Mutual Respect, Tolerance, Quality Education Merit-Based

"The suicide of former school principal Richard Bilkszto is an appalling tragedy and a warning that unless we stand up to woke, moralizing, antagonistic bullies who seek to shame Canadians then we are all complicit in such deaths."

"It is regrettable that the majority of sensible, pragmatic and well-meaning people in this country have been cowed into silence by the vocal, angry, shrill hectoring of ideologues who preach nothing but destruction: destruction of institutions, society, history and people."

"All in the name of what? What vision do they offer? What better world do they proclaim? What glorious future awaits us once our guilt has been cleansed, our penance done? Except for the woke lecturers, our guilt can never be forgiven, our repentance never done and our remorse never enough."

"Stand up to these people and you will be shamed, singled out and bullied. It happened to Richard Bilkszto, and if you take a stand it will almost certainly happen to you. Be aware of that and be prepared. Because the alternative to not taking a stand is terrifying and is already happening. We have become a nation where good people are afraid to speak their mind; where silence is chosen when colleagues are savagely abused by these hostile fanatics, and where people avert their gaze so they do not have to see what is happening before their very eyes."

"What happened to Richard Bilkszto is a stain on the conscience of this nation."

National Post Editorial 

Powerful coalition this morning calling for increased supports and resources for equity and anti-racism in #OntEd and denouncing the racist attacks on ⁦Kojo Institute  James Campbell/Twitter⁩

 

"Richard Bilkszto was a great man. He contributed so much to the fight for quality education, for fairness and a better school system, and we are all so much poorer for his loss."

"Our heart goes out to his family, friends and the thousands of students and colleagues he knew, and loved, and who loved him in return."

SOS Toronto District School Board

"Our hearts go out to Richard's family and loved ones."

"He was a strong advocate for students -- particularly those in adult and alternative education, and worked tirelessly to create an environment that fostered student success for students of all ages."

Ryan Bird, spokesman, Toronto District School Board

"We are saddened to learn of the passing of the late Richard Bilkszto, a lifelong educator and former principal with the TDSB."

"We send our deepest condolences to those who knew and loved him, and share in mourning his loss."

Grace Lee, spokeswoman, Ontario Education Minister Stephen Lecce

The anti-racism trainer who stands accused of denigrating Toronto principal Richard Bilkszto, at a sensitivity training session contracted for by the Toronto and District School Board, and made mandatory for attendance of all its employees, claims to welcome a review that the provincial education minister has launched. The allegations against her, she says are false and totally mischaracterize what had occurred during two training sessions, when Kike Ojo-Thompson, founder and CEO of a diversity consultancy group insulted and humiliated an experienced principal who had taught in classrooms in the U.S. and Canada throughout his long career in education.

This was a man who was also dedicated as a committed advocate against racism as a member of the Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism (FAIR), an organization dedicated to civil rights and anti-discrimination and had in fact been involved in establishing a Toronto chapter. He was also a member of SOS TDSB, an organization that works to preserve the merit-based admissions systems for specialty programs (which deplores a recently instituted a student admission lottery system).

"Richard's passing serves as a sobering reminder of the importance of community and supporting those around us who are courageous enough to stand firm in their beliefs", a statement from FAIR elucidated after news of the suicide of this man who dedicated his professional life to furthering education for students. Richard Bilkszto had gone into a deep depression after suffering the indignity of being charged as a "white racist" by Kike Ojo-Thompson during a mandated sensitivity training session, when he challenged her assertion that Canada is a racist country.

"You, in your whiteness presume to correct me on racism?" she said witheringly to him in front of his colleagues. No one present came to his defense, although another trainer from the KOJO Institute lectured him that the session was not a place to be an apologist for either the U.S. or Canada in their institutionalized racism. But it was Ojo-Thompson's "We are here to talk about anti-Black racism, but you in your whiteness think that you can tell me what's really going on for Black people?" that devastated Mr. Bilkszto. As well as another scathing put-down in a follow-up session by Ojo-Thompson.

A superintendent from the TDSB in attendance, congratulated Ms. Ojo-Thomson on her handling of the situation, saying that discomfitting and facing up to the racism in all white people is a necessary prelude to instilling full understanding in them of their white superiority imposed upon Blacks. Richard Bilkszto was completely shattered by the treatment meted out to him, a man who had dedicated himself to ensuring superior education to students, who himself was deeply involved in anti-racism.

Ms. Ojo-Thompson, whose overbearing superiority and maliciously false accusations haven't deterred her organization from obtaining richly-remunerating contracts from governments, school boards, private industry and elite corporations all invested in demonstrating good citizenship by committing to the new mantra of 'diversity, equity and inclusion' issued a statement extending condolences to the Bilkszto family. His death, she averred, was weaponized to discredit and suppress diversity, equity and inclusion work.

"While the coverage by right-wing media of this controversy is disappointing and led to our organization and team members receiving threats and vitriol online, we will not be deterred from our work in building a better society for everyone", she wrote. Her better society is to be built on the wreckage of any society that is  historically 'white', whose heritage, history and culture and social structure must be destroyed before her 'better society' can rise to the full grandeur of its reversal denoting Black supremacy and white deference.

Parents of Black Children (PoBC), which says CRT (Critical Race Theory) is one of its core principles, advocates against the presence of police liaisons in schools and for “decolonized” curricula, the inserting of “Black Canadian experiences” into math and for all academic streaming to be abolished.