The Peel District School Board’s New Anti-Racism Policy

Critical Theory as Policy

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

By Igor Stravinski

Background- Incompetence, Corruption, Nepotism, Cronyism, and Dysfunction

If you have been following the saga of the PDSB over the last couple of years, you know that a major power struggle took place in which the senior management split into two factions, those loyal to former Director of Education Peter Joshua, and those allied with former (on leave or fired? We don’t know) Associate Director Poleen Grewal. What follows is a brief overview of the main events that have taken place but it is far from comprehensive.

Joshua, a moderate and traditional liberal, was planning to fire Grewal, an opportunist who had jumped on the woke bandwagon. She had been found guilty by an independent review (the McNair Report) of abusing her office to get high school credits (with marks of 100%) for her son. Grewal out-maneuvered Joshua. She filed a baseless human rights complaint against him which bought her time to stage a kind of coup. She had been working hard for years promoting people based on ideology and above all loyalty (certainly not competency!) and aligned herself and her minions with a small group of self-appointed “community leaders” who disrupted board meetings with their allegations of racism to the point where the Ministry of Education stepped in and conducted a review.

The three reviewers were postmodernist ideologues so the outcome was a foregone conclusion- The disproportionately poor academic achievement of black boys was the result of systemic racism (for optics sake Indigenous youth was also mentioned but they in fact make up a tiny fraction- less then one percent, of students in the PDSB). Of course, no other explanation was even considered, and the fact that many other groups who suffer from racism were doing really well (such as Asians) was glossed over. This was a power grab, plain and simple.

With two of the trustees, Kathy McDonald and Nokha Dakroub, firmly under the spell of Poleen Grewal and the community activists and the rest struggling to keep the ship afloat, the board requested a Ministry of Education takeover, a move they surely came to regret. A supervisor, Bruce Rodriguez, was put in charge of operations, at least on paper. A new, super-woke Director of Education, Colleen Russell-Rawlins, was hired. She brought a long list of cronies on board with her. She has since left to return to the Toronto District School Board where she is again reeking woke havoc. The PDSB trustees have been sidelined ever since- we’re paying them to do nothing!

Any hope that the new supervisor would put an end to the woke madness that had gripped the board quickly faded. It became clear that Doug Ford did not want to run afoul of the woke crowd in the lead-up to a provincial election. Ford, a conservative, was happy to see a public school board exposed as dysfunctional, incompetent, and racist. Conservatives favor charter schools and privatization of education in general and this whole mess was creating a demand for those things. It was a win-win!

The PDSB report concluded with a long list of “directives”, many of which were completely unrealistic, such as totally eradicating all vestiges of racism within a few months, and when all of these directives were not accomplished pronto, Peter Joshua was fired (but paid over half a million in hush money) along with many other senior administrators who were not okay with a small group of unelected people calling the shots in the province’s second largest school board. The money doled out for all those firings without cause is in the millions of dollars and continues. When the dust settled, the community activists were firmly in control of the board acting as puppet masters of Colleen and Poleen.

The new Anti-Racism “Policy”

On June 22, 2022, the board approved the following “policy statement”:

The vision of the future is made up of a tapestry of diverse individuals and communities who have a right to have an experience of life that is just, free, and full of joy. The Peel District School Board’s Anti-racism Policy assumes responsibility to ensure Indigenous, Black, and racialized people with all their intersecting identities, experience a just, a free, and joyful learning and working environments. The board affirms the declaration of Indigenous rights for those who seek sovereignty and is committed to those who seek equity. In doing so, the board recognizes its moral and legal responsibility to create and sustain environments that are free from racism, racial discrimination, harassment, and microaggressions. This policy statement enacts the responsibility of all stakeholders to effectively apply the principles of equity, anti-racism, and anti-oppression and uphold the protective grounds of the Ontario Human Rights Code. Doing so will ensure improved relationships, outcomes, and experiences for Indigenous, Black, and racialized communities as evidence of system transformation. The PDSB enacts this new policy as evidence of the organization’s growing racial consciousness to address historical and ongoing hurt and harm rendered upon Indigenous and racialized peoples. It intentionally seeks to address anti-indigenous racism and anti-Black racism which have consistently resulted in disproportionate outcomes for students, staff, and families. Additionally, this Anti-racism policy also seeks to address all other forms of racism and intersecting forms of oppression such as but not limited to anti-Asian racism, Islamophobia, antisemitism, anti-South Asian racism, and Hinduphobia. These experiences speak to the enduring impact of colonialism for which this policy seeks to address. Peel District School Board’s Anti-Racism Policy is an opportunity for a humanizing approach to the work of educational systems. This means the work to address racism will center the voices, experiences, and wellbeing of those historically and currently marginalized by our system. Appendix A Principles of equity and the recognition of inherent rights will form the basis of all decision making within the Peel District School. We do this work as a professional organization to create experiences that decenter whiteness and affirm the intersecting identities of Indigenous and racialized students, staff, and communities.

Is this policy aligned with Critical Theory?

The best place to start with regard to a critique of this rambling and incoherent statement is with the definition of a policy, which in this context, according to Merriam-Webster is “a definite course or method of action selected from among alternatives and in light of given conditions to guide and determine present and future decisions”. Based on that definition, what course or method of action is the board proposing? While this is far from clear, the following quotations seem to present the board’s intentions. It shall be the policy of the board to:

1. “...ensure Indigenous, Black, and racialized people with all their intersecting identities, experience a just, a free, and joyful learning and working environments”.

