The above remark was attributed to Normand Bergeron, principal of Ecole Lalande School in Roxboro, Québec in Canada, when he answered the complaining Filipina-Canadian mother of 7-year-old Luc Caganoc, who was reported earlier as having received repeated punishments from Martine Bertrand, Ecole’s lunch monitor, for using spoon and fork at lunch.

Sixteen days after the incident was first published in the West Island Chronicle in Québec, and after the news has become a full-blown international controversy on the Internet and on Philippine media, including the Filipino Reporter which headlined the news last week and the week before, an apologist for the two Roxboro school officials, who claimed his name was Andre Collette, appeared on the Internet last Friday.

In a flurry of e-mail exchanges with this newspaper, Mr. Collette criticized the Chronicle and its reporter for supposedly blowing out of proportion what he referred to as a simple case of reprimand “because after using in fact the fork and the spoon, he (the boy) put the noodles in his mouth and spit them out to play silly that day and that was it.”

Suspecting that the apologist could be Mr. Bergeron himself (because of detailed information he knew about the incident, including the total number of students in the school and Luc’s school attendance history), using the pseudonym Andre Collette, we suggested that if the school officials would only issue a public apology to the boy, his family and the Filipino people who felt offended and insulted by the incident, and by the principal’s remarks, perhaps the matter will be put to a close sooner than expected.

The apologist replied, “You are right, Mr Bergeron could apologize and stop this right now. Perhaps he will...”

At one point during the e-mail exchanges, the concern of the Canadian e-mail writer became apparent when he said, “No need to call the Human Rights Society.”

We also learned from a person who is working close to the case that the statement of Bergeron was taped. That could be the reason why the principal never issued a denial.

We applaud Maria Gallardo, mother of Luc, with the help of two Filipino-Canadian associations in Montreal, for filing a formal complaint of discrimination with the Québec Human Rights Commission against Bergeron and Bertrand.

— Manuel L. Caballero