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circular logo of adults encircling children with the text Parents of Black Children

In Solidarity With Parents of Black Children and Allied Organizations

/ 2 minutes of reading

Parents for Diversity is an Ottawa-based group of parents, caregivers, and allies with varied lived experiences working to support parents and caregivers as they advocate for their children in educational spaces using an intersectional, anti-oppression lens. We recognize the pervasiveness of anti-Black racism in Ontario schools and the adverse effects of anti-Black racism on Black […]

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If you’re tired of talking about race, consider how Black communities feel…

/ 9 minutes of reading

Law Professor and mindfulness practitioner Rhonda Magee wrote in her latest book The Inner Work of Racial Justice that “racial justice begins with ourselves.” She shares vulnerable stories of racism and injustice that she defines as “race stories.” Why are “race stories” relevant in how we parent our children and our accountability to anti-racism efforts? Race stories include

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Communication tool to help parents and caregivers advocate for their children’s education

/ 1 minute of reading

Given the unique times that we are experiencing during the COVID-19 pandemic, we at Parents for Diversity understand that parents and caregivers, who are tasked with supporting their children during school closures, may need extra support. P4D has developed a communication tool, written in multiple languages, to help parents reach out to teachers and administration to

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The logos of the City of Ottawa and the Ottawa Police Service

Mayor Watson and Chief Sloly: Enforcement of COVID-19 measures must respect human rights

/ 3 minutes of reading

Dear Mayor Watson and Chief Sloly,  Parents for Diversity is a non-profit organization of parents, educators and equity allies committed to achieving inclusive and non-discriminatory learning environments that allow children to fulfill their true potential in this world.  We are writing to you in your role as leaders of this city responsible for ensuring the

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Why We Should Celebrate Black Authors During Black History Month

/ 5 minutes of reading

What do last night’s Academy Awards and Black authors have in common? You may recall a tweet by Stephen King in January in which he claimed, “…I would never consider diversity in matters of art. Only quality. It seems to me that to do otherwise would be wrong.” For King, “those judging creative excellence should

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How to Break Barriers!

/ 1 minute of reading

We are full of gratitude for all the educators, parents, and caregivers who joined us this weekend for Breaking Barriers: Achieving Black Student Excellence. While many painful and difficult facts about the challenges Black students face in educational spaces were presented, innovative solutions sprung out of the hard conversations, and a real collective commitment to

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When Speaking Up Works!A Success Story (And How You Can Speak Up Too)

/ 2 minutes of reading

You may recall our blog post from a few weeks ago discussing how colouring worksheets can uphold bias, reinforce stereotypes, and erase racialized children from the curriculum. Here’s an update on what happened after speaking up about that worksheet. My child’s teacher responded to my email: “Sometimes we get caught up in the hoopla of

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Examples of women in sexy Halloween costumes

How to celebrate Halloween WITHOUT cultural appropriation or racist stereotypes

/ 2 minutes of reading

This week is Halloween, which means it is time to talk about costumes, racism, stereotypes, and cultural appropriation. We are using this week’s blog post to amplify some excellent voices that have spoken beautifully to this issue already. “Dressing up as another cultural group diminishes that cultural group to a caricature. And for youth, Indigenous

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How kindergarten colouring worksheets uphold stereotypes and create bias (and what to do about it)

/ 6 minutes of reading

We are fortunate to live in a city where our school board offers French and English language instruction beginning in kindergarten. There are so many advantages to being multilingual, and I’m grateful that my daughter has access to this kind of education. When she brought home this pair of colouring sheets from her kindergarten class

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