April 30, 2021
Nancy Naylor
Deputy Minister
Ontario Ministry of Education
Patrick Case
Chief Equity Officer
Ontario Ministry of Education
Dear Ms. Naylor and Mr. Case,
Here is the first Open Letter I wrote to you stating that the York Catholic District School Board was found guilty of racial discrimination and reprisal in 2011.
Here is the second Open Letter I wrote to you stating that the York Catholic District School Board is in violation of an Ontario Human Rights Tribunal Order.
On April 28, 2021 I wrote to you a third time to say we had just reached a point in Ontario where schools have to defy school board trustees in order not to discriminate against students and in order to do the right thing for kids.
David Harvey, a retired lawyer, had pointed out that "after a majority of the Halton Catholic District School Board trustees voted against flying the Pride flag at schools, every single high school in the board took to Twitter to make it clear where they stand. Note that for many, even the school logos were changed."
I asked you to speak with the Lieutenant Governor in Council and ask her to place the Ministry of Education under Supervision. I also asked you to file a Disclosure of Wrongdoing for gross mismanagement in the work of the Public Service with Ontario’s Integrity Commissioner as it pertains to Minister Lecce for his contravention of the Ontario Human Rights Code in education. And I urged you to contact Ontario’s Ombudsman 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.
You replied (after my third Open Letter), Mr. Case, that you would call me, but you didn’t call. An Administrative Coordinator did, however, contact me to set up a conference call for this coming Wednesday instead.
Now today I’m writing to alert you that we've also now reached a point where disgraced York Region District School Board Trustee Elizabeth Terrell-Tracey (disgraced for previously posting racist and defamatory social media posts) is being accused (by Louis Busch of the Bear Clan Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation and others) of being the handler of a Twitter troll account (@Swag_song) that has been harassing parents of children with autism for more than 2 years.
This prompted the Chair of the York Region District School Board to issue a statement assuring families, students, staff and community members that the comments shared by this account do not represent the views or values of the Board of Trustees or the York Region District School Board and that the Board has referred the information to the Integrity Commissioner for review and consideration, which will, most likely, lead to yet another extremely expensive investigation into Trustee Terrell-Tracey's conduct, which, if based on the results of previous investigations, will lead to no change, which is further evidence that Minister Lecce is both guilty of discrimination and wrongdoing for gross mismanagement in the work of the public service.
Today, I’m asking you both again, Ms. Naylor and Mr. Case:
Have you spoken with the Lieutenant Governor in Council about the situation and Minister Lecce's refusal to deal with the problem?
Have you filed a Disclosure of Wrongdoing with Ontario's Integrity Commissioner?
Have you contacted Ontario's Ombudsman?
The evidence for discrimination and wrongdoing just keep piling up.
I look forward to hearing everything you are doing to eliminate this horrific trustee problem when we speak during our scheduled teleconference on Wednesday.
Sincerely,
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: On May 5, 2021 Patrick Case, Chief Equity Officer and Assistant Deputy Minister at Ontario’s Ministry of Education reached out for a telephone conversation. He was hopeful some big changes would be announced in 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.]