Black Legal Action Centre (BLAC): Addressing Anti-Black Racism in Ontario’s Education System

Project Type: Research (memoranda used for internal purposes only)

Fields of Law: Education Act, Human Rights Code, Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Class Proceedings Act 

Positions Available: 1

 

About the Black Legal Action Centre (BLAC):

Established in 2017, the Black Legal Action Centre (BLAC) is an independent not-for-profit community legal clinic that combats individual and systemic anti-Black racism by providing free legal services, conducting research, developing public legal education materials, and engaging in test case litigation and law reform.

   

Project Details:

While the existence of systemic anti-Black racism within the education system is generally acknowledged, there is a lack of clarity regarding the collective remedies available to Black students experiencing this discrimination. An individual who has experienced discrimination can turn to the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, but is there a way to address the collective harms caused by systemic anti-Black racism within the education system?

In this project, a student will research three potential avenues of collective redress for systemic anti-Black racism within Ontario’s education system: class actions, Charter challenges, and group Human Rights Tribunal applications. Students will focus on three main ways in which anti-Black racism can manifest – suspensions, expulsions, and streaming (i.e. dividing students into academic or applied tracks) – and weigh the pros and cons of each course of action.

The relevant research questions may include:

  • As a starting point, what is the social science background to anti-Black racism in the education system, i.e. how does anti-Black racism manifest in suspensions, expulsions, and streaming? (Students can review previous sociological reports, statistics, and other work done in this area to educate themselves about this topic.)
    • Other sociological questions include: Are there differences across the province (e.g. in poorer and/or more racialized communities)? What are the long-term implications of streaming (e.g. graduation outcomes, socio-economic status, job, career, etc.)?
  • Is there prior litigation regarding this area, or in similar jurisdictions?
  • What can be learned from similar cases? 
  • What are the relevant school board policies? What are the legal issues that they raise?
  • From a procedural point of view, how would each avenue of redress work?
  • Who is the appropriate respondent?
  • What kind of evidence would BLAC need to move ahead with (an) action(s)?

If the student finds that the research portion of this project is relatively straightforward, they may be able to move ahead with freedom of information (FOI) requests and other work to support this project.

 

Will the student(s) be expected to show up for regular shifts each week, or is the schedule flexible?

The schedule is flexible.

 

Requirements and Expectations:

  • History of self-directed research
  • Strong research background (e.g. freedom of information requests)