The Peel District School Board looks brazen and cowardly in new naming controversy

There is a stink of pettiness in recent events at the Peel District School Board.

The board has reneged on a promise to name a new centre after a local activist, and, just as bad, it is now hiding from public accountability behind a ministry-instituted barrier.

The barrier means no more interactions between the communities and the board of the kind that took place in 2019-20 — often helmed by that local activist — that opened the door to damning investigations that revealed a board drenched in anti-Black racism. This had led to the board being placed under supervision of the Ministry of Education exactly three years ago. And then the ministry instituted the barrier.

What boggles the mind is how brazenly the board and trustees are dealing with the issue of naming a centre after Kola Iluyomade, the activist who forced their hand, even as they are barely emerging from a public and humiliating smackdown by government-mandated reviews.

Iluyomade was a local parent who began getting involved in the Peel school system after his children faced racism and went on to become a leading activist for all Black children. Within years, his impact was felt even more widely; a school board review thanks to his advocacy and community support highlighted challenges faced by South Asian and Muslim students.

Iluyomade died unexpectedly in June 2021, days after turning 56.

Those close to him wanted to see that his monumental efforts had not gone in vain. Community organizer Idris Orughu, whose advocacy approach at Peel was the calm to Iluyomade’s storm, made a request to Bruce Rodrigues, the ministry-appointed supervisor, that a place of Black excellence be named for Iluyomade.

“The board has always addressed this as the Kola Iluyomade Center of Excellence. In every correspondence we’ve had,” Orughu said. A report to trustees from Peel’s new director of education also acknowledged in June 2022 that the board had committed to honour Iluyomade by naming the centre after him.

And yet, with no notice to the community, the school board trustees passed a motion early in May to name the centre the Centre of Black Excellence — without naming Iluyomade.

Peel Board chair David Green told Qiam Noori of Metroland Media that there was never a commitment to name the centre after Iluyoade.

“I was told there were discussions with the supervisor and some staff; however, no promise was made,” he is reported as saying.

Green said trustees were just following policy. The school board spokesperson cited to the reporter an amended naming policy in April this year, saying, in an email, “Section 5.9 of this policy states that proposed schools, special function areas, and facilities names shall not include: Names of identifiable individuals.”

Even if we assume the policy was citied correctly (it was not), using it as justification for editing out Iluyomade’s name is a fallacious argument.

I’m generally all for avoiding naming institutions and roads after people. Canadian leaders, men such as John A. Macdonald and Egerton Ryerson, who have been lionized in public spaces, were not just flawed, their decisions actively harmed large swathes of the populations. But Iluyomade’s actions were the opposite of the people who sparked the policy; he stood up for justice. The commitment to name the centre after him was also made prior to the policy change.

As it is, Section 5.9 does say institutions shall not include names of identifiable individuals, but stopping there is akin to kicking up a ball and leaving it hanging mid-air. The policy goes on to specify the individuals it means. I’m paraphrasing, but you can read it online: those who have orchestrated mechanisms of colonialism in Canada or engaged in the trans-Atlantic slave trade or orchestrated race-based segregations of schools in Ontario.

The policy amendment itself came about because of one of the 27 directives ordered by ministry asks the board to examine all its policies using anti-racist, anti-oppressive and anti-colonial principles.

Martyring Iluyomade to that larger principle of not naming individuals is a clear perversion of logic. The policy was also updated a mere week before the vote on naming. It’s too much to believe that was just a coincidence.

“We see it as a betrayal,” Orughu said.

Iluyomade likely has few friends among trustees and the board. When they slipped, he pulled no punches in his emails. But instead of seeing Iluyomade’s provocations as a symptom of frustration and opportunities to work with the communities, these trustees took it personally and dug their heels in.

“I have not seen any evidence to indicate that rebuilding trust with communities is a priority of the Board,” wrote the ministry-appointed investigator Arleen Huggins in her report in 2020.

It’s not difficult to believe that those personal clashes are now influencing the decision on naming the centre. So, how to voice the opposition?

This brings us to the second issue at the board, this one quietly taken in June 2021 (inexplicably, by the ministry-appointed supervisor), that bans direct delegations — or public presentations — to the board’s public meeting.

Where in the past parents or other community members could file a quick application to bring an issue of concern five days in advance of a public board meeting, they must now bring forward their issues to one of many committees. It is now up to the committee members to decide whether the matter is worth bringing to the board at a public meeting. This means contentious issues may now have no chance of being heard in a public forum.

This is why Orughu and about 80 people showed up at a community walk-in on May 24, when the board was set to vote on the issue of naming the centre. By various accounts, they spoke up, yelled, chanted slogans. And still, when trustee Kathy McDonald brought forward a motion to defer the vote, not one other trustee seconded it. The trustees then packed up, went into a smaller room out of sight of the public and voted to name it the Centre of Black Excellence.

Iluyomade erased.

The advocates have kept up the pressure, making a formal delegation to a committee on June 1. They began an online petition to preserve Iluyomade’s name.

“Fighting this is exhausting,” Orughu said. “If we don’t push back, everything we’ve worked for will be erased, will be rolled back.”These policy amendments have made it easier for the board to act without accountability and with impunity.

The question is whether is the Ministry of Education, which took the expense, time and effort to make important changes happen, can rescind its decision on public delegations and what it will do as we watch its directive being so brazenly shredded.

Shree Paradkar is a Toronto-based columnist covering issues around social and racial justice for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @ShreeParadkar