FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

TORONTO: A new study challenges the claims of a recent Ontario Human Rights Commission’s (OHRC) report, regarding systemic discrimination in Ontario’s schools—or the lack thereof.

In Are Ontario schools systemically racist? Addressing the Ontario Human Rights Commission’s claims, Matthew Lau of the Aristotle Foundation for Public Policy analyzes bold claims made by the OHRC, and finds them wanting.

Key findings include:

• Historical injustices do not prove systemic racism today. The OHRC report frequently cites slavery, but Lau notes that Canada abolished slavery in 1834 and that other minority groups who experienced severe historical injustices, such as Chinese and Japanese Canadians, often have higher incomes than white Canadians today.

• Academic performance contradicts claims of systemic racism. Data from the Peel District School Board and Waterloo Catholic District School Board show that students from East Asian, South Asian, Southeast Asian, and Latin backgrounds frequently outperform white students.

• Individual acts versus systemic discrimination. While specific incidents of racism do occur in schools, the OHRC report provides no examples of systemic racial discrimination—i.e. in the sense of policies or structures that negatively discriminate against students based on race or ethnicity.

“Incidents of racism warrant condemnation, and efforts should be made to reduce them. But it is important to differentiate between systemic versus individual acts of racist discrimination,” says the study’s author, Matthew Lau.

Lau highlights what he calls a “missing recommendation” in the OHRC’s plan: “If Ontario’s government-run education system is systemically racist, as the OHRC claims, the obvious solution would be to give parents more choice and more access to alternatives to the government-run system.”

The full study is available at: https://aristotlefoundation.org/reality-check/are-ontario-schools-systemically-racist-addressing-the-ontario-human-rights-commissions-claims/

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Dami Itabiyi,

Media and Marketing Coordinator

Aristotle Foundation for Public Policy

Email: media@aristotlefoundation.org