Sainte-sabine family plans human rights complaint against ETSB over “constant” bullying
AMassey-vanier High School student and her mother are filing a complaint with the Quebec human rights commission, the Commission pour les droits de la personne et de la jeunesse (CDPJ) over what they say is a pattern of racially motivated bullying and the school’s failure to stop it.
Jade, 14, and her mother, Michelle, have requested that media not publish their full names or faces. They say that after enduring more than a year of harassment from fellow students, much of it racially motivated, Jade was put on a different schedule – leaving classes several minutes earlier than her peers, spending recess and lunch periods in an isolation room and checking in at the isolation room between classes – to ostensibly protect her from harassment. They say this approach singles out Jade – one of few Asian students in the English sector – isolates her from her friends and puts her at risk of further bullying, while doing little or nothing to confront or discourage the bullies.
“Things have been thrown at her and she has been subjected to racist and homophobic jokes,” said Michelle at a press conference organized by the Centre for Research and Action on Race Relations (CRARR), which is supporting the family through the CDPJ complaints process. “My daughter has complained and told them to stop, but there’s always a new kid coming up with a new way to harass her. It is severe, repetitive and explicit.”
They also say the school’s approach, which began in February, has led to micromanagement of Jade’s behaviour and cut her off from her friends. “The school decided the best thing for me is to put me in a room… but there’s always someone watching everything I do,” Jade, near tears, told the press conference. “They don’t like it when I socialize…but it’s [the other students’] problem, not mine. Please don’t take my friends away from me.”
Michelle said she had called, phoned and emailed the school repeatedly and sent a registered letter to the Eastern Townships School Board (ETSB) to try to end the isolation room approach. “They have modified it a little, but she still has to report to the room between classes.”
She worried that the school was “setting [Jade] up for failure” by isolating her and blaming or questioning her when she complains. “She’s the one being punished for who she is, she blames herself, and my concern is next time it happens, she won’t complain. They are increasing her risk of being taken advantage of in all kinds of relationships.” She’s also concerned her daughter will decide to drop out of high school. “This is a pipeline to prison or a mental hospital.”
“While racist bullying is violent, the school’s punitive practice of segregating her…and surveilling her every move is far more destructive,” Michelle said.
She said that although some of the alleged bullies have been disciplined, she felt the school needed to do more to “make the [perpetrators] more aware that bullying is not OK.”
Michelle also called on Education Minister Bernard Drainville, himself the father of a young Asian adoptee, to investigate the school’s antibullying policies.
“It’s never a punishment”
ETSB spokesperson Holly Bailey said the school board was unable to comment on the family’s specific case for privacy reasons. Emmanuelle Gaudet, director of complementary services at the school board, said students are sometimes put on modified schedules or “sheltered” recess or lunch when teachers believe they might be “overstimulated” by being in a crowd of other students. “It’s never a punishment, but it’s sometimes misunderstood as a punishment,” Gaudet said. “Sometimes [a parent or student] will say they don’t need it anymore, and then realize they do need it when the student becomes disorganized.”
The ETSB anti-bullying policy encourages students and parents to report bullying to a trusted school staff member without delay. Gaudet said staff who witness bullying take a range of approaches depending on the context. “There is no one-size-fitsall instruction manual…sometimes it’s better to address it head-on and sometimes it’s better to approach it in a less confrontational way.” She encouraged parents who believe their child is being bullied to contact their teacher or vice principal, and take the matter to the principal if the situation doesn’t improve. Families can take their case to the ETSB or to the student ombudsman if the situation doesn’t improve, she said.
CDPJ spokesperson Halimatou Bah told the BCN that the agency does not have data on how often it receives complaints related to bullying in schools. She said the CDPJ analyzes each complaint to decide whether to intervene or refer the complainant to other resources. If the commission intervenes, it will speak to all parties and guide them through a mediation process. If mediation is unsuccessful, it will propose corrective measures; if the measures aren’t implemented, the CDPJ may work with the complainant to take the target of the complaint to court.