Anti-racism consultants make recommendations for Franco-Manitoban School Division after slur used in classroom
Division says it is committed to acting on recommendations
The Franco-Manitoban School Division says it is prepared to adopt a series of recommendations from external consultants to address racism in all its schools, following an incident where a racial slur was used in a classroom in one of its schools.
The division hired consultants from the North American Center for Threat Assessment and Trauma Response last fall, about a month after a teacher at Collège Louis Riel in Winnipeg used the N-word in class.
The consultants said the division must recognize that racism does exist in its schools and make concrete steps to address inequality that take into account the views of students, parents and staff, according to a Friday news release from the division.
Their report also recommended anti-racism training for school staff and adopting specific guidelines around inclusion.
The division also hired Mamadou Ka from St. Boniface University to conduct discussions with students about what happened, which resulted in additional recommendations.
Those included education for division staff around issues of diversity and inclusion, supporting school groups, and developing clear rules around the use of slurs in the classroom.
The division said in its news release it accepts these recommendations and is committed to following through with them.
Though the recommendations were the result of the incident at Collège Louis Riel, they will be applied to all of the division's schools, said Dale Normandeau, director of Collège Louis-Riel.
"Racism is everywhere, and I think we need to recognize it is the first step in helping to eradicate it, to ensure that students in particular feel included in their community, parents feel included in their community," he said.
"It's work that needs to continue to happen and we need to communicate and work together to ensure that we make everybody feel included."
Beydi Traore, who is part of Parents Against Racism — a group that formed after previous incidents of racism at the school — said he's happy with the recommendations but would still like to see more concrete action taken.
"We want to see if it translates at the college, how it's going to work with the students," he said.
"But so far, it's going in the right direction."
For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians — from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community — check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here.