Urban Alliance on Race Relations is powerfully affecting systemic change within school boards in the GTA and Simcoe County

BY PAUL JUNOR

It has been over 47 years since the Urban Alliance on Race Relations (UARR) has been at the forefront of advancing social justice, racial equity, and human rights equality since it was founded in 1975.

They are a non-profit charitable organization that works primarily and proactively with the community, public and private sectors to provide educational programs and research, which are critical in addressing racism in society.

On Tuesday, June 28^th, 2022 they held Equity in Education Forum to advance racial justice in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). This forum was organized as a continuation of on-going discussion and culmination of local grassroots campaigns to affect systemic change within school boards in the GTA and Simcoe County. It is in alignment with the Equity in Education project that the UARR, along with other stakeholders: Council of Agencies Serving South Asia (CASSA), Chinese Canadian National Council Toronto Chapter (CCNCTO), Ontario Alliance of Black School Educators (ONABSE) and Tamil Canadian Centre for Civic Action (TCCCA).

Eman Zahid, who was formerly the Muslim Community Project Coordinator of the CASSA, made the opening remarks for the forum. Kathy McDonald, Trustee of the Peel District School Board (PDSB) spoke on behalf of the board, which has made great changes as it seeks to comply with the 27 ministerial directives from the Ministry of Education.

The PDSB approved the first-ever Anti-Racism Policy on Wednesday, June 22^nd, 2022 as well as the “Black Student Success Strategy: We Rise Together 2.0.” Louise Sirisko, Director of Education of the York Region District School Board (YRDSB) has seen changes in the board as it seeks to address anti-Black racism. They appointed Darcie Sutherland to oversee its anti-Black racism strategy in 2021, and officially launched its “Dismantling Anti-Black Racism Strategy: Creating anti-racist and Black-affirming learning and Working Environments,” on March 8^th, 2021.

Director Sirisko states, “The launch of the strategy demonstrates the Board’s commitment to anti-racism, human rights and to dismantling systemic oppression at our Board,” (educationnewscanada.com). There were presentations made by the four collaborative partners as well as community-based panellists who discussed issues with respect to: Islamophobia, anti-Asian racism, anti-Black racism, and Tamil genocide education week.

The UARR and the CCNCTO have been calling on TDSB and YRDSB to develop a formal action plan to dismantle anti-Asian racism in their respective boards. They launched a petition seeking signatures to force these boards to initiate the process of formulating an action plan as a bold attempt to address systematic anti-Asian racism.

Anyone interested in learning about the Urban Alliance on Race Relations can check:

Website: https://www.urbanalliance.ca

Instagram:@uarrcanada