11 teachers, 4 trustees and 4 administrators represented Coquitlam school district in spring break trip to China

For the first time since the pandemic, School District #43 sent a team of educators and officials to China as part of a cultural exchange – although the district couldn’t say how much the trip cost.

“As the exchange was largely funded directly by third parties, we are unable to provide specific cost figures at this time,” stated Ken Hoff, assistant director of communications for SD43.

Previous trips cost about $8,000 per person, according to a prior estimate.

The trip was primarily funded by the Zhejiang Education Bureau and South China Normal University, Hoff explained in an email to the Dispatch.

SD43 teachers discussed language, culture and STEAM education with teachers from China’s Zhejiang province, according to Hoff.

Besides school visits, the SD43 delegation attended the Zhejiang STEM Education Forum, and learned about Chinese approaches to STEAM education.

“SD43 has always had a strong reputation for developing students as global citizens through the encouragement of multicultural, socially responsible learning experiences,” Hoff wrote. “Cultural exchanges, such as this, are key to ensuring staff have an opportunity to develop those understandings for the benefit of all students.”

Criticism

School District #43 was featured prominently in Doris Liu’s 2017 documentary In the Name of Confucius.

In an interview with Liu, the now-former Toronto School Board chair Chris Bolton described a comfortable relationship with the institute as well as trips to China.

“We’ve been wined and dined, certainly over there,” he said in the film, adding that accommodations were covered.

The documentary also featured an interview with SD43 superintendent Patricia Gartland.

Upon arriving in Coquitlam, Liu was greeted by the school district’s then-marketing manager Bob Lajoie.

“We were very lucky in the beginning. We received about a million dollars worth of books and materials from Hanban,” Lajoie told Liu, referring to the institute’s executive branch.

“We visit China four or five times a year,” Gartland said to Liu during their interview.

The district submits an annual spending report, Gartland explained.

“If all of that fits in with the guidelines, then we can receive $100,000 in a year,” she said.

The documentary also featured interviews with former Confucius Institute instructor Sonia Zhao.

A Falun Gong practitioner, Zhao said she was concerned the institutes effectively exported China’s persecution of followers of the spiritual practice.

Zhao said her contract with the Confucius Institute specified she wouldn’t practise Falun Gong.

She also noted that certain topics, such as Tibet and Taiwan, were off limits for institute instructors.

“If I couldn’t avoid mentioning these, then I had to change the topic,” she said in the documentary. “If students chased me for an answer then I was told that I must say that Tibet and Taiwan belong to China.”