Advocacy Is Under Attack

Advocacy and support are critical to parent engagement with Ontario's education system and adjacent systems. We believe that all parents have the right to have advocates stand beside them as they navigate complicated systems like the education system and that this right to advocacy should not be disrupted by the fragility of system leaders or staff.

All parents, regardless of what school their child attends, have a right to have advocates present with them when engaging with school board staff. Parents do not need to limit the number of advocates they can bring to a meeting, nor is it ...

Advocacy and support are critical to parent engagement with Ontario's education system and adjacent systems. We believe that all parents have the right to have advocates stand beside them as they navigate complicated systems like the education system and that this right to advocacy should not be disrupted by the fragility of system leaders or staff.

All parents, regardless of what school their child attends, have a right to have advocates present with them when engaging with school board staff. Parents do not need to limit the number of advocates they can bring to a meeting, nor is it acceptable to deny parents the opportunity to meet with school board leadership.

As provincially appointed advocates, community members, parents, and stakeholders, requests for meetings with directors of education, superintendents, or any school board staff should always be honoured with reciprocal eagerness for engagement.

Refusing to meet to discuss issues involving children attending schools, particularly when those issues are about systemic racism and anti-Black racism within a school board, is the antithesis of effective parent and community engagement and a dereliction of the duties and responsibilities that school boards have toward a child within their care.

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Advocacy is a human right!

Parents of Black Children is raising the alarm on the crisis of anti-Black racism witin our education system. Black children are subjected to unsafe and unequitble enviroments in schools across the province daily. Advocacy is an essential service, it is a necessity. The PoBC Advocacy Framework is a response to the pushback we are seeing some school boards take when challenged to respond to instances of racial violence in their schools.

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We fully support the right of parents to have advocates stand beside them as they navigate complicated systems like the education system.

This right to advocacy should not be disrupted by the fragility of system leaders or staff.

All parents, regardless of what school their child attends have a right to have advocates
present with them when engaging with school board staff. Parents do not need to limit
the number of advocates they can bring to a meeting, nor is it acceptable to deny
parents the opportunity to meet with school board leadership.

As provincially appointed advocates, community members, parents, and stakeholders,
requests for meetings with directors of education, superintendents, or any school board
staff should always be honoured with reciprocal eagerness for engagement.

Refusing to meet to discuss issues involving children attending schools, particularly when those
issues are about systemic racism and anti-Black racism within a school board is the
the antithesis of effective parent and community engagement and a
dereliction of the duties and responsibilities that school boards have toward a child within their care.

WHAT ARE WE ASKING YOU TO DO?

As a taxpayer, I am calling on the Ontario government, including Minister Stephen Lecce and Minister Michael Ford to ensure a parent’s right to meet with school boards about their children, with advocates present by their side is protected and enshrined within this province.

Parents of Black Children is calling on the province to legislate advocacy as a parental right within the education system.

We are calling for accountability from Directors of Education, Superintendent, and Administrative staff, to take swift action and respond to timely meetings with advocates and Black families.

We are in full support of the Parents of Black Children’s System Navigation program and the Student and Family Advocate program that supports advocates in 17 Black-led organizations across the province.

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