Ontario teachers told they serve white supremacist system that must be destroyed

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Among the “competencies” are acknowledgements that teachers and staff work within schools beset by “colonial structures” and “white supremacy.”

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The equitably competent staff member, they are told, is one who “actively works to dismantle racist and oppressive school and system practices and structures” and “intentionally names, challenges and addresses white supremacy.”

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The Peel District School Board, which operates just to the west of Toronto, practises “equity audits” to ensure schools are appropriately purging themselves of alleged white supremacy.

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Online guidelines for the audits require Peel District educators to ask themselves if they are avoiding classroom practices that might come off as “Eurocentric” or “colonial.”

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“In what ways will you challenge white supremacy culture in your classroom practice?” it asks.

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In February 2024, all 20,000 teachers within the Toronto District School Board were supplied with a 40-page guidebook on “Facilitating Critical Conversations,” which declared that the very act of educating children in an institutional environment was part of  “a colonial structure that centres whiteness.”

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“Schooling in North America is inherently designed for the benefit of the dominant culture,” it wrote, defining the dominant culture as “white, middle-upper class, male, Christian, cisgender, heterosexual, able-bodied, neurotypical.”

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The guide advised, “therefore it must be actively decolonized.”

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The same guide also instructed teachers to prioritize race in all their interactions with students.

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“Race matters — it is a visible and dominant identity factor in determining people’s social, political, economic, and cultural experiences,” it read.

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But Facilitating Critical Conversations was ultimately removed by the Toronto District School Board following public backlash, with Ontario’s Ministry of Education saying it was needlessly divisive.

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IN OTHER NEWS

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This was the crowd at Thursday’s home opener of the NFL’s Buffalo Bills standing up to sing the Canadian national anthem, which was performed by Canada’s own Barenaked Ladies. O Canada has never really been featured at an NFL game (given that the league has no Canadian teams), but it was a gesture to the thousands of Canadian Bills fans who regularly cross the border for games. It illustrates an underappreciated facet of the U.S./Canada trade war, which is that even as record numbers of Canadians identify the U.S. as an enemy nation, the hostility is not being reciprocated. According to the latest Gallup poll, Canada is still one of the Americans’ favourite countries, with 80 per cent ranking it favourably. Photo by Screenshot via Facebook

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The word from Europe appears to be that “associate membership” status with the European Union isn’t actually a thing, despite the offer of such from European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Multiple EU diplomats interviewed by The Telegraph said they still had no idea what the term meant, and were skeptical of member states approving any kind of special relationship with Ottawa. Said one, “she knows full well there will be no associate membership. But she needed a strong headline that goes outside the bubble.” And all this EU talk might be a good time to mention that, to some British eyes, the whole “cozying Canada up to the EU” thing seems to represent a bit of unfinished business for Prime Minister Mark Carney. As governor of the Bank of England, Carney was vocally opposed to Brexit in the lead-up to the U.K.’s 2016 vote on exiting the European Union, a position that led to calls for his resignation. As Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg said at the time, “he has shown himself to be partial in a political debate when the Bank of England needs to be independent.” So, precisely 10 years after his efforts to prevent a British exit from the EU failed, Carney just so happens to be attempting some kind of Canadian entrance to the bloc.

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Prime Minister Mark Carney’s trip to the European Parliament ended up yielding a fair number of MEPs standing up to praise both him and Canada. Although the paeans were sometimes like that of German representative Damian Boeselager: heavy on stereotypes, with just a whiff of Old World condescension. “You have green hydrogen to keep us warm, you have maple syrup to keep us happy and Heated Rivalry to keep us entertained,” Boeselager told Carney. Photo by Screenshot from Damian Boeselager Instagram

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Last Wednesday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford praised Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow for doing an “incredible job,” and then telling the audience to “read between the lines” of his statement. The comment was widely interpreted as an endorsement of Chow, given that there’s a mayoral election this month – particularly given that a reporter had asked him if he was endorsing anyone in the race. Two days later, Ford said it actually wasn’t an endorsement, and blamed the media for any suggestion that it was.

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