It is time for the government of Ontario to take REAL action; Parents of Black Children 2nd Annual March

BY PAUL JUNOR

For two years now, the parent advocacy group, Parents of Black Children (PoBC) has been at the forefront of fighting for the rights of Black students in Ontario schools. It has lived up to its vision “To effectively engage education leaders to create an equitable and peaceful  education experience, free from oppression and anti-Black racism for students of African Canadian descent.” (www.parentsofblackchildren,org).

They have  been involved in the development of: Parent Resources, Ontario Trustee Tracker, Education Systems Navigator, Child Welfare Systems Navigator  and conducted Capacity Building Workshops as well as a Black Parent Mentorship Program. For Summer 2021. The program will be providing free academic tutoring to Black students. As parents, caregivers, guardians and students look forward to the start of the school year in September 2021, it will be organizing the second annual March for Black Students on Saturday, August 7^th, 2021 at 2:00 pm. It will be starting at Nathan Phillips Square/Toronto City Hall and moving to Queen’s Park.

In its promotional material posted on Facebook page it notes, “It’s time for the government of Ontario to take REAL action and ensure that Black students get the education they need and deserve.” It has updated its ten demands that were sent to the Government of Ontario and the Ministry of Education, which include the following;

• Reform the Education Act
• Investigate Education School Boards who participate in Systems Abuse against Black children
• Decolonize the curriculum
• Eliminate all streaming
• Police-Free schools province wide
• Collect race-based data and implement external equity audit of school boards
• Train, hire and retain Black teachers
• Implement accountability measures for teachers who exhibit anti-Black racism
• End Socio-Emotional Learning (SEL)
• Implement a Student and Parents Bill of Rights

PoBC commend some of the positive changes that have been implemented by the Ministry of Education within the last year such as: ending streaming in Grade 9, removal of police resource officers from some boards and the collection of race-based disaggregated data but believed that they are not extensive enough. It notes, “These changes do not go far enough and are not clear enough to offer significant impacts for Black children.”

They are particularly concerned about system abuse. They note, “More concerning, in our work with parents across this province, PoBC has begun to be exposed to the collusion of systems and institutions harming our children in overlapping spheres.” They state further that, “Various government entities from policing to school boards to child services are creating inequities that are harming and holding Black children from success.”

They are relentless in their struggle.