TORONTO - Ontario Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca announced Wednesday that if elected, he will end public education “streaming” in Grades 9 and 10, hire more diverse and underrepresented police officers, and reverse Doug Ford’s Conservative cuts to anti-racism programs.
“Doug Ford’s Conservatives have refused to do all that is needed to fight racism in Ontario. Instead, they cut funding to anti-racism programs and failed to give prosecutors the resources needed to ensure hate crimes do not go unpunished. Our plan will invest in police forces that look more like the communities they serve,” said Del Duca. We’ll bring in new funding for de-escalation training, mental health supports and fund body cameras.”
Del Duca plans to end “streaming” in Grades 9, and 10 in public schools as the practice perpetuates anti-Black racism and further segregates students from marginalized backgrounds.
According to Ontario 360, a research group from the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, “Academic streaming describes the process of dividing students into differentiated groups based on their perceived academic ability and/or prior achievement.”
While streaming happens formally and informally across grade levels, academic streaming is increasingly problematic. The impact of “streaming” on racialized and low-income communities seems to split children from these social groups disproportionately compared to non-racialized and higher-income groups.
“Most students who take academic courses in Grades 9 transition into post-secondary preparatory courses in senior grades, and three-quarters directly transition to college or university. Students in the applied stream face significant barriers to accessing post-secondary education and training, with less than one-third directly transitioning to college and just three per cent to university,” Ontario 360 states. “In essence, Ontario schools provide two tracks: one that channels students to higher education and another that more often leads to drop-outs and low-wage labour.”
In addition to end streaming, Del Duca will refresh Ontario’s 2017 Anti-Black Racism Strategy and provide $5 million to Black historical sites and community centres and $10 million in grants to help support Black entrepreneurs and small businesses.
“The number of hate crimes rose during the pandemic – especially toward Asian, Black, Jewish and Muslim Ontarians. Hate and intolerance have no place in Ontario,” Del Duca said. “The Ontario Liberal plan will enhance Crown Attorney units dedicated to advising police and prosecuting hate crimes and extend the period for putting forward human rights complaints from one to five years. And we will also make it a punishable offence to engage in intimidation within 50 metres of religious institutions.”
The Ontario Liberal Plan to Combat Racism will include:
- Create a new fund to hire and incent more diverse and underrepresented police officers, in addition to existing planned policing hires
- Ensure regular police training for de-escalation, anti-racism, cultural sensitivity and mental health
- Require police services to disclose annual statistics regarding the diversity of their officers, leadership and police service boards
- Reverse Conservative funding cuts to anti-racism programs
- Enhanced Crown Attorney units dedicated to advising police and prosecuting hate crimes and extend the period for putting forward human rights complaints from one to five years
- New laws to protect our churches, synagogues, temples, gurudwaras and other faith institutions from violence and intimidation
- Immediately pass the Our London Family Act to create new tools and strategies to combat racism
- Create a Cabinet Minister dedicated to fighting racism
