PEEL STUDENTS ON THE MARCH
Brampton North MPP calls on province to take ‘concrete action’ on issue
Students lead a march on Wednesday to the headquarters of the Peel District School Board. Leaders at the board have lost the public’s confidence and it’s time for the province to take “concrete action” to address anti-Black racism there, the opposition NDP says. “What we’ve seen and heard from the (board) is completely unacceptable,” said Progressive Conservative House Leader Paul Calandra. “This government is horrified by what it has seen.”
Leaders at the Peel public school board have lost the public’s confidence and it is time for the province to take “concrete action” in addressing antiBlack racism there, the opposition NDP says.
MPP Kevin Yarde said he was taking part in the march to Peel board headquarters Wednesday afternoon to highlight “continued anti-Black racism at the Peel District School Board … Students, families and faculty alike have been raising their concerns for years now.” The Brampton North MPP told the legislature that “public school board meetings have ended in harassment of parents and advocates, and Black students continue to be hurt by racist incidents, lowered expectations and cruel punishments.” Government House Leader Paul Calandra said Education Minister Stephen Lecc e “stepped up to the plate immediately. I know that there is agreement on all sides of the house that what we’ve seen and heard from the Peel District School Board is completely unacceptable … This government is horrified by what it has seen and we will make sure that that board stops.”
Late last year, Lecce sent in a trio of reviewers to probe racism and dysfunction at the province’s second largest board. They said they “consistently heard painful accounts of traumatic experiences in schools and school communities” and detailed how racism disproportionately affects Black students.
The reviewers also slammed senior board leaders for being “paralyzed by inaction” after years of complaints. And just last week, Lecce gave the Peel board a final warning after he sent in human rights and employment lawyer Arleen Huggins to investigate why little progress was being made on specific directives he ordered.
The board has also recently grappled with handling a “xenophobic and racist” incident where a principal made a comment during a virtual staff meeting about students learning to make bombs in an enriched science class. Several students and families have also been speaking out about Islamophobia.
The National Council of Canadian Muslims is now calling on the director of education and board chair to step down, as were Wednesday’s protesters at their “March for Justice.”
“I recognize and accept the very real and serious concerns that are being expressed by members of the community,” director of education Peter Joshua has said. “As a school board, we have not effectively addressed anti-Black racism. We know we must do better.”
Joshua also recently announced he had hired well-respected veteran educator Avis Glaze as a special consultant to help address racism.
Liberal MPPs Mitzie Hunter (Scarborough-Guildwood) and Kathleen Wynne (Don Valley West), both former education ministers, said in a letter to Lecce that “systemic racism exists in our education system. … Black students are more than twice as likely to be suspended from high school than their white peers. They are more likely to be streamed into nonuniversity-track courses.”
While “there is work to be done to transform our institutions,” they urged him to “implement the true history of Black people in Canada to be taught as a mandatory part of Ontario’s curriculum.”
Peel student Trustee Kenisha Arora said the board needs to create a student advisory council that will help “focus on lifting the voices of racialized students in the board.” She said the board needs to “stop thinking about what would be best for our students and instead, we need to ask them and work with them on establishing a system that prides their diverse backgrounds. This is not politics. This is about the students and the dreams we have shattered.”