On April 21, 2021, OPSEU Locals 556 and 557, the unions representing George Brown College’s (GBC) faculty and support staff, sent a letter to the GBC board of governors forcefully criticizing the college’s anti-racism efforts.
“We are outlining these concerns because we are proud to be a part of a college that has been a leading post-secondary educational institution; importantly in terms of its approaches to issues related to Indigenous peoples, anti-racism, equity and diversity,” says the letter.
In July of 2020, GBC released a plan to eliminate racism at the college which included the framework for their anti-racism strategy. This strategy included building structures and system capacity to challenge racism, increase Black and Indigenous representation, and increase awareness and understanding of anti-racism. Union representatives are concerned that GBC is falling behind on meeting these goals and the lack of momentum may be stifling the chance for change in the future.
“10 months later a number of issues have been observed that seem to give strength to the voices expressing fear that the GBC administration’s commitment may not be quite as strong as broadcasted, and that it may not result in the substantive change that the administration promised,” says the letter.
When reached for comment, a GBC spokesperson said the board is “working on their reply” but did not provide a timeline for issuing a response.
OPSEU Locals lays out three primary concerns in the letter. These include concerns around delays, an employee survey, and the anti-racism and equity advisory committee. They believe GBC is currently lacking an action plan, clear deliverables, and accountability measures.
The letter also criticizes an employee equity survey that was conducted in late fall 2020. Since the survey was conducted internally, they think lack of anonymity and lack of diversity impacted the results as it only received a 35 per cent response rate and the responses available may have been skewed by an over-representation of non-marginalized people. Further, by not collecting race-based data, OPSEU Locals points out that GBC is not in line with Ontario’s Anti-Racism Act which includes the commitment to identify and monitor racial disparities.
Another concern relates to the anti-racism and equity advisory committee. The union says that as there is no “relief of duties” or monetary compensation for committee members, the college is further contributing to a culture of inequity. They also worry that by launching the committee nomination period during a tumultuous time, GBC has not been able to appropriately fill the committee and that the director of anti-racism, equity, and human rights services should be accountable to the committee and not chairing it.
To address these concerns, they recommend releasing monthly status updates on each of the actions the GBC administration announced in 2020, having an external provider design, deploy and analyze a new employee survey that aligns with the BlackNorth pledge and the Ontario racism act, as well as complete the assembly of the Anti-Racism and Equity advisory committee which is chaired by a committee member and provide relief time to faculty who participate.
“We are at this point very concerned about the current status of the GBC Anti-Racism Strategy, but remain hopeful that the implementation will be supported through the transition to a new administration and will be an integral part of the new administration’s responsibilities and accountabilities; thus ensuring that GBC regains the momentum promised during the summer of 2020,” says the letter.
The letter can be read in full here.
*Editor’s note: A previous version of this article said a GBC spokesperson declined to comment. While the college has not issued a public response to the letter, they have said they are working on their reply. The Dialog regrets this mistake.
