The Montreal–Philippines cutlery controversy was an incident in 2006 in which a Filipino-born Canadian boy was punished by his school in Roxboro,

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, for following traditional Filipino etiquette and eating his lunch with a fork and a spoon, rather than the Canadian tradition of a knife and fork. In response to the media coverage of the affair, a protest was held outside the

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

embassy A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a Sovereign state, state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase ...

Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...

and the Philippine Ambassador to Canada, José Brillantes, described it as an "affront to Filipino culture." Some commentators saw it as an example of prejudice,

nationalism Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation, Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Theory, I ...

and a culture clash, especially since the

school board A board of education, school committee or school board is the board of directors or board of trustees of a school, local school district or an equivalent institution. The elected council determines the educational policy in a small regional area, ...

had previously expelled a

Sikh Sikhs (singular Sikh: or ; , ) are an ethnoreligious group who adhere to Sikhism, a religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Guru Nanak. The term ''Si ...

student for carrying a

kirpan The kirpan (; pronunciation: Help:IPA/Punjabi, ɪɾpaːn is a blade that Khalsa Sikhs are required to wear as part of their religious uniform, as prescribed by the Rehat, Sikh Code of Conduct. Traditionally, the kirpan was a full-sized '' ...

(Sikh dagger).

Timeline

The boy, John Luke Joachim Gallardo Cagadoc ''( gallicized as Jean-Luc)'', was born in 1998 in Manila to Filipino parents from

Pampanga Pampanga, officially the Province of Pampanga (; ; ), is a province in Central Luzon in the Philippines. Lying on the northern shore of Manila Bay, Pampanga is bordered by Tarlac to the north, Nueva Ecija to the northeast, Bulacan to the east, ...

and

Palawan Palawan (, ), officially the Province of Palawan (; ), is an archipelagic province of the Philippines that is located in the region of Mimaropa. It is the largest province in the country in terms of total area of . The capital and largest c ...

. The Cagadocs migrated to Quebec, Canada, the same year for job opportunities, settling in Montreal. In April 2006, schoolteacher Martine Bertrand, who was assigned a role of school lunchroom monitor at École Lalande, sanctioned the then seven-year old Luc on ten separate occasions for what the school called "disgusting" and "piggish" eating habits: using a

fork In cutlery or kitchenware, a fork (from 'pitchfork') is a utensil, now usually made of metal, whose long handle terminates in a head that branches into several narrow and often slightly curved tines with which one can spear foods either to h ...

to push his food onto a

spoon A spoon (, ) is a utensil consisting of a shallow bowl (also known as a head), oval or round, at the end of a handle. A type of cutlery (sometimes called flatware in the United States), especially as part of a table setting, place setting, it ...

before eating it. The school board countered that the boy was punished only for disruptive behavior. The boy's mother, Theresa Gallardo Cagadoc, pursued a formal apology and reported that school principal Normand Bergeron told her in a telephone conversation that in Canada, one should eat with Canadian manners ("Madame, you are in Canada. Here in Canada you should eat the way Canadians eat."). The story first appeared in the ''West Island Chronicle''. According to the Montreal-area newspaper, when Cagadoc questioned Bergeron about punishing students for their table habits, Bergeron replied that Luc must be moved to another table if he continues to "eat like a pig" as it was their manner of how they discipline students. In a ''Chronicle'' article, Bergeron expanded on his comments, claiming that Luc was sometimes disruptive, which was the reason for his sanctions and not his fork and spoon habits:

n my conversation with (the mother)I said, "Here, this is not the manner in which we eat." ... I don't necessarily want students to eat with one hand or with only one instrument, I want them to eat intelligently at the table ... I want them to eat correctly with respect for others who are eating with them. That's all I ask. 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.

Later reporting alleged that Luc was warned that he was tardy at the table, and so he reverted to the spoon-feeding method to save time. Luc said that he was separated from his lunchmates any time he ate that way. Bergeron was subsequently restrained from speaking on the issue by the

; spokesperson Brigitte Gavreau stated that board policy was that students could eat with any utensils. A score of protestors outside the Canadian Embassy in

appealed for "respect for

cultural diversity Cultural diversity is the quality of diverse or different cultures, as opposed to Monoculturalism, monoculture. It has a variety of meanings in different contexts, sometimes applying to cultural products like art works in museums or entertainment ...

