Deborah Buchanan-Walford challenges the OSSTF to live up to the ideals of its values, missions, and core beliefs

BY PAUL JUNOR

Deborah Buchanan-Walford has been active over the years as an Adult Day School teacher in the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) since she started in 2007. She was unfortunately kicked out of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation (OOSTF) annual meeting as she attempted to initiate a standing committee for dismantling anti-Black racism.

Subsequently, there was an in-house equity team established named the Black Persons and Persons of Colour Work Group to address issues related to anti-Black racism and intersectional oppression. Deborah has been part of a group of teachers known as “OSSTF Disruptors,” who challenge the OSSTF to live up to the ideals of its values, missions, and core beliefs.

After announcing on Twitter on May 3^rd, 2021 that she was running for an Executive Officer position and being elected in June 2021 there was much hope, promises, and expectations that the top ranks of the 55,000 strong members would address and listen to her concerns. Deborah sent an email to the Toronto Teacher Bargaining Union of the OSSTF indicating that she was resigning from her position. “This is my final email to you in the role of executive officer in the OSSTF Toronto. I am resigning effective today.”

She describes the challenges she faced, obstacles encountered, and the realities of one-on-one interaction with members. She continues, “This is about the systemic culture of oppression of this space. It is about the inability to engage in meaningful work for the betterment of the entire OSSTF Toronto membership because of a deeply entrenched hierarchical structure.

It is about how the dividing forces of this executive seem to be above all else maintaining the status quo, remaining in their positions for as long as possible and showing a united front as we operate as a human resource department instead of their portrayed image of advocacy and organizing space for membership.”

Deborah described details of what she experienced on a daily basis. She outlines, “All of this is compounded by a determined, wilful resistance to any equitable, and anti-racist and/or anti-oppressive frameworks in this union, despite our obligation as educators as basically just humans on this earth to do so.

I could not continue to work in a space that despite my best efforts to identify issues and ask for support and resolutions was persistently harmful in its mandate, its processes, and the rhetoric used by my colleagues on a daily basis. It’s further compounded by the relentless, ever-present hostility I had to face in this space for the past few months just because I had the audacity to want to be there.”

She concludes that she could not compartmentalize and suppress her identities to survive in that space.

Anyone interested in learning about her work of Deborah can check social media sites:

Facebook: Deborah Buchanan -Walford

Twitter:@DeborahBWal22