Just as the school year kicked off, staff in an Ontario elementary school were apparently told that they worked within a bastion of white supremacy that needed to be destroyed from within.
asserted
that → kick → supremacy
It’s a projected slide from a Sept. 14 all-staff meeting held within an unidentified elementary school in the York Region, just north of Toronto.
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It → ’ → Toronto
The slide presents the assembled teachers with 10 “anti-oppression agreements.”
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slide → present → agreements
Among them, “I will accept that the institution of Education is an instrumental tool for maintaining and furthering the ideology of white supremacy.”
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institution → accept → supremacy
The next “agreement” then includes a commitment to “dismantle the structures and systems of white supremacy.”
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agreement → include → supremacy
“It was just styled as an ‘agreement,’” wrote Kay on X, adding that the teachers weren’t required to recite the text.
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teachers → style → text
As of press time, the York Region District School Board did not respond to queries about the slide’s authenticity.
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Board → respond → authenticity
But the language isn’t all that different from any number of official materials distributed to Ontario teachers declaring that they are servants of a white supremacist hierarchy.
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they → distribute → hierarchy
In 2024, the York Region District School Board published a framework on “Dismantling Hate and Oppression,” which claimed schools are shot through with “colonial ideology” and that staff are all unwitting purveyors of white supremacy.
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staff → publish → supremacy
“The ideology of white supremacy impacts attitudes and behaviours in all peoples, regardless of race, culture, gender, or religion and this, over time, contributes to these behaviours and attitudes becoming normalized and taken-for-granted,” the board document says.
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document → impact → granted
That same year, the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario published a 20-page “anti-oppressive framework primer,” which similarly tells teachers they operate within an inherently oppressive system that they must be “working intentionally to dismantle.”
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they → publish → that
As evidence, the report cites the existence of “Crazy Hair Day” in schools, as it perpetuates a “dominant Euro-centric culture” while also stigmatizing the mentally ill.
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it → cite → ill
It is demeaning to those living with a mental illness and unfairly stigmatizes those whose hair does not conform with the norm on a daily basis as ‘crazy,” it reads.
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it → live → basis
“For students and colleagues who for example, wear hijabs, turbans, or have complex medical needs, are their voices being included in days such as this?”
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voices → wear → this
The Waterloo Region District School Board publishes a regularly updated guide to the “equity competencies” its teachers are supposed to exhibit, and this includes several statements not far removed from the “anti-oppression agreements” in the York Region meeting.
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this → publish → meeting
Among the “competencies” are acknowledgements that teachers and staff work within schools beset by “colonial structures” and “white supremacy.”
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teachers → work → structures
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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who → tell → supremacy
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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schools → operate → supremacy
“In what ways will you challenge white supremacy culture in your classroom practice?” it asks.
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it → challenge → practice
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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that → supply → whiteness
“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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it → design → class
The guide advised, “therefore it must be actively decolonized.”
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it → advise → ?
The same guide also instructed teachers to prioritize race in all their interactions with students.
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guide → instruct → students
“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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it → matter → experiences
IN OTHER NEWS
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.
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status → appear → 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.
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states → interview → Ottawa
Said one, “she knows full well there will be no associate membership.
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she → say → ?
But she needed a strong headline that goes outside the bubble.”
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that → need → 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.
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thing → mention → 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.
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that → exit → 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.”
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Bank → say → England
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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Carney → prevent → bloc
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.
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Ford → praise → 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.
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he → interpret → 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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it → say → suggestion
The Aporia
