Teacher suspended after using racial slur in classroom at Ajax public school

Durham’s District School Board (DDSB) has launched an investigation after a video surfaced of a teacher using a racial slur in front of students at a public school in Ajax.

In a video submitted to CityNews, the teacher in question can be seen talking to students inside a classroom at Viola Desmond Public School. She’s surrounded by students, some of them Black, and openly discusses “using the N-word” before uttering the racial slur.

The mother of a child who was in the classroom at the time of the incident tells CityNews she was “shocked” after seeing the video. Tristan, whose last name is being withheld to protect the identity of her daughter, said she briefly considered whether or not to pursue the matter until it really “sunk in.”

“My concern was the fact that this was not the first time she’s done it. She’s done it in the school prior, conveniently walking up on other Black students and hearing their conversation,” explained Tristan. “What irked me was the fact she said ‘if I said it, I’d be a racist, right?’ And then she said the word.”

“To hear added information that she also did this with other students at another school and it was swept under the rug, nobody reported it, nobody said anything,” she said.

“It is very, very important that people that are not Black understand that it is not okay to use this word.”

Tristan says the teacher has been suspended for two weeks while an internal investigation is completed. She says her preference is not only for the teacher to be dismissed but that she not be able to teach in another class again.

Tristan added people need to stop making excuses and dismissing incidents such as these by saying ‘it’s just a word’, and she admitted that needs to start at home and in the community.

“We need to do better as a community not to say that word because that’s when we allow other people to feel so comfortable to say it.”

---

RELATED: ‘Racist and dehumanizing’ — Teacher under fire for wearing Blackface at Parkdale Collegiate

---

In a statement to CityNews, DDSB says it is looking into the matter.

“We are investigating reports that a teacher used a racial slur in the classroom at Viola Desmond Public School,” the statement reads.

“We are taking this matter very seriously, and an occasional teacher is currently teaching this class while we conduct an investigation. Racist slurs and all forms of discrimination under the Human Rights Code cause harm and are unacceptable in our learning and working environments. We are taking steps to address this situation.”

The school board says its offering support to students impacted by the incident and “thanks those who came forward.”

Files from Melissa Nakhavoly were used in this report