2. “…create and sustain environments that are free from racism, racial discrimination, harassment, and microaggressions”.

3. “…apply the principles of equity, anti-racism, and anti-oppression…”

4. “…address all other forms of racism and intersecting forms of oppression such as but not limited to anti-Asian racism, Islamophobia, antisemitism, anti-South Asian racism, and Hinduphobia”.

5. “...address racism… [by] center[ing] the voices, experiences, and wellbeing of those historically and currently marginalized by our system”.

6. “…create experiences that decenter whiteness and affirm the intersecting identities of Indigenous and racialized students, staff, and communities”.

Critical Theory holds that people do not act as individuals but rather play out their part on a continuum of privilege to oppression. People who are members of privileged groups must be induced to transfer power and resources to people who are members of oppressed groups. CT categorizes people into races, even though its adherents acknowledge that there is no biological basis for race. They will tell you that race is socially constructed, but they categorize people according to their physical appearance anyway since that is what people have been doing for the past several centuries so perpetuating race classifications is necessary to exact a kind of revenge or comeuppance. The brand of anti-racism the CT people are prescribing will, in their minds, erase past injustices by creating present, inverse injustices.

The vast majority of Canadians, from whatever ancestry or ethnic origin would not support CT, which is why its adherents have been careful to couch it in innocuous-sounding language like “Diversity”, “Equity” and “Inclusion”- all principles most Canadians would unreservedly support. But when we break down the six intentions listed above, we can see the “policy” is pure CT.

1. “...ensure Indigenous, Black, and racialized people with all their intersecting identities, experience a just, a free, and joyful learning and working environments”. It does not say all people should experience those things. It only mentions people who identify as belonging to specific groups. So you may be an underprivileged white student (there are plenty of them) but that is not the board’s concern because you belong to a privileged group.

2. “…create and sustain environments that are free from racism, racial discrimination, harassment, and microaggressions”. Sounds great. Until you realize the PDSB’s definition of racism is not the one you know, as Merriam-Webster puts it “a belief that race is a fundamental determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race”. No, it is the CT definition. So discriminating against students who are members of a group which is considered more privileged, by denying them equal access to special programs and support, for example, is okay.

3. “…apply the principles of equity, anti-racism, and anti-oppression…” Again, sounds very fair, until you come recognize the CT ideology:

   • “Equity” means equality of result: They want groups they consider to be oppressed to have the same education outcomes as privileged groups. This takes precedence over creating opportunities for excellence. This is evidenced by admission to regional programs based on a lottery, rather than merit, for example.

   • “Anti-racism” means discrimination against members of privileged groups to produce “equity” as defined above.

   • “Anti-oppression” means transfer of resources from privileged groups to oppressed ones. In any circumstance where inequitable outcomes between privileged and oppressed groups exist, it is taken as a self-evident truth that the reason is oppression inherent in the system.

4. “…address all other forms of racism and intersecting forms of oppression such as but not limited to anti-Asian racism, Islamophobia, antisemitism, anti-South Asian racism, and Hinduphobia”. This is a straw man, thrown in to try to make the policy resemble a traditionally liberal anti-racism approach but the first three intentions make the CT ideology very clear.

5. “...address racism...[by] center[ing] the voices, experiences, and wellbeing of those historically and currently marginalized by our system”. From a CT perspective, you cannot simply create a climate that welcomes and benefits everyone. You have to “center” members of the oppressed groups, which of course means de-centering others. Given the sheer number of groups, how can you do that? It is a bit like the problem facing a teacher in the classroom when every kid has it written in their Individual Education Plan that they must be at the front of the classroom.

6. “…create experiences that decenter whiteness and affirm the intersecting identities of Indigenous and racialized students, staff, and communities”. Pure CT. White people and their traditions need to be put down. That is the only way we can improve things for people in “marginalized” groups. What a depressing prospect.

Conclusion?

The PDSB is clearly taking a Critical Theory approach to education. There needs to be a fulsome discussion about that. Do we have to accept that we cannot have schools where everyone feels welcome and included, where everyone feels respected for the contributions they can make for the general good without being categorized as soon as they walk in the door? Do we have to teach some kids that they are oppressors and others that they are victims?

With the board under supervision, trustees shut out, and any employee who dares to question the orthodoxy being quickly shown the door, CT is steamrolling through the schools (and kids) with impunity. Most people do not have kids in the system. Even parents of kids in the schools lead such busy lives they can hardly be expected to keep a handle on what is happening. They trust that the schools are doing what is best for kids. By the time people realize that trust has been misplaced, it will be very hard to walk this all back.

CT proponents will tell you that traditional social justice as advocated by the civil rights pioneers of the 1960’s did not work and this radical new prescription is needed to bring an end to discrimination in the criminal justice and education systems and in society generally. That is simply false. While there is a way to go to fully achieve the goals set out sixty years ago, we have by any measure come a long way by applying the traditional principles of fairness, equality, tolerance, and access to opportunity and there is no reason to believe those things will not continue to work going forward. CT, with its reversion to race essentialism is a bleak and cynical worldview which would have us believe that equality of opportunity, merit-based achievement, and striving for excellence are all forms of oppression and the focus must instead be in ensuring that no one ends up ahead of anyone else. We must all stand together and reject this view.

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Igor Stravinsky is an anonymous Canadian high school teacher. For more of his writing - Teacher Professional Learning: Critical Theory in the Classroom (substack.com)