Kulturkampf

[benji]

I warned you guys about Canada, I warned you:

An Ontario principals’ group says it is concerned about the safety of staff from bullying and harassment following the recent death of an administrator who had filed a lawsuit against the Toronto District School Board for failing to protect him after a confrontation during a diversity training session.

Richard Bilkszto retired as a principal from the school board in 2019 after more than two decades, but continued to work on a contract basis. His lawyer, Lisa Bildy, said he died by suicide earlier this month.

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A statement of claim provided by Mr. Bilkszto’s lawyer said the principal and other administrators were invited by the school board in 2021 for anti-Black racism training by the KOJO Institute, a consulting firm that provides anti-racism sessions. During a session, Mr. Bilkszto expressed an opinion that challenged the speaker’s statement that Canada was more racist than the United States.

According to the statement of claim, the speaker Kike Ojo-Thompson, who is the founder and CEO of the KOJO Institute, said that Canada had “never reckoned with its anti-Black history,” while the U.S. had.

Mr. Bilkszto, who had previously taught in Buffalo, N.Y., disagreed. “Bilkszto expressed his opinion that Canada is a more just society than the United States, pointing to examples of the Canadian education system and universal health care,” according to the statement of claim. He said it would have been an “incredible disservice to our learners” to suggest differently.

In a session the following week, Ms. Ojo-Thompson emphasized the previous interaction with Mr. Bilkszto “as being a ‘real-life’ example of ‘resistance’ in support of white supremacy,” the statement of claim said.

Mr. Bilkszto alleged in the lawsuit that the speaker’s statements implicitly referred to him as a racist and a white supremacist.

In the sessions, Mr. Bilkszto said he was berated in front of his peers and felt humiliated. He alleged that the school board’s supervisors and members of the senior management team, who were in attendance, did not intervene to stop the harassment, which was contrary to the board’s policy on protecting the well-being and safety of its employees.

Mr. Bilkszto also alleged that the sessions constituted workplace harassment and he suffered emotional distress that was aggravated by the failure of the school board’s senior staff to intervene.

“Bilkszto left the training session feeling humiliated, attacked, unsupported, harassed and alone. He suffered mental distress as a result,” according to the statement of claim.