The Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) has released an extensive report to tackle and dismantle anti-Black racism in publicly-funded schools, with 29 calls to action.
The report, titled ‘Dreams Delayed: Addressing Systemic Anti-Black Racism and Discrimination
Ontario’s Public Education System,’ was developed in collaboration with Black students and educators, and focuses on four key themes which include: accountability, transparency, students well-being, and monitoring and evaluation.
According to the report, anti-Black racism in schools is at a crisis, with those consulted attesting to widespread use of racial slurs, Black students feeling overlooked, and Black educators even expressing exclusion from informal or formal networks and denial of mentoring opportunities.
“We know that racism and discrimination is traumatic, extremely painful and destructive,” OHRC Chief Commissioner, Patricia DeGuire, said at a press conference on Thursday.
“The commission calls on all duty holders in Ontario’s education system to perform their responsibility and legal duties… to improve outcomes for Black students, Black educators so they can learn and teach in a school environment free from discrimination and harassment,” she said.
The report sets out 29 calls to action, many of which are listed as immediate tasks to be undertaken by school boards and the Ministry of Education in one to two years to better enrich the lives of Black students.
Some of those actions include creating a framework addressing anti-Black discrimination, education duty holders creating Black affirming and empowering curriculum, and school boards creating inclusive guidance counselling for students, to name a few.
In addition, several intermediate actions have been laid out by the OHRC that must be undertaken within three to five years.
An intermediate action within the report includes school boards establishing a human rights office in each school which will be responsible for responding to discrimination, and create accountability measures for principles and board directors for human rights incidents.
In response to the report, the Ontario Teachers Federation released a joint statement alongside the Ontario English Catholic Teachers Federation and several affiliates welcoming the report and calls to action.
“OTF and its Affiliates recognize that the ubiquitous nature of anti-Black racism must be collectively identified and rooted out by all actors throughout education,” the statement said.
The statement went on to say that the groups are committed to continuing their work to better understand anti-Black racism and what they can do to identify, address, and eliminate anti-Black racism in education.
DeGuire stressed in her remarks during the press conference that “this is a collective work,” and all levels of education and governments must participate.
