Toronto Catholic District Board fails to address systemic anti-Black racism as a problem

BY PAUL JUNOR

It has been over two years now since Dr Brendon Browne took over the helm of the Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB). He acknowledged the realities of anti-Black racism and made several promises to implement changes with respect to policies, programs and procedures. Over the years, there has been widespread media coverage of racist acts at several catholic schools, such as: St. Mother Theresa Catholic S.S.  Notre Dame Catholic S.S, and Monsignor Percy Johnson Catholic S.S.

The failure of the TCDSB’s last Equity Action Plan (2018- 2021) to even use the term “Anti-Black Racism” shows the level of systemic denial of the realities of the problem. Jeann Davis, who is running to be elected as Ward 4 trustee on October 24^th, 2022, states that the Equity Plan fails short in providing tangible goals and corresponding actions at the school or classroom level.

With respect to the 2022-2025 Multi-Year Strategic Plan she observes, “There are no SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound) goals that lay out what the Board is working to achieve, or data sources on how it intends to measure progress.”

The African Canadian Advisory Committee (ACAC) has been active for the past five years in bringing issues of significance to the TCDSB. So far in 2022, it has met on six occasions most recently on June 23^rd, 2022, in order to put pressure on the board to address longstanding and systemic issues. There is very little progress to show for the hard work that former members such as Kirk Mark and Lennox Farrel have done. The lack of improvement has been very disheartening and frustrating to members of the ACAC, who still continue to advise the board.

Donna Harrow of the ACAC observed at the May 24^th meeting that there would be discussions regarding the five-year strategic plan that went into effect in late 2020 to the board. There were concerns expressed by community members about the appointment of Derek Chen as Superintendent, Equity, Indigenous Education and Community Relations in 2021 with respect to his qualifications. He has moved on to the Ministry of Education and his position remains vacant.

It was under his leadership that there was hope that the Special Advisory Committee on Race Relations, which was created in 2020, would make a difference. Unfortunately, its Terms of Reference were only brought to the Board for approval on March 10^th, 2022. Hopefully, it will be up and running in the next school year. There is still a lot of work to be done on the board Dismantling Anti-Black Racism Strategy. Concerns have been raised about the slow pace of changes at the TCDSB by the Ontario Alliance of Black Educators (ONABSE). Despite meeting with Director Browne, Superintendent Chen, and Lavina Lotham, Human Equity Advisor, ONABSE launched #cuethestrategy to draw attention to the immediacy and importance of ensuring that TCDSB gets serious about putting a viable strategy in place immediately.