A partnership between the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) and the non-profit Humewood House is working to dismantle anti-Black and anti-Indigenous racism within the education system. This is amplified more now than ever after 2020’s racial reckoning.
“Aside from COVID-19, our BIPOC students were suffering. They were going to be coming back to school and needing the right supports, needing the right educators to have those brave conversations inside the classroom,” said Jessie Bhana, a Toronto teacher.
She works with roughly 16 students every semester at Toronto District Secondary School (TDSS), located near Gerrard St. E. and Jarvis St. E. Each student is either pregnant or already parenting. The program provides supports to the young women both inside and outside the classroom, from therapists to financial aid, housing, childcare, lunch, and bus tickets.
“It’s about providing wraparound services for these young women to succeed,” said Humewood House’s interim executive director Marg Campbell. The non-profit has supported young mothers and their children for more than a hundred years and it partnered with the TDSB over a decade ago to provide the with a strong education.
Most of the students have experienced some form of trauma in their young lives. The goal of the program is to give them the tools to re-integrate into a larger school or community setting.
“They’ve taught me never to give up because there are people who believe in you and no matter what you’ll always have support here,” said 20-year-old student Trudy Ann Hupstead, who gave birth to a baby boy five months ago.
She says Humewood House is like her second home.
The COVID-19 pandemic, however, has made things challenging.
Classes had to move online for a period of time, but the childcare services provided on-site remained opened so that students could continue learning. And after last year’s events, there’s a greater focus in the curriculum on de-constructing anti-Black and anti-Indigenous racism.
“The first and foremost step has been to learn about my students and build a curriculum on their identity,” said Bhana. “I want to start giving students a safe space where they see themselves in a constructive way.”
Bhana has introduced culturally-relevant literature and has taught students a deeper understanding of colonization in Canada.
The program also celebrates and amplifies the voices of the Black community by ensuring its teaching staff reflects the diverse student body it serves.
“What’s also important is that three out of five managers are young, Black women offering mentorship and offering leadership,” said Campbell.
“I want to build from within, and work with my students so they understand joy and love in everything they do,” explained Bhana, who says the program aims to empower the young women by honing their skills for self-advocacy as they navigate through life.
For Hupstead, this has already become a reality. With the support from her teachers, she said she doesn’t allow others to judge her anymore.
Hupstead said she hopes to share her story with other young women and maybe one day become a guidance counselor to help others in ways the program has helped her.
Just last week, the TDSB received its first-ever human rights report. The report reviews data from the province’s largest school board and highlights current trends.
The most frequent complaint that the Human Rights Office received was based on race or was race-related, followed by disability.
“Before change can happen, we must acknowledge the long-standing inequities in our system,” said TDSB Chair Alexander Brown. “Reviewing and accepting our data is a critical step and allows us to make tangible plans.”
To address the issues identified in the report, the TDSB has created an action plan to have a greater focus on education, understanding, and system transformation.
It has recruited a team of human rights experts to help advise the school board’s community. Four specific areas the plan will address are systemic accountability, capacity building within the organization, more effective outreach and engagement, and the creation of more effective incident and resolution processes.
The TDSB’s human rights report will be presented on an annual basis.