Community News
There has been a failure of Toronto Catholic District School Board to respond to anti-black racism
BY PAUL JUNOR
The issue of racial equity in education has been at the forefront of many of the school boards in the Greater Toronto Area. Three school boards: the York Region District School, Peel District School Board (PDSB) and the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) have each been forced to change their policies, programs and procedures to reflect equity, fairness and tolerance. They have come out and declared that anti-black racism exists within their boards and have implemented initiatives to bring about systemic changes.
The Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB) has been in the news recently. Over the years, mainstream media has reported troubling incidents of systemic racism, particularly anti-black racism that have occurred within its schools.
On June 2nd, 2020, Chair of the Board Joseph Martino, and Dr.Brendan Drowne, Director of Education released a statement after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. It reads, “We have to face the truth that anti-black racism exists in our city and in our schools.”
On June 11th, 2020, a Student Trustee put forward a motion under the subject “Notice of Motion Regarding Anti-black and Anti-indigenous Racism in Schools.” She notes that, “over 22 different incidents of racism within TCDSB schools were reported in the span of just five days in the Toronto Youth Cabinet recent # ReclaimOurVoice survey.” She tweeted, “today, I brought forward a motion with recommendations on dismantling anti-black and anti-indigenous racism which has been prevalent in our schools for too long. Words mean nothing and are purely performative in nature.”
CBC News reported on June 26th, 2021 on the allegations by former and previous students of Notre Dame High School that the school’s administration had been engaged in a pattern of systemic racism. There were more than 200 letters sent to the TCDSB as reported by Kadeisha Powell-Graham, who spoke on behalf of the students.
Three former students: Syndi Taffe, Nigeeleen Nwakobi and Flora Nwakobi who graduated in 2016, 2017 and 2019 told CBC News that they were often silenced when they approached the administration about specific troubling racist incidents. It was nine months later that the TCDSB decided to launch an investigation.
The statement released on Thursday, June 26th, 2020 states, “We acknowledge that anti-black racism has had devastating effects on individuals, members of our school community, and our society. There is no place for anti-black racism in our schools.”
On June 30th, 2020 a letter was sent to Joseph Martino by Kirk Mark, who is a member of the TCDSB African-Canadian Advisory Committee and a former Senior Coordinator of Community Relations. The purpose of the letter was to have a meeting to, “Discuss systemic anti-black racism in our schools based on recent incidents in Notre Dame and the absence of the Superintendent of Equity and the Director of Educator due to retirement. In light of our advisory role we have not been consulted by the TCDSB regarding the above matters and the information derived from the media, black parents, black students and stakeholders. We are at a critical juncture.”
Unfortunately, there was no response from the TCDSB to this request.
On January 11th, 2021 an email was sent to the Chair, which states, “This email is a follow up to the initial request of June 30th, 2020 to address various incidents of anti-black racism in the TCDSB.” The letter recalls incidences of anti-black racism at: Mother Teresa, Msgr. Percy Johnson CSS, Notre Dame CSS and Francis Libemann CSS.
The letter concludes, “Therefore, there is a need to address these matters in order to compliment our recent gains in equity and inclusive education. Amnesia involving these past events will not lead to resolution, hence the need to enact the Terms of Reference within Year 1 in order to move the agenda forward.”
There is hope for changes in TCDSB in 2021.