coLLABORATIVE

Racial Equity in Education

As part of the Collaborative to Combat Online Hate Initiative.

About this Project

In collaboration with the Urban Alliance on Race Relations, Chinese Canadian National Council of Toronto, Tamil Canadian Centre for Civic Action, and Ontario Alliance of Black School Educators, CASSA launched the Racial Equity in Education project in 2020. The project aims to engage in two years of groundwork for systemic change in education policy, focused on challenging racial discrimination in Ontario’s school system.

Project Process

Along with these community organizations, we brought together the existing work on racial equity, and launched a volunteer recruiting campaign to establish and train a volunteer team, consisting of high school students and parents. Each organization aimed to put together a team consisting of 10 high school students and 10 parents of students, that would represent their communities within the project.

Volunteer Teams

Building Capacity

Along with these community organizations, we brought together the existing work on racial equity, and launched a volunteer recruiting campaign to establish and train a volunteer team, consisting of high school students and parents. Each organization aimed to put together a team consisting of 10 high school students and 10 parents of students, that would represent their communities within the project.

Regional Community Programs

In addition to these trainings, the project launched regional community forums, spanning across Scarborough, York, Peel, and Durham region, designed to determine and understand what educational issues each community was most concerned with, and how we might go about tackling them. To gain further insight from the community, we also hosted community-specific forums in November 2020, which were attended by members of the Chinese, Black, Tamil, and Muslim communities. In November 2020, we hosted the Youth Racial Justice Summit, directed at engaging racialized youth by tackling subjects such as the school to prison pipeline, anti-racist curriculum building, and introductions to policy and advocacy, and in June, we organized the Back to Basics Conference: Addressing Racism in Ontario’s Secondary Schools.

2021 Volunteer Recruitment Materials

Are you a Muslim high school student or parent/guardian? Would you like to combat racism and Islamophobia in the education system? CASSA is recruiting volunteers for its Coalition for Racial Equity in Education (CREE) project in collaboration with the Urban Alliance on Race Relations.

This project will equip you with advocacy skills in order to make the education system more equitable for Muslim students and staff. Over the past year, CREE has held community forums, training sessions with volunteers, conferences, and has supported a motion to establish an anti-Islamophobia strategy at the Peel District School Board. Apply by December 1st by completing this form.

Are you a Muslim high school stud

PDSB Anti-Islamophobia Strategy

Islamophobia is ingrained,” said Dakroub at the conference outside of the Mississauga Peel District School Board office.
“Public education is the key to breaking down systemic barriers.” – The Star