The New Westminster school district is pledging its commitment to long-term anti-racism efforts across the district.
School board chair Anita Ansari and vice-chair Gurveen Dhaliwal sent a letter to school district families June 18 expressing the board’s solidarity with the district’s Black and Indigenous students, staff and families.
“Like you, we have watched too many Black and Indigenous people die at the hands of police, both in the U.S. and here in Canada. We recognize the pain and suffering that racism, in all its forms, creates,” they wrote. “Black lives matter. Indigenous lives matter.”
Their letter notes the school board is proud of the district’s commitment to inclusion and diversity and its efforts to move towards reconciliation.
“But that does not mean we don’t also see that racism is at play in our schools,” they wrote. “We recognize the overall existence of systemic racism and the harmful impact it continues to have on our students, staff and the families in our community. We must be accountable and do the hard work to change that.”
Ansari and Dhaliwal said the school board is listening carefully and is there to learn and support but that it must also find ways to apply the lessons it learns and create “meaningful action.”
“As people involved in influencing education, we must consider where we can be allies for our kids and our staff. And, as allies, we must look at the power we have to help change the systems that oppress those living in our community,” they wrote. “We have an obligation to seek opportunities to support the young people who are asking us to help lead them into a better future.”
In the coming months, they wrote, they will be doing more work to determine the most appropriate ways for the district to take action, including developing the framework of a policy that will move them beyond just the “values of diversity and inclusion” and instead into active engagement in anti-racism work.
“You can expect that members of our board will be reaching out in the fall to help inform the policy development. You can expect there will be more actions to follow. You can expect we’re in this for the long haul,” they wrote.
You can find the full text of the letter online at https://newwestschools.ca/a-commitment-against-racism/
