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By Veronica Beltran

anti-racism roundtable

Community Roundtable on Anti-Racism hopes to tackle racism in B.C. schools

Jul 24, 2020 | 12:14 PM

VICTORIA–A Community Roundtable on Anti-Racism in education has been created to help support the development of an anti-racism action plan in B.C. as well as to strengthen the K-12 curriculum.

“There is no place for racism, discrimination or intolerance in British Columbia – in our schools or anywhere else,” said B.C. Premier, John Horgan. Education Minister Rob Fleming brought together community leaders from a wide range of groups to better understand the impact of racism on B.C. students and provide input into strengthening and developing new policies and programs that promote anti-racism.

“We are committed to working with community and education partners to build a meaningful and lasting anti-racism action plan to ensure schools are safe and welcoming places where diversity is celebrated.”–Rob Flemming, Education Minister

The roundtable’s first meeting was today on July 24. The Province says that this is the first in a series of conversations to guide the ministry and B.C. education partners in understanding barriers faced by Indigenous students and students of colour. Minister Fleming has asked the First Nations Leadership Council, the First Nations Education Steering Committee and Metis Nation BC to help set up a distinct Indigenous table and co-develop its approach. The Province is also creating a new student advisory group that will form in the fall which will aid the Province by hearing directly from students on their experiences.

“We are pleased to be working with the Ministry of Education to address racism in our schools. We’ve been advocating for this for many years now, and this roundtable is an important first step towards bringing the experiences and history of Black Canadians into our classrooms. We believe strongly that education about people and other people’s culture really reduces racism and prejudice,” said Silvia Mangue Alene, president, BC Black History Awareness Society.

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The Community Roundtable on Anti-Racism in education builds on a series of community dialogues led by Ravi Kahlon, former parliamentary secretary for sport and multiculturalism, last summer. The feedback from these meetings informed the development of Resilience BC, a provincewide anti-racism network announced in November 2019. The network connects communities with the information, supports and training they need to respond to and prevent future incidents of racism and hate at a local and regional level. Resilience BC is being established in 40 communities.