One Ontario school board wants educators to indoctrinate kids with gender ideology, to “decentre whiteness,” and vilify Canadian culture.
Thames Valley District School Board staff training materials for last year’s Pride Month were released to the public through a freedom of information request obtained by podcaster and host of the Weekly Canadian Gender Wars Report podcast Melanie Bennett.
The ideological material included self-assessments designed to shame teachers who do not conform to woke world views and links to activist organizations educating staff on the proper use of neo-pronouns and the importance of gender-neutral parenting.
The educational resources were prefaced with the statement that the school board does not necessarily endorse the material from external websites that they link to. At the same time, the board directs staff to learn from and use resources from those organizations for themselves and in their classrooms.
TVDSB encouraged staff to use a self-assessment tool developed by School Mental Health Ontario to reflect on their own “cultural humility,” or an admission of ignorance about other cultures and a willingness to learn from them. It said cultural humility incorporates “redressing” or correcting power dynamics and involves a continuous commitment to “reflection and critique of race, ethnicity, culture, language, sexual orientation and class.”
The assessment initially asked school staff to reflect on their own biases but presented a series of ideological positions as facts that teachers either “know” or are ignorant of, rather than being a matter of personal belief.
“I am aware of my privilege. If I am a member of a dominant culture, I understand that I am not without power and privilege, and because of that, I may not be seen as ‘unbiased’ or as an ally.”
The training module continued by asking if staff were “aware” of how Canada’s “racist” and “colonialist” past allegedly perpetuated white supremacy and institutional racism to the detriment of students.
“I am knowledgeable about historical incidents in Canada’s past, like the transatlantic slave trade and institutional human rights abuses, that demonstrate racism and exclusion towards people who are racialized and marginalized in Canada.”
The resource then asked teachers to reflect on whether they know that they need to “decentre whiteness” so that other cultures can “shine.”
“I know that many norms, structures, and values within the education system are rooted in our colonial history and that to centre every student, we need to explicitly decentre whiteness so their cultural strengths can shine.”
After quizzing staff on their “knowledge” of Canada’s so-called racist culture and their commitment to dismantling it, the report asked staff to assess how well they respect the culture and beliefs of others.
It finishes by asking if staff “understand gender as a spectrum” and if they “affirm” the various gender identities that their students might have.
Some of the materials discussed the pros and cons of calling students out in front of their peers for being homophobic and how to console and de-escalate students who might have adverse reactions to learning about race, gender, sexuality and culture.
They were also directed to external sites which teach them how to use neo-pronouns such as “ze,” “hir,” and “xe” to replace the classically used pronouns such as “she” and “he,” and guidelines for removing books that reinforce gender norms.
For the kids, teachers were given videos and graphics such as the “Genderbread Person,” which states that gender identity is a preference based on hobbies, likes, and roles.
They were also directed not to acknowledge the differences between girls and boys in the classroom.
“We wouldn’t separate our children by whether they are left or right-handed and call after them in playgrounds: ‘good climbing left-handers’ or ‘right-handers get down from there, or you’ll rip your dress.’”
Though these materials are from June 2023, some Canadians are concerned that nothing has changed in the TVDSB school system since that time.