There is a growing negative reaction to news this week that Richard Bilkszto, a popular retired Toronto District School Board principal took his own life in the aftermath of an equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) training session that went off the rails. Bilkszto committed suicide just a few weeks after he had lodged a suit against the TDSB.
In April 2021 Bilkszto attended the EDI session being conducted by EDI trainer Kike Ojo-Thompson the CEO of the KOJO Institute, which has conducted training sessions for a wide variety of clients including the RCMP, Ontario Government and the Halton District School Board. At the session Ojo-Thompson asserted that Canada is a more racist place than the U.S., that Canada is a “bastion of white supremacy and colonialism,” and that capitalism and the patriarchy are killing people. Bilkszto, who before becoming a principal, taught in an inner-city Buffalo school challenged Ojo-Thompson’s assertions.
Writing in the National Post Jamie Sarkonak reported, “Ojo-Thompson is described to have reacted with vitriol: “We are here to talk about anti-Black racism, but you in your whiteness think that you can tell me what’s really going on for Black people?” Bilkszto replied that racism is very real, and that there’s plenty of room for improvement — but that the facts still show Canada is a fairer place. Another KOJO training facilitator jumped in, telling Bilkszto that “if you want to be an apologist for the U.S. or Canada, this is really not the forum for that.” Ojo-Thompson concluded the exchange by telling the class that “your job in this work as white people is to believe” — not to question claims of racism.”
According to Bilkszto’s statement of claim, nobody from TDSB interjected at any point to defend him and stop the EDI trainers from berating him. After the class, Sheryl Robinson Petrazzini, currently the Director of Education at the Hamilton School Board, at that time a TDSB superintendent, even thanked the KOJO Institute in a tweet for “modelling the discomfort administrators may need to experience in order to disrupt (anti-Black racism).” The tweet was removed after Bilkszto’s lawyers threatened legal action against Robinson-Petrazzini. The day after, Bilkszto was given a talking-to by his higher-ups about his “male white privilege” and the “fallout” from the training. Instead of defending him, they berated him further.
Biltkszto, who had retired in 2019, but was working as a contract principal, went on sick leave for six weeks, and when he returned to work he didn’t get his previous position back and was only able to obtain eight weeks work as a contract principal. He filed a Workers Compensation Claim alleging workplace harassment. The Board found in his favour, the adjudicator writing “based on the information on file, I am satisfied that the conduct of the speaker … was abusive, egregious and vexatious, and rises to the level of workplace harassment and bullying.”
Writing in the Quilette, National Post columnist Jonathan Kay describes a “gold rush” for EDI organizations that took place in the wake of the George Floyd murder. (The Hamilton Centre for Civic Inclusion which offers EDI training saw its revenue jump from $311,000 in 2019, the year before the Floyd incident to Just under $1 million in the year ending March 2021.) With regard to the way the sessions are conducted, he noted “While these consciousness-raising sessions are typically conducted on the conceit of teaching participants to be “brave” and ”disruptive,” the well-paid corporate trainers who lead them often demand a climate of craven subservience.”
At the time of Bilkszto’s death The Toronto School Board had launched a lawsuit against the KOJO Institute seeking to reclaim any damages that they might be forced to pay to Bilkszto as a result of his lawsuit against the board.
In a statement announcing his death, Bilkszto’s family cited a note written to Richard upon his retirement in 2019…”You have proven your excellence in equity, instruction, entrepreneurship, student engagement and breaking new ground for communities where chronic struggles, mental health and newcomer status often brought more frustration than success. You have been a leader amongst leaders in changing their lives. I am proud to have worked with you.”
The Ontario Council of Principals issued a statement that reads in part, “Employers have an obligation to provide a safe working environment and to protect their staff from bullying and harassment, including from external service providers. As was determined by the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB), the TDSB failed to do so for Mr. Bilkszto. We are deeply concerned about the potential for this type of harm to occur to other educators. All efforts must be made to prevent this from ever happening again. With regard to EDI training, the council concluded, “Training sessions need to take an approach that is grounded in humility, empathy and honours the humanity of participants. This includes opportunities for participation and open discussion, without fear of reprisal. We all have more learning and unlearning to do.”
Jonathan Kay says there is a climate of fear among teachers and administrators, “In some school boards, moreover, professional advancement is limited to those who explicitly embrace “anti-racist, high anti-oppressive” leadership principles. So while social-justice puritans comprise a small minority at most schools, they are able to exert disproportionate power in their bid to censure, humiliate, or even oust colleagues, such as Bilkszto, who speak up for the silent majority. In some cases, these ideological enforcers work closely with local race activists and their media allies, so as to harass or censor educators and parents accused of wrongthink.”
Falsely accused of white supremacy, bullied TDSB principal takes own life - The Bay Observer - Providing a Fresh Perspective for Hamilton and Burlington
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