NDP: Investigation into anti-Black racism at Peel school board must be independent, public
QUEEN’S PARK — The NDP critic for Anti-Racism, Laura Mae Lindo, released the following statement regarding the province’s decision to investigate concerns about anti-Black racism at the Peel District School Board (PDSB):
“Complaints of anti-Black racism at the Peel District School Board are deeply troubling. All students, teachers, education workers, parents and board members have a right to be free from discrimination and racism — including pernicious systemic racism, which devalues children and derails their education.
The NDP supports an investigation into the charges of anti-Black racism at the PDSB, but it’s critical that the investigators appointed by the Ford government are independent, and that the results of their investigation be made public.
The NDP will continue to fight to eradicate racism in Ontario. That includes our ongoing call for the Ford government to reverse its decision to gut Ontario’s Anti-Racism Directorate (ARD) and eliminate the unpaid ARD advisory groups. Ontario schools are not immune to a history of anti-Black racism, and government after government hasn’t done the work to address it, and to ensure students are free from discrimination.”