Schools that embrace linguistic and cultural diversity across their school population and support integration have a positive effect on all children's ability to learn.

We heard from many people, and these were some of the comments we heard: Roman Catholic and Pentecostals who want reform but have no voice as their church bodies reflect an official position, and do not allow opportunity for individual expression; teachers in the Roman Catholic system who signed a petition in favour of reform, and wanted to circulate it in their schools but were afraid to for fear of losing their jobs; Roman Catholic and Pentecostal parents who signed the petition and encouraged us to continue because they have no way of expressing their views through their schools; elderly people who went to the trouble of voting in ...[+++]the referendum because they considered this to be such an important issue, and who now feel that their rights are being violated because the " yes" vote they cast is not being acted upon; Roman Catholic parents who refused to ever send their children to a school in the Roman Catholic system; parents of the non-affiliated religions in this province whose rights under the current system are nonexistent; parents of children within the Roman Catholic system who have been asked to sign and send back to their schools forms stating whether or not they would prefer to stay in the Roman Catholic system, parents who have told us that they have felt intimidated by this and have signed agreement for fear their children might be adversely impacted if they did otherwise; people who, as children, were forced to attend schools many miles away while their neighbourhood friends attended the school across the road, which would not accept them because they were the wrong religion; parents who are now forced into the same segregationist situation with their own children, putting them on a school bus in the morning for a trip of perhaps 45 minutes or more because the school across the street, where all their neighbourhood friends go, will not accept them on religious grounds, and because there is no room left for them at the bottom of the ...

(Return tabled) Question No. 422 Ms. Kirsty Duncan: With respect to nutrition in child and adolescent populations in Canada: (a) does government policy include recognition and acceptance of the principle that Canada’s children and adolescents are entitled to nutritious food (i) regardless of where they live, (ii) regardless of their family income, (iii) particularly when economic forces undermine efforts by parents and caregivers to ensure healthy eating; (b) given that the 1992 World Declaration on Nutrition, to which Canada was a s ...[+++]ignatory, states that access to nutritionally adequate and safe food is a right of each individual, what specific actions have the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and Health Canada undertaken for children and adolescents in order to fulfill this commitment; (c) what percentage of children and adolescents in Canada is food insecure, (i) do disparities exist, including, but not limited to, disability status, ethnicity, gender, geography, socio-economic status, (ii) if so, specify; (d) what percentage of children and adolescents lives below the poverty line, (i) do disparities exist, including, but not limited to, disability status, ethnicity, gender, geography, socio-economic status, (ii) if so, specify; (e) what percentage of children and adolescents has, as a result of living below the poverty line, (i) poor nutritional status, (ii) poor health outcomes due to their poor nutritional status; (f) what percentage of members of each of the following groups is food insecure, (i) child and adolescent newcomers, (ii) children and adolescents who live in poverty, (iii) children and adolescents who live in priority neighbourhoods, (iv) Aboriginal children and adolescents; (g) what percentage of children and adolescents (i) involuntarily misses meals, (ii) lacks healthy variety in its diet; (h) does the government have information, and, if so, what is that information, concerning (i) how (g)(i) and (g)(ii) impact the caloric a ...

Health Commissioner Androulla Vassilou expressed her belief that providing young people with healthy food and drink options in schools are positive and necessary steps towards tackling obesity in Europe today".

In these sectors the Politecnico is already playing a leading role at national and European level, so it could be said that it is in a perfect position to play a vanguard role in relation to our new initiative.

These schools, which are intended for young people who have experienced failure at school and which pursue a policy of "positive discrimination", would offer teaching adapted to pupils' needs while making extensive use of multimedia teaching aids, with instruction being provided by highly qualified teachers.