Ontario elementary teachers union restricts workshop to “racialized members”

A teachers’ union leadership conference is offering workshops on how art can be used as “a tool of resistance, identity and joy” and only “racialized members” of the union are allowed to partake.

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A teachers’ union leadership conference is offering workshops on how art can be used as “a tool of resistance, identity and joy” and only “racialized members” of the union are allowed to partake.

The Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario says it will help participants “build networks within the education system and labour movement.” But the invitation makes it clear that the conference is “for racialized members.”

The term “racialized” is often used to excludes individuals of European heritage, including Jewish teachers, from participating in professional training opportunities despite paying the same union dues. The union describes these events as professional learning, which can qualify for paid release time and official credit for teacher development.

This isn’t the first time the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario has singled out groups by race. Earlier reporting by True North revealed exclusive recordings of another union conference that told educators to “decolonize their minds” and reject “white dominant culture.” Other workshops promoted the idea that words like “family” and “objectivity” are examples of “whiteness” in education.

These events, all run or endorsed by the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario and its local affiliates, are framed as equity and anti-racism work. Yet their content and structure often divide people by skin colour or ancestry.

An executive of a local ETFO chapter told True North that rights exclusive to “racialized members” are enshrined in the union’s constitution. They said the union says it offers more opportunities for inclusion, but “it really just creates anger and division, as evidenced by the walkout and protest by black members at this past summer’s annual general meeting.”

During the union meeting, a group of black educators and their allies staged a walkout during a dinner protest. They were protesting the fact that the provincial executive did not elect black representation despite three black candidates running.

The executive member said that “making an art workshop about “activitism” instead of curriculum highlights the ideological capture of our unions where social justice takes precedence over actual teaching.

“ETFO is incredibly misguided in its views and only continues to cause harm and further divide its members,” they said.

The union has not explained how it justifies excluding members from professional events based on race, or how such practices align with the Ontario Human Rights Code, which prohibits discrimination in membership benefits and services.