Christian elementary and secondary schools in Ontario are private.  This makes them essentially unaccountable.  These schools do not need to comply with procedure and policies of Ontario school boards, and they are free to follow their own standards and curriculums*.  This means racism and white supremacy in these schools can go completely unnoticed and undetected by the public.

Confronting racism and being actively anti-racist cannot wait any longer.  It is not acceptable to hide behind private school walls.  We believe Christian schools have a duty to society to teach honestly and apologetically about the harms perpetrated by the Church against Black People, Indigenous Peoples, and POC.  Schools must listen, learn and take an active stance to combat systemic racism and white supremacy within their own institutions.

Private schools in Ontario who are part of the Edvance Christian School Association have claimed to promote inclusivity, but we -- as alumni -- have seen little done to combat the systemic issues within the schools we once attended.  This petition is to push for transparency on how private Christian schools will make changes to confront the racism in their communities.

Therefore we are calling for individual schools to:

• Publish a public statement regarding their efforts to continue the fight against racism.
• Require every faculty, staff and board member take a mandatory anti-oppression course which highlights the systemic racism in Canadian culture, history and public systems.
• Collect race-based data on the student body, faculty and staff to be released every year and in detail.  This information is crucial to the school’s transparency and could give a BIPOC family the essential information they need when choosing a high school.
• Intentionally diversify their curriculum.  Teaching students from a narrow, Euro-centric and non-diverse curriculum encourages white supremacy to be carried into the next generations.   We demand that the history of the Church and Christianity taught be honest and complete, addressing the wrongs of the Church against all those who have been marginalized.  This process should be started by looking at the calls to action in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and in the Report on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls in Canada.

Lastly, if the Edvance Christian School Association wishes to truly be a welcoming, diverse and safe space for those who are not white, once all the above calls to action have been met, we recommend providing scholarships and significant financial aid to BIPOC families wishing to attend their schools, and BIPOC faculty must be hired so  students see themselves reflected in those who are teaching them.

We wish to make these places of learning safe for the generations to come.

*Our Kids (2020). This includes a list of all the private schools in Ontario with their legislation, policies and procedure.