Community concerned about the recent Trustee disbandment of the 40-year-old Race Relations Committee

BY PAUL JUNOR

The decision of the Trustees of the Toronto Catholic District School Board to disband the 40-year-old Race Relations Committee in February 2024 is still being felt. Since the recent resignation of Sean Blackwood, Co-Chair of the African Canadian Advisory Committee (ACAC), there has been diverse reactions from varied stakeholders regarding how this decision was made and its ramifications on the African-Canadian community that the TCDSB serves. Details about the decision by the Trustees of the TCDSB to disband the RRC was documented on Thursday, February 15^th, 2024, at the website: https://www.tcdsb.org

It was at that meeting that Trustee A. Kennedy, seconded by Trustee Li Preti, moved that:

• Whereas: The Race Relations Committee was the earliest advisory Committee created more than two decades ago at the Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB);
• Whereas: The Race Relations Committee was the foundation upon which all the TCDSB Advisory Committees have been built;
• Whereas: The Race Relations Committee is like the trunk of a tree, which all the Advisory Committees have grown and developed over time like branches on a tree;
• Whereas: TCDSB can be proud of the work each of the Advisory Committees perform;
• Whereas: The existing Advisory Committee should independently and regularly report to the Board so that trustees can develop policies needed to eliminate all forms of systemic racism and discrimination;
• Whereas: The Equity Action Plan (2023-2026) focuses on Indigenous Education, Anti-Black and Support for LGBTQ + community;
• Duplication and limited resources should be averted;
• Whereas: TCDSB has made significant strides in improving racial injustice it has not resulted in the eradication of either individual, or systemic racism. Some progress is not absolute progress;
• Be It Resolved That: The Special Advisory Committee on Race Relations be discontinued at this time in this form. The Trustees voted in favor of this.

Kirk Mark, retired TCDSB employee made a deputation to the TCDSB at its March 21^st, 2024, meeting regarding the disbanding of the 40-year-old Race Relation Committee. He states that the purpose of his deputation was, “To register my concern pertaining to the recent trustee disbandment of the 40-year-old Race Relations Committee as a result of the motion on February 15^th,2024.” He elaborates that its original purpose was to “Act as an oversight committee, utilizing the tenets of the 1984 Race and Ethnic Relations and Multiculturalism Policy, that morphed into the1995 Antiracism and Ethno-cultural Equity: Policy and Guidelines, and later the 2008 Equity and Inclusive Equation Policy (included in the 2017 Ontario’s Education Equity Action Plan.)”

He listed six initiatives that resulted from the committee’s work such as:

• Canadian Heritage Month: African, Celtic, Asian, Portuguese, Spanish-Speaking, Italian
• Canadian Advisory Committees: Portuguese, Spanish-Speaking, Filipino, African
• Indigenous Education
• Professional Learning: Leadership course in Race and Ethnic Relations Multiculturalism; Leadership course in Equity, and Inclusive Education; Equity and Inclusive Education Outreach Principals
• Parental Engagement Modules

Mark notes further, “The rational to disband the Race Relations Committee citing irrelevance, replacing their voices with that of the advisory committees, amounts to Anti-Black Racism, under the cloak of equity and efficiency, since the reason for the Race Relations Committee in the first place was because of the Black community’s insistence to address racial discrimination, persisting today, that benefits all racialized communities.”

Mark states in his conclusion, “I encourage  TCDSB Trustees to rescind their motion to disband the Race Relations Committee and re-institute said committee with pillars that strengthens its progression providing proper oversight to address the equity and system-wide strategic action plan.”