TORONTO'S PERPETUALLY OFFENDED SNOWFLAKES

Sooner or later, it is looking like a judge will have to consider whether Land Of The Silver Birch is in fact “racist and inappropriate,” as the principal of Toronto’s High Park Alternative School declared in an alleged libel of her music teacher, or whether that charge is an overblown case of political correctness.

Violet Shearer, the music teacher, chose it for the Grade 1 to 4 choir to sing at the 2016 Spring Concert, which was on the theme of home, and included recorded pre-show music by Lynyrd Skynrd (Sweet Home Alabama) and John Denver (Take Me Home, Country Roads).

To say it did not go over well is an understatement. There had already been complaints from parents. One would later write to the Toronto Star about concerns children were being told to “‘play Indian,’ an act that is historically racist and part of the process of colonization. Our kids were not taught any historical context. During the performance, some kids had hand drums and others were directed to make animal calls as accompaniment.”