April 22, 2020
Dear Ms. Naylor and Mr. Case,
I wrote an Open Letter to you on April 14, 2021 alerting you to the fact that an Adjudicator with the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal (OHRT) found the York Catholic District School Board (YCDSB) guilty of discrimination and reprisal on September 21, 2011 (Correia v. YCDSB, File Number: TR-0823-09, Citation: 2011 HRTO 1733).
I also alerted you to the fact that on December 21, 2011, the Adjudicator ordered YCSDB to retain an individual with expertise in anti-racism and bias-free interviewing practices to develop and deliver training on these topics to the Board’s director of education, senior management, and trustees. This training was to be developed and conducted within six months of the date of the Decision (Citation: 2011 HRTO 2289).
I also alerted you to the fact that the OHRT ordered the YCDSB to provide to the applicant, and file with the Tribunal, the following: the curriculum vitae of the expert retained to develop and provide this training; the materials developed for this training; and confirmation that this training was provided as required (Citation: 2011 HRTO 2289).
Finally, I alerted you to the fact that the OHRT ordered that this training be provided on an ongoing basis to any new appointees to senior management positions at the Board or to newly elected trustees who are involved in interviews for positions of responsibility at the Board, and that a short refresher be provided every two years for continuing senior management members and trustees who are involved in interviews for positions of responsibility at the Board (Citation: 2011 HRTO 2289).
The director of education at the time submitted a letter to the OHRT on June 14, 2012 confirming that the training was held on June 11, 2012, and that Susan Joanis and Estella Muyinda developed and provided the training. She also submitted a copy of the agenda, and the materials developed and used for the training, and a list of the attendees at the training session, along with their signatures.
Based on this information, I am confirming that the director of education, the associate directors of education, and all superintendents and senior managers attended the initial training session on June 11, 2012, but only the Chair and the Vice-Chair of the Board attended the training session. This was Elizabeth Crowe and Teresa Ciaravella, who were Chair and Vice-Chair respectively at the time. No other trustees attended this initial training session.
I have a copy of the signature page of those who attended the initial training session and the director’s letter. The director, the associate directors, all superintendents and senior managers, and the Chair and Vice-Chair attended the initial training session. The Order states that the Board’s director of education, senior management, and trustees were to attend the training session, not just the Chair and Vice-Chair.
Additionally, the director’s letter to the OHRT states: “Subsequent training for new administrative staff and trustees (Chair and Vice-Chair of the Board) has been embodied in our operating procedures.”
What about the other trustees and the operating procedures for hiring directors of education? All trustees are responsible for hiring directors of education.
I’m now alerting you to the fact that the YCDSB is in violation of the OHRT’s Order.
Based on this information, we can assume that the current Chair (Dominic Mazzotta), the current Vice-Chair (Carol Cotton), past Chair (Elizabeth Crowe), past Chair and Vice-Chair (Maria Marchese), and past Vice-Chair (Dino Giuliani) have all received training in anti-racism and bias-free interviewing practices. So these five individuals knew, or ought to have known, that they needed to appoint a racialized director of education when they appointed Robert Hofstatter. These five individuals were defiant of the OHRT’s mandated training.
We can also assume, unless the Board of Trustees can provide evidence to prove otherwise, that all trustees did not receive anti-racism and bias-free interviewing practices training before appointing Ab Falconi and Robert Hofstatter as directors of education. Therefore, the YCDSB is in violation of the OHRT’s Order a second and third time.
Section 230 of the Education Act states that the Minister of Education may direct an investigation of a board’s affairs if the Minister has concerns that the board may have done or omitted to do something, and the act or omission:
(a) contravenes, indicates an intention to contravene or might result in a contravention of paragraph 2 or 3 of subsection 8 (1) or of a regulation made under section 11.1, clause 13 (7) (d.1) or section 170.1.
Section 170 (1) 18 states that every board shall do anything that a board is required to do under any other provision of this Act or under any other Act. Therefore, the YCDSB is required to follow an Order given by the OHRT; it has not.
The Education Act also states that the investigator the Minister of Education hires may be an employee in the Ministry or any other person. Since Minister Lecce governs the appointments of directors of education (Education Act 8 (11) 26.0.1) and approved Robert Hofstatter’s appointment, Minister Lecce cannot be asked to direct an investigation into this matter. So I’m bringing this matter to your attention, Ms. Naylor and Mr. Case. Since an employee of the Ministry or “any other person” can be hired to investigate, please investigate.
(Since I’ve already done an investigation for you, it’ll take you five minutes. Either the Board of Trustees can provide a signature page showing all trustees received anti-racism and bias-free interviewing practices training before appointing Ab Falconi and Robert Hofstatter as directors of education, and Mary Battista as interim director of education, or they can’t. I’ve already proven that the Board of Trustees violated the OHRT’s Order initially. This will confirm how many more times the YCDSB trustees violated the Order.)
Subsection (2) of Section 230 of the Education Act states that the Minister shall specify in writing which legal requirements referred to in section 230 are in issue. So please investigate the YCDSB’s compliance with the OHRT’s Order to provide anti-racism and bias-free interviewing practices training to all trustees – initially, every two years, and prior to the appointment of any positions of responsibility as it pertains to the appointments of Ab Falconi and Robert Hofstatter and Mary Battista as acting director of education.
