Commentaire 364 – commentaires et rétroaction

Joy Simon

Commissioners,

I am Joy Simon, the Scarborough North Chapter President of the Spelling Bee of Canada. For the past two decades and counting, our Spelling Bee Chapter has hosted the Spelling Bee competition, usually at our local mall, Woodside Square Shopping Centre.

I was made aware of your proposal to move the areas west of McCowan Road into a new Scarborough Northwest federal riding and the areas east to Scarborough - Rouge Park. I can tell you that this neither makes geographic sense nor does it protect our 'community of interest' and 'community of identity'.

Our Scarborough North chapter works with elementary and middle schools more-or-less within the current federal riding of Scarborough North. The students, teachers and school communities all identify with Scarborough North.

The families of the children in our program are mostly immigrants. They are very pleased with the supportive community and programs like our Scarborough North Chapter of the Spelling Bee that help their children improve English language proficiency.

They say change is not always a good thing. I am sorry to say that such is the case with this proposal. The Scarborough North federal riding should not be changed, it is a 'community of interest' and 'community of identity' that should be protected.

Best regards,

Ms. Joy Simon
President, Scarborough North Chapter
Spelling Bee of Canada