CRT and Gender Ideology on Steroids

Why We Must Kill Bill 67

This is a guest post by NotWokeTeacher.

Teaching and learning in Ontario public schools is already deeply fraught. It’s about to get downright dystopian, if Bill 67, the Racial Equity in the Education System Act, becomes law. 

This legislation essentially outlaws critical thinking for teachers. Currently, there’s some glimmer of hope that a critical thinker might enter the field, hoping to fight woke ideology  in the classroom and provide students with a meaningful education which promotes intellectual growth and viewpoint diversity. But Bill 67 mandates that  new Ontario educators must be indoctrinated into the tenants of anti-racism and gender ideology. If your teacher training program mandates ideological conformity, why would  a sophisticated, bright person even bother to enter teaching? The consequences of such a brain drain in my profession is chilling.

Bill 67 is not about fighting racism and gender identity-based bias. Everyday Canadians agree that race-based discrimination has no place in the classroom, and Bill 67’s language manipulates these commonly held views. Rather than acknowledge that Ontario already has strong laws which protect people against discrimination, Bill 67 claims that further state sanction is necessary. 

Since I’ve been in the trenches, I can assure you – the kind of anti-racism Bill 67 purports to fight is not about treating all children equally, regardless of sex, race, and sexual preference. It will actively apply the principles of intersectionality, ensuring that people of colour, along with members of the gender non-conforming/ trans community, will receive preferential treatment in some areas. Tragically, however,  they will also be subjected to lower academic expectations, since proponents of this bill assume that “marginalized” children  are less capable than their white and Asian peers.

When Conservative Member of Provincial Parliament Donna Skelly was contacted by one of her concerned constituents, she responded with not merely enthusiasm,  but pride in her support for additional graduation coaches for students of colour, destreamed grade 9  courses, and mental health funding for “students of colour, (who are) disproportionately at risk.”

Let that sink in, awhile. A conservative MPP advocates providing more resources to “racialized children.” You would think that after a global pandemic, she would advocate providing counseling for  all children, especially since many schools lack in-house guidance counselors. But no. The beneficiaries of care must have a particular skin colour. Some children are more worthy of compassion than others, and the metrics employed  is their level of pigmentation, not their state of mental health.

To add insult to injury, her racism is blatant: students of colour cannot handle streamed classes? What happens to the many talented young black mathematicians, who will no longer benefit from enriched lessons? Also, why not assign graduation coaches to any struggling student? Would a high achieving black student take a coach away from a weak white student? Welcome to the world of equity, where all that matters is your ranking on the intersectionality scale.

Perhaps the most disturbing component of Bill 67 is that it raises the stakes for schools to dismantle racism. But what is racism? According to professional development training I’ve received, intent isn’t what matters, it’s the offense taken. And if you do offend, you face penalties for your wrong speech, (or racist disruption, from the bill’s language)  in the form of $200.00 fines. 

This empowers colleagues and students alike to find, and report racist incidents, since there are no objective measures for what actually constitutes racism and transphobia . Frighteningly, administrations are not often transparent about racism within their schools; more than once, I’ve witnessed my administration decrying a “racist,” event in the school, without providing teachers with any details of said event, leaving me to wonder what happened, and how truly serious the event was. 

I can say that the goalposts are moving, rapidly. I have spoken with teachers, who choose to remain anonymous, who  have been suspended without pay for merely suggesting that Critical Race Theory (CRT) is divisive and potentially harmful to children. Chanel Pfahl, who formerly taught at the French MonAvenir Catholic School Board, is currently under investigation for making comments such as, “kids aren’t in school to be indoctrinated into critical race theory,” and sharing a video of the  British member of Parliament, Kemi Badenoch,  explaining why children should not be taught that whites are uniquely privileged.

There is no doubt that much of woke ideology has infested many Ontario schools. But, this legislation would weaponize these ideologies, to a far greater extent.  Teachers who’ve managed to stay under the radar,  in schools with liberal, tolerant administrations (there are still a few around), will be compelled to comply with the twin doctrines of anti-racism and gender ideology. Zealous teachers, students, and parents would feel even more emboldened to tattle on non-conformists – Pfahl was turned in by another teacher in Ontario. 

We are already in deep trouble. Canadian parents have yet to mobilize against CRT and gender ideology in the schools in an impactful way. But Ontarians have tremendous power. We can demand our elected officials kill this bill. That would be a powerful beginning; but until our politicians understand that we are not going to tolerate state-mandated dogma running our schools, they will keep pushing. They’ve already gone too far. We need to stop them. 

Please print, and sign this petition. Spread the word.