Section 230.3 (2) of the Education Act states that if the Minister advises the Lieutenant Governor in Council that he or she is of the opinion that the board has failed to comply with a direction given under subsection (1), the Lieutenant Governor in Council may make any order that the Lieutenant Governor in Council considers necessary or advisable to vest in the Ministry control and charge over the administration of the affairs of the board. So please advise the Lieutenant Governor in Council of the YCDSB’s failure to comply with the OHRT’s Order, how many times the YCDSB failed to comply, and ask the Lieutenant Governor in Council to immediately put the YCDSB under Supervision.
Please also advise the Lieutenant Governor that Minister Lecce clearly knows having trustees sit on hiring panels is leading to discrimination in school boards across the province, but Minister Lecce is not removing trustees from hiring panels in school boards across the province, even though the Ontario Human Rights Commission has urged Minister Lecce, in writing, to do so. So Minister Lecce needs to be replaced and the Ministry of Education put under Supervision, too.
Section 230.7 (3) of the Education Act gives the Lieutenant Governor in Council exclusive jurisdiction as to the making of an Order under subsection 230.3 (2), and this jurisdiction is not open to question or review in any proceeding or by any court, so this shouldn’t be a problem.
The Honourable Elizabeth Dowdeswell holds 11 honorary doctorates including a teaching certificate from the University of Saskatchewan and has the word honourable in her title, so I expect she will understand the urgency of this situation and comply forthwith.
Next, I’m asking you to file a Disclosure of Wrongdoing with Ontario’s Integrity Commissioner – J. David Wake – as it pertains to Minister Lecce for his contravention of the Ontario Human Rights Code in education. It’s leading to gross mismanagement in the work of the Public Service of Ontario as outlined in the Public Service of Ontario Act, 2006. These issues are of significant importance, the errors are not debatable, and there is a systemic component to this wrongdoing, which poses a serious threat to public confidence in the integrity of the public service.
Finally, I urge you to contact Ontario’s Ombudsman – Paul Dubé – and request that Mr. Dubé’s Office immediately conduct an investigation into the systemic discrimination that is happening in education in school boards across the province, and Minister Lecce’s refusal to address it properly.
Please show the same awareness of your place in the world, the same higher consciousness and personal commitment to the work you are doing, and the same new style of leadership that the Peel District School Board (PDSB) Reviewers urged all educators and leaders, including elected leaders, to demonstrate – a new style of leadership that has “through rigorous assessment of its own strengths and weaknesses, demonstrated the capacity to face the evidence of systemic inequity and to grasp the complexity of the issues facing those less able to advocate for themselves.”
Please leave no stone unturned when it comes to changing the culture of an entire education system that has victimized many racialized young people.
The time for action is now. Please act swiftly and boldly to ensure that the Ministry of Education counters the very real issue of discrimination that has manifested within schools and within our society here in Ontario.
The hurt and trauma, often intergenerational, is very real – and it’s alarming.
(These were Minister Lecce’s words to the people of Ontario after the PDSB Review was released.)
One final comment - the poem written by Robert Fulghum called All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten sums this situation up perfectly.
For Premier Ford and Minister Lecce:
Play fair. Clean up your own mess. Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody. Everything you need to know is in there somewhere like politics and equality and sane living.
The poem also sums the situation up for the two of you:
Hold hands together. Take any of those items and extrapolate it into sophisticated adult terms and apply it to your work and your government and it holds true and clear and firm.
I look forward to hearing about your chosen next steps in short order.
Yours truly,
Debbie L. Kasman
M. Ed, Policy Studies, OISE/University of Toronto
Education Re-imagined
Analyst & Researcher, Author & Speaker
Follow Debbie on Twitter: @debbiekasman and on Facebook: DebbieLKasman
[Editor’s note: During a special board meeting later that evening, Trustees lafrate and Marchese put forth the following motion:
Whereas York Catholic District School Board (YCDSB) Policy 404 Teacher Recruitment and Selection (Purpose) states: “The teacher recruitment and selection processes shall be guided by, and advance, the Board’s Mission Statement and core values of equity, diversity and inclusion and shall be conducted in a fair and transparent manner, free from any bias, discrimination, nepotism and cronyism;”
Whereas these principles apply to all YCDSB hiring practices;
Whereas the YCDSB has hiring practices in place and must be committed to continuously reviewing/revising these practices, guidelines and policies, for permanent and contract positions, on a regular basis to ensure fairness, equity and transparency;
Whereas retirements have resulted in numerous senior staff vacancies;
Whereas it is imperative that the filling of these senior staff vacancies be done in accordance with updated hiring process, practices and guidelines;
LET IT BE RESOLVED:
THAT the Board immediately update its policies, processes and guidelines for all hiring of non-unionized staff, contract and permanent, from posting to offer of employment, to ensure that they reflect up to date equitable, inclusive and transparent process, guidelines and procedures.
THAT these processes be endorsed by the Board of Trustees and implemented by May 18, 2021.
THAT additional external resources be made available if needed to meet the May 18, 2021 Board implementation date.
THAT these revised processes be reviewed by the Human Rights and Equity Advisor to ensure they are free from bias and discrimination and reflect Human Rights and Equity Principles.
THAT effective April 22, 2021 a hiring freeze be imposed for all non-unionized vacancies.
THAT the hiring freeze be lifted once the updated hiring process is implemented effective May 18, 2021, or earlier.
On May 5, 2021 Patrick Case, Chief Equity Officer and Assistant Deputy Minister at Ontario’s Ministry of Education reached out to me for a telephone conversation. Mr. Case was hopeful some big changes would be announced within the next few months.
On September 7, 2021 the Ministry of Education announced it was seeking input from the public on how to strengthen accountability for school board trustees.]