Students allege Oakville school, board not doing enough to address ongoing anti-Black racism

Students at an Oakville high school say they are frustrated with administration and the school board after reporting recent incidents of anti-Black racism involving teachers.

Two students at Holy Trinity Catholic Secondary School, who spoke anonymously with CityNews, said they feel unsafe and say it’s time for the school to step up and do more to protect all students.

One of the incidents involving a teacher happened on Monday and was partly recorded by students. In the two-minute video provided to CityNews, a teacher can be heard calling three Black students “idiots” after the teacher heard them outside in the hallway.

The lead-up to what caused the incident was not captured on video. The student involved told CityNews the teacher confronted them for being loud in the hallway.

The teacher can be heard saying, “Because you idiots are laughing and making noise in the hall, outside of my door that I heard or saw, but I can’t tell them to move along and be quiet, because they’re Black.”

“I’ve already been accused of being a racist, you can accuse me of a lot of things but not that. I’ve been called down to the principal’s office, how many Black children do you have in your class? Why don’t you ask me how many idiots I got in the class? One. The one that complained to their parents that then called the school. Don’t be using excuses like that,” the teacher says in the recording. She also claims to have nearly 40 years of teaching experience.

WATCH: Video captures teacher calling Black students ‘idiots’

The student involved said she wasn’t aware it was captured on video until students showed her afterwards. “Students from her class played me the video, of her calling me and my two other Black friends idiots and how we are Black, and how she can’t talk to us because we’re Black. I just felt that was racist.”

“Why am I being referred to as a Black student? How come I can’t be referred to as a student in general and how come a teacher can’t come and talk to me? She is telling me a teacher can’t come and talk to me because of the color of my skin,” they said. “I felt disrespected. I felt like, Wow, someone can’t talk to me because of the color of my skin.”

The student added they went to the teacher afterwards and the teacher demanded an apology from them. “I didn’t want to make a scene, so I apologized to her. I asked, ‘Can I get an apology back?’ She said no, I was disrespectful, she started to raise her voice at me.”

At that point, another teacher removed the student from the classroom. According to the teen, the vice-principal was made aware of the situation.

The teacher has not been in class since the incident on Monday, according to students who spoke to CityNews.

“I used to think I felt safe and protected but now with this situation happening and this is like the fifth or so time,” the student said. “So at what point is it going to stop?”

The pupil said they have not heard anything from the Halton Catholic District School Board or from any school administrators.

In a statement to CityNews, Holy Trinity’s administration team said they become aware of this matter on Monday afternoon and “a comprehensive review is currently underway.”

“While privacy legislation does not allow us to share any specifics around incidents involving students or staff, all concerns that are brought to the attention of our school administration team are taken very seriously and immediately reviewed and investigated.”

Parents say they’ve expressed concerns to school administrators multiple times, but there was a lack of transparency and accountability.

Students at Holy Trinity say they fought to create an equity and equality committee, since the school and the board has not been responsive to reports of racism made to administrators.

In the statement a spokesperson for the school board notes it has implemented a number of initiatives to create an inclusive and welcoming learning environment, “including a protocol that specifically outlines how to respond to incidents of racism and discrimination when they occur.”

A recent report on racism in schools from advocacy group Parents of Black Children noted that while Halton Region’s school boards only accounted for three per cent of reported in-school incidents over all, multiple parents had reached out about increasing reports of anti-Black racism.

One of the incidents of note from Halton was “an ongoing issue of systemic racism and anti-Black racism from guidance staff at an unnamed high school is known to the board, but nothing is being done to address it.”

The students at Holy Trinity say there was another incident at the school in November 2021 in which a teacher told students to turn off their music, using the ‘N’ word to describe the music.

Students say they were never told how or whether administration addressed the incident with the teacher. When asked, both the Halton Catholic District School Board and Holy Trinity did not respond to CityNews’ questions about what happened.

“It just makes Black people feel uncomfortable, especially the younger kids who haven’t really experienced any of that,” said another student who spoke to CityNews about their concerns at the school. “It sucks because we’ll tell a higher figure, and nothing will happen. So that just is backlash on us as well, that doesn’t make us feel good.”

The student also said that when an incident like this occurs, the school tells them to keep it “low-key and not spread it out,” but that they’ll launch an investigation. “Nothing really happens until someone gets a parent involved. If a parent is not involved, then the school most likely wouldn’t even reach out.”

The student added especially this year, incidents involving race have been happening “back-to-back,” adding, “we don’t feel respected basically and we feel like we’re always having to reach out for help.”

“A lot of new Black students joined our school this year. So when they came into the school environment, they’re actually really taken aback. Because they’ve never experienced things like this at their schools.”

They said with the new equity committee they hope to make a difference for these students.

“We want to start with the teachers and educate them and teach them how they can be more inclusive. I’m not saying it’s every teacher, but there are obviously teachers that need to learn.”

“It’s so important for me, because when I was younger, like there truly was no other Black kids in Oakville. So I want to make that difference. I want Black kids to be comfortable. I want them to feel like they belong, and they’re protected,” said the student. “No one should go into the school thinking like, ‘No one’s going help me. Nobody supports me.’ Especially when something as big as a race issue appears.”