Pressure mounts for York trustee to leave
Trustee has offered apology but didn’t attend board meeting
A York Region trustee who admitted to using a racial slur must step down for her “complete disrespect of a black parent,” demands a new petition that quickly garnered 1,300 signatures.
Nancy Elgie was absent on Tuesday night during that York Region School Board’s regular board meeting, but the Georgina trustee offered a public apology that was read by the vice-chair, trustee Corrie McBain, and made no mention of stepping down.
“It is plainly unacceptable that anyone in public office would intentionally use such a word to describe another person,” Elgie wrote in her apology, who said she was absent from the meeting for medical reasons. “That is why it is important for me to explain clearly what happened — not to excuse it, but so that you can understand, and so I can in some way start to heal the harm I have caused.”
In her apology, Elgie said when she made the com- ment in November, she was “still suffering from the after-effects of a head injury earlier in the fall” and struggled for words to identify parent Charline Grant, who had previously filed a human rights complaint about alleged discrimination facing her child. “The words come out horribly wrong.”
Elgie, who only just last week issued a private, emailed apology to Grant and fellow trustees for using the word n-----, in public after a meeting last November, has faced mounting pressure to leave the board from community members and the Vaughan African Canadian Association.
If the York Region District School Board “has a zero-tolerance policy for discrimination, how then can they allow Ms. Elgie to represent them?” says the online petition. “Thus, we are calling for the immediate resignation of Ms. Elgie for her violation of (policy) . . . her complete disrespect of a black parent and our community, and her blatant use of the racist and violent slur n-----.”
Parents attending the meeting Tuesday spoke about their experience with racism and challenged the director of education, J. Philip Parappally, who has largely remained silent, to respond.
“We have been to so many of these meetings, and the director just says and does nothing, like he doesn’t care,” said Garth Bobb, Grant’s husband.
It prompted a response from Parappally, who said: “I am absolutely sorry. It pains me and hurts my heart to hear your stories.” “I am available anytime to meet.” Grant said while she appreciates the apology, it’s not enough.
“At this point, it’s beyond an apology,” she said. “We need people to know there are solid consequences . . . when people are racist. Whether it’s a student, a teacher or a trustee,” she said.
Grant said her complaint to the board does not involve any racial slur, but rather discriminatory treatment her son faced at his high school.
Elgie did not respond to requests for comment.
The new chair, Loralea Carruthers, said that she has heard from many concerned parents, but that she has no power to force Elgie out.
“I am truly sorry for the hurt this incident has caused. It was utterly unacceptable,” Carruthers said. “I have had a conversation with Trustee Elgie and believe that she understands the seriousness of her actions, has learned from this experience and that her apology was sincere but I also know people are still rightfully upset and hurt by it. That said, there is no provision to remove a trustee from her position under Ontario law.”
“I have strongly urged my colleague to do what is required to make this right because . . . we need to work to ensure we hold ourselves accountable and continue our focus on student achievement and well-being.”
On Tuesday, Carruthers said trustees want to sit down with Elgie and figure “out how to move forward.”
In her private apology to Grant, Elgie said that she was not referring to Grant, but to the complaint she made to the board.
“There is no excuse for what I said, only the explanation that I was clumsily trying to refer to your concerns as reported in the media, not to you personally,” she said. “As soon as my brain registered what I had said, I was overcome with shock and dismay. I felt heartsick and deeply ashamed to have said something so hurtful — even unintentionally — and so foreign to the values I have held throughout my entire life,” wrote Elgie, 82.
“It also sickened me that I could have reinforced the systemic racism that so many have experienced in our society.”
Elgie’s apology came shortly after the conclusion of an independent investigation called by the board, after a small group of staff and trustees overheard the comment and complained.
Normally, trustees are subject to a code of conduct complaint, which must be brought forward by a fellow trustee. Under the code, a trustee is investigated and can be sanctioned by colleagues.
However, in this case, Parappally, decided to pursue an independent investigation under the board’s Respectful Workplaces and Learning Environments Policy, intended for staff.
The subsequent report, which was finished three weeks after it was supposed to have been completed, was shared internally with the staff who complained and with Elgie.
The York board is already in hot water with the province after a string of controversies, including numerous complaints about racist incidents and Islamophobia that are ignored, as well as a lack of transparency.