HWDSB’s own human rights and equity committee calling on trustees to resign
The Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board's own human rights and equity committee is calling on four trustees at the centre of a probe into racism and poor conduct to resign.
We strongly encourage trustees (Alex) Johnstone, (Kathy) Archer, (Becky) Buck, and (Carole) Paikin-Miller to resign from their positions in an act of good faith. Hamiltonians have made it clear that they do not wish for these trustees to maintain decision making power over marginalized students," reads a committee report included in the board's Feb. 22 meeting agenda.
The committee report goes on to say that if the trustees do not step down, the advisory committee asks that all sanctions be applied to the aforementioned trustees for the remainder of their term to bar them from voting on matters related to the students of HWDSB."
Another group, the Canadian Office and Professional Employees Union (COPE) Local 343 and 527, is also calling on the trustees to resign.
Racism has no place in our community and only by raising our voices collectively can we begin to end systemic racism and create a truly equitable school board," the union said in a statement Friday.
The mounting calls come in the wake of a third-party report released earlier this month that found evidence of racism among some trustees and efforts to silence the voice of a former student trustee, Ahona Mehdi. It substantiated some allegations made by Mehdi in August, when she posted on Twitter about the racist incidents and poor trustee behaviour she witnessed during her 2019-2020 student trustee term.
The board initially voted to issue no sanctions to any trustees and to redact the report before it was released to the public. Both decisions spurred public outrage. A later vote reversed the decision to issue no sanctions - the wording used was to reconsider" the no-sanctioning decision - though to date, no sanctions have been issued. At a Tuesday meeting, the board voted to adopt an alternative process to further explore potential code of conduct breaches," which could pave the way to sanctions.
While the report remains redacted, Mehdi identified the trustees at the centre of the probe as Johnstone, Archer, Buck and Paikin Miller. The Spectator has also independently confirmed their identity.
To date, none have responded to calls for them to resign.
The report from the human rights and equity community advisory committee goes on to say more robust accountability and transparency measures" are needed within the board. This includes a review of the HWDSB trustee code of conduct and the application of an anti-racist/anti-oppressive lens" to the code, and an elimination of the clause that allows trustees to vote on matters in which a conflict of interest is evident.
Archer, Buck and Paikin Miller all voted to not issue sanctions to themselves when the matter came up for a vote Feb 2. Just Johnstone declared a conflict of interest and recused herself.
The human rights and equity committee is composed of students, parents, community members and trustees. Trustee Maria Felix Miller was present at the Feb. 12 meeting from which the report stems.
COPE's statement argues that the four trustees have lost the trust of Hamilton parents and students.
Quite simply, we cannot begin to heal our community and work towards the elimination of racism in the Hamilton school board while the trustees who engaged in this behaviour continue to hold their seats," reads the statement from Local 547 president Susan Lucek and Local 343 president Kelly Belbin. They have forfeited the right to be seen as anti-racism allies or trusted authorities allowed to oversee the education of Hamilton students or the relationships with board staff, many of whom are racialized."
The statement also calls on the board to reverse its decision to redact the investigators' report in the interest of transparency.
Katrina Clarke is a Hamilton-based reporter at The Spectator. Reach her via email: katrinaclarke@thespec.com