred to as De Vito’s feedback “undignified and unacceptable”. In his personal social media submit, he urged her to withdraw them and apologize to all francophones.
De Vito did.
On the identical day she posted: “I sincerely apologize for the inappropriate tweet I posted earlier. I recognize that my words were offensive and did not reflect the values that I strive to uphold. Looking ahead, I am committed to building bridges between all Quebecers.”
On August fifteenth, De Vito issued a second apology, saying partly: “After reflection, I am determined to learn from what happened. I have decided to pursue anti-bias training and in the coming weeks will be consulting with an outside expert.”
EMSB president Joe Ortona says he’s happy with De Vito’s actions following the controversial submit.
“She’s very sorry about what she did and I believe her to be sincere and that’s why I accept her apology and that’s why asking her to resign is too harsh,” Ortona informed Global News.
During the assembly, a number of colleagues jumped to De Vito’s defence and when it got here to the vote, the movement was defeated.
“All the members of the council except for the parent commissioners are all part of ‘Team Ortona’ as is Ms. De Vito,” Lalla informed Global News following the vote. “So obviously they all voted against the motion, no surprise whatsoever.”
Both Cannavino and Lalla say it was vital for them to dissociate themselves from De Vito’s feedback and that it’s now on the report.
“We just hope that maybe the explanation will convince the population, the other communities that the action she took is sincere and we’ll let them evaluate it. However, we wanted to discuss this in a public forum because it was just because not even addressed throughout the summer,” Cannavino stated. “I think that this is wrong and this is why we took this action, to bring it forth.”
While De Vito was not on the assembly, she isn’t anticipated to resign.
© 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
