The Toronto District School Board spent over $100,602 in consultant fees to privately investigate the suicide of principal Richard Bilkszto, a heavily redacted freedom of information request has revealed. Nearly two years after launching the investigation, the board confirms it will not be making the report public despite using taxpayer money to fund it.
The revelation comes as the TDSB faces a projected $58 million budget shortfall and is currently under audit by the Office of the Auditor General of Ontario. Minister of Education Paul Calandra has recently criticized the board’s financial management, stating, “It’s clear that the TDSB has a spending problem. Wasting taxpayer dollars while cutting essential programs for students is completely unacceptable.”
The investigation was launched after the tragic death of Richard Bilkszto, a 24-year TDSB veteran. Richard attended an anti-racism training session in 2021 delivered by KOJO Institute. During the training, Richard challenged the claim that Canada was more racist than the United States. In response, he was publicly berated and allegedly labelled as a supporter of white supremacy by KOJO Institute’s CEO, Kike Ojo Thompson. Richard’s lawyer, Lisa Bildy, later said that the incident led to prolonged workplace harassment and emotional distress. Despite filing formal complaints against the board, no significant action was taken. Richard committed suicide two years later.
Soon after Richard’s death, then-Minister of Education Stephen Lecce promised an investigation, stating that he had “tasked my officials to review what happened.” Instead, the Ministry deferred the investigation to the TDSB.
In July 2023, the board retained King International Advisory Group, a Richmond Hill consultancy firm, to conduct the investigation. Under Director of Education Colleen Russell-Rawlins, the TDSB said that it “is committed to providing updates at the appropriate times once more information is available.”
However, True North reached out to the TDSB who confirmed that the King report was privileged and would not be released to the public, despite being completed in early 2025. The board cited ongoing litigation as their reason for withholding the findings. Richard’s lawyer declined to comment for the same reason.
Others attempting to access information about Richard’s case have encountered numerous barriers. A parent with extensive experience requesting information from the TDSB told True North that the board employed a range of obstructive tactics, including repeated time extensions, denying access to “documents they clearly had,” and charging “outrageous fees of $28,000 in one instance.”
The parent, who asked to remain anonymous due to fear of legal retaliation by the board, added that the TDSB was “quick to label parents as vexatious requestors” to shut down inquiries. Even when information is eventually released, they said, it is often so heavily redacted that the “process is a joke.”
Despite this obstruction, some information has managed to slip through the cracks and might reveal why the board wishes to remain silent. A 120-page freedom of information request shared with True North contained multiple letters from school administrators, trustees, and education professionals urging Minister Lecce to lead the investigation. The letters — submitted by the Toronto School Administrators, TDSB trustee Weidong Pei, the Ontario Principals’ Council, and others — called on the province to scrutinize anti-racism training and the dangerous culture it creates.
Also included was a three-page briefing note written by Patrick Case, then-assistant deputy minister of the education equity secretariat. The note recommended the TDSB “remain firm” in its commitment to anti-racism and that “comprehensive changes” aligned with the ideology should continue.
Case has longstanding ties to Russell-Rawlins and the TDSB after decades of developing anti-racism and social justice policies at the board before advancing similar frameworks at the Ontario Human Rights Commission and the Ministry of Education. Case left his post at the Ministry in the spring of 2024.
Concerns about Case’s impartiality were raised last month concerning his role in investigating another anti-racism controversy. Case was tasked with reviewing TDSB actions following a student field-trip-turned-protest at the annual Grassy Narrows River Run event. Teachers encouraged students to chant anti-Israel slogans while identifying as “settlers.” The report deflected parental concerns and described public backlash as a product of conservative media narratives.
Nearly two years after Richard Bilkszto’s death, the findings surrounding the incident remain secret. As over $100,000 in public funds are spent on a taxpayer-funded report, concerns over the board’s accountability and transparency with public funds continue to grow.