The tragedy of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

And the unfair treatment of a celebrated Canadian principal

Photo by Mathias Reding on Unsplash

By

James Pew

The first time I met Richard Bilkszto was in a group Zoom meeting hosted by Lighthouse. I had only been a Lighthouse member for a few months and was anxious to hear from anyone who had ideas about how to oppose wokeism. Regardless, I found Richard to be intense. And worse it seemed to come more from a place of distress rather than passion. I didn’t understand it. Catherine Kronas (Lighthouse founder) let me know afterwards that Richard had been a target of the woke in some way. That made more sense, but I still didn’t really get it. 

After the meeting Richard reached out to me. He liked what a small group of us Lighthouse people were doing with the Woke Watch Canada concept, and he knew that I was interested in writing more about dysfunctional Canadian school boards. During our first phone conversation - the first of many that would follow over the next couple of years - Richard was far more relaxed. I could see he was more than a ball of stress. He shared the details of his case - which would later be published in the National Post. But during our initial conversations, he had not yet decided to go public with his story so everything he told me was off the record.

What was apparent right away, even in that initial Zoom meeting when Richard’s anxiety levels were ramped up, was that he was a natural born leader, but he also knew how to organize at a grassroots political level. That, plus the 24 years of experience as a TDSB principal meant that he offered essential guidance. Apparently, as I’ve learned recently, he offered this guidance to many people, including Catherine Kronas who he helped when she ran for Trustee in Hamilton last year, and the great Canadian journalist Sue-Ann Levy, who posted about her gratitude for Richard on Twitter.

Richard’s case was awful. It involved a brutal Critical Race Theory informed Diversity Equity Inclusion (DEI) struggle session held at the Toronto District School Board - where Richard was a celebrated principal recognized for his excellence in leadership - and included the attendance (over Zoom due to COVID) of hundreds¹ of his colleagues. Over the course of two sessions Richard was singled out and humiliated. For pushing back on the claim that Canada is a racist dystopia, it was insinuated that he was a white supremacist.  

What happened next, as reported in the National Post, “the day after, Bilkszto was given a talking-to by his higher-ups about his ‘male white privilege’ and the ‘fallout’ from the training. Instead of defending him, they berated him further.”

Richard, in fact, was not a white supremacist, however, he was very generous with his time. Whenever I reached out to him with questions regarding an article I was working on, he was always up to talk and offer input. He was an invaluable resource, but also someone who I became an ally of. Once I understood the details of his case - a case which later resulted in a worker’s compensation board ruling in Richard’s favour - I became a strong advocate for his side. Although at the time, Richard didn’t want me to publish anything about it or show my support publicly, or try to rally more of it. 

Richard was tortured about his case.  He confided in me that after the TDSB struggle sessions where he was egregiously singled out and bullied, he had needed therapy to help deal with the psychological trauma of the humiliation he endured in front of so many of his co-workers. What is so maddening about Richard's situation, and so many similar scenarios in the culture of wokesim, is that none of Richard’s colleagues came to his aid. Surely with so many other principals present at least a few dozen, if not more, would have agreed that maybe Richard had a point when he defended Canada’s record on racism. But it appears that all of Richard’s colleagues were frozen in fear and all chose to remain silent, regardless of how they may have felt, instead of risking the moderator-bully turning her ire on them.

But somehow, learning that the DEI struggle session negatively affected Richard psychologically and that he had needed professional help was still not enough for me to fully appreciate what Richard had endured. Not until Catherine called me and told me it was too late did I understand the awful soul-crushing spirit-defeating distress roiling inside the man. It was supremely unfair what happened to Richard, it drove him to a dark conclusion, and we are all worse off because of it.

Thank you for your time and attention Richard, I will really miss our talks. Mostly though, I am very sad that things could not have turned out differently for you. Your contributions to the TDSB, to the students and parents you represented, and to the anti-woke types who have been trying to make education sane again, are irreplaceable. Our loss is enormous, this tragedy stings.

___

Thanks for reading. For more from this author read, Soft bigotry leads to hard suffering

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1. Hundreds of collegues? I am going by memory. I think Richard told me the number was over two hundred.