Welcome to Black History Month! Black History Month was first formally recognized in Canada in 1995 when the Honourable Jean Augustine, first Black Canadian woman elected to Parliament, introduced a motion that recognized February as Black History Month (BHM). It was passed unanimously in the House of Commons. BHM celebrates the rich and varied contributions […]
Is Your School Ready for Black History Month? Read More »
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
How to Break Barriers! Read More »
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
When Speaking Up Works!A Success Story (And How You Can Speak Up Too) Read More »
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
How to celebrate Halloween WITHOUT cultural appropriation or racist stereotypes Read More »
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
At Parents for Diversity, tennis isn’t usually at the top of our agenda, but parenting and solidarity with marginalized parents is always one of our top priorities. We are delighted for Bianca Andreescu and congratulate her on the astonishing achievement of becoming the first Canadian to win a Grand Slam singles title. Sports are a
Why White Moms Like Me Need to Reject Misogynoir Against Black Moms Like Serena Williams Read More »
Thousands of students in many of the English school boards will begin the new school year tomorrow. Like all beginnings, the school year welcomes new possibilities, opportunities and ways to think more critically about how to engage diverse identities and experiences. How a child experiences school can have a tremendous impact on their well-being and
by Leslie Robertson Our 5 year-old twins have been reading these books with their mamas for months now but it’s time to return them to the library. All three feature diverse characters and are overt in tackling broader social issues of either class or racism. Last Stop on Market Street is a very sweet story
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A couple of years ago, an incident occurred at my children’s daycare that really reinforced for me how powerful an educator can be, either for good or bad, in affecting a child’s confidence and sense of self-worth. Our daycare organized a Father’s Day breakfast, and I had arranged for my uncle to accompany my daughter
Making space for diverse family structures in activities at school and daycare Read More »
My child came home from daycare one day in what appeared to be war paint and a headdress they had made at daycare. Another time, she brought home a book with a character who got attached to a post while the Indigenous people ran around him in kindergarten. This year, the Ministry of Education approved
Indigenous Curriculum Read More »