" and affirmed "we eat with a spoon and we're proud."Protesters accused Canadian school of discriminating Filipino boy
May 5, 2006 (from website of Sun.Star network of local newspapers in the Philippines) The item was quickly picked up worldwide, especially in Filipino newspapers and websites. A

security guard A security guard (also known as a security inspector, security officer, factory guard, or protective agent) is a person employed by a government or private party to protect the employing party's assets (property, people, equipment, money, etc.) ...

was assigned to the

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

, a

police cruiser A police car is an emergency vehicle used by police for transportation during patrols and responses to calls for service. Police cars are used by police officers to patrol a beat, quickly reach incident scenes, and transport and temporaril ...

went on duty, and the school principal received a death threat. Fo Niemi, the Cagadocs' lawyer and the executive director for the Center for Research-Action on Race Relations (CRARR), had to actively discourage people from the Filipino community from protesting in front of the school board. France Pilon, the assistant director of the school board, said that Luc's parents were repeatedly invited to meet with school officials, but declined, reportedly on legal advice. Pilon also said that Luc's parents have instructed him to eat apart from other students. The case was brought to the Quebec Human Rights Tribunal for formal mediation.Incident might have been a mistake
, ''Montreal Gazette'', May 8, 2006
13 June 2006 . ''Montreal Gazette''. For safety and security, Luc was transferred to a different elementary school.
''The Manila Mail'', January 15, 2007.

Commission ruling

In 2008 the Quebec Human Rights and Youth Rights Commission ruled that Bertrand's reprimand was an isolated incident, and found no evidence that Bergeron was biased. It found that Luc was disciplined for unsafe eating behavior, not for his cutlery etiquette. The commission concluded that Luc was clowning around by stuffing a large amount of rice into his mouth, and that the reprimand was for his own safety.Canada ’spoon’ row seethes
''Manila Mail'', October 18, 2008 The commission concluded that it was discriminatory for Bertrand to have asked Luc if people in "his country" washed their hands before eating.
, ''The Asian Pacific Post'', November 19, 2008 In November 2008 it was reported that CRARR had asked the Human Rights and Youth Rights Commission to review its decision, alleging anomalies in process that possibly prejudiced the commission's decision. The principal's newspaper comments were allegedly ignored. Theresa said that the human rights commission had interviewed representatives from the school board, but not Cagadocs. Theresa was reportedly considering an appeal to the Quebec Human Rights Tribunal, a quasi-judicial body, while members of the area's Filipino community wanted to take the case to court. In April 2010 the Quebec Human Rights Tribunal mandated that the school reimburse the Cagadocs CDN $17,000 in moral and punitive damages. The Tribunal stated that the school principal shared blame for not implementing an intercultural education policy.'Spoon-and-fork boy' wins $17K in damages in Canada
/ref>

References

External links

"School won't apologize in Filipino fork dispute"

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is the Canadian Public broadcasting, public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a Crown corporation that serves as the national public broadcaster, with its E ...

.
"Montreal boy's silverware choice sparks protest in Philippines."

.
"Board seeks mediation in food fight."
13 June 2006 .

Montreal Gazette ''The Gazette'', also known as the ''Montreal Gazette'', is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper which is owned by Postmedia Network. It is published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the only English-language daily newspape ...

.
"Incident might have been a mistake."

. 8 May 2006.
" Filipino boy gets support in lunch flap"

. 6 May 2006.
"Boy who ate in traditional Filipino way going to human rights group".

. 5 May 2005.
"Filipino table etiquette punished at local school"
Montreal West Island Chronicle (via

archive.org The Internet Archive is an American non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including websites, software applic ...

). 19 April 2006
"Filipino mom to ask for public apology."
Montreal West Island Chronicle (via archive.org). 26 April 2006. *''Knife? Fork? Spoon" Not necessarily.'' at * {{DEFAULTSORT:Montreal-Philippines cutlery controversy 2006 in Quebec 2006 in the Philippines Controversies in Canada Dining etiquette Filipino-Canadian culture History of human rights in Canada History of Montreal Race and law Canada–Philippines relations Anti-Filipino sentiment Eating utensils Academic meals Education in Montreal Pierrefonds-Roxboro

Timeline

Commission ruling

See also

References

External links