Kenora Catholic Striving for Equity

Kenora Catholic Striving for Equity
Posted on 01/28/2021
The Kenora Catholic District School Board is working towards a more equitable and inclusive community for all students.Photo of Mariette Martineau

The Kenora Catholic District School Board is working towards a more equitable and inclusive community for all students.

During a presentation to the board of trustees Religious and Family Life Coordinator, Mariette Martineau, spoke about the road to equity. She spoke about how the board has been working towards the goal of equity, beginning with diversity.  

“If you look back, probably 15-20 years ago in the board, that is probably where we primarily were. Where we were celebrating that there is a Filipino population, and we’re celebrating that there is an Anishinaabe population. So we’re celebrating the diversity, but we’re not really changing what we do or how we do it. We’re just acknowledging the gift of diversity, which is a huge gift. ” she said.

She said the board is has also been successful in promoting inclusivity.

“Inclusivity is where an organization makes space - more space - for others, who are diverse, to be part of it. So, for example, if you go into the Chapel at the Catholic Education Centre right now the STAHS drum is in the middle of the room, and the hand drums are in the chairs resting on the comfort blankets around the room. We’ve created space for those sacred items from our brothers and sisters, to be there. But ultimately we don’t actually change that much as an organization. We teach Anishinaabe, we celebrate the feasts, but it doesn’t require a lot of change from us to do that. Basically, we changed the calendar, we changed some of the physical space, but we don’t ultimately change who we are in identity. And that is where disruption comes in.” she explained.

Martineau described the importance of disruption, on the path to equity. 

“This is the scary part of when you’re moving toward equity. You can’t get to equity without disrupting, because racism is alive and well, it’s in every community around the world, and it’s part of our reality as well. So, this is where we’re trying to stretch, we’re trying to burst the racism bubble in particular, so then we can actually get to true equity. So, we get to a point where an Anishinaabe student doesn’t walk into one of our schools and think “oh I’m an Anishinaabe student and I’m walking into this school” they just show up as their authentic selves because the power is truly equitable. So, our racialized minorities are given the space and the power to be on equal footings with us, and we’ve had to change, and radically change, in order for that to happen." she said. 

Martineau says to be truly equal, it must be evidence-based and the data must show things have balanced out.

“We need to be able to show that, to be truly equitable that the data has to reveal it. The physical data has to show that there is indeed a change in equity. For example, in the education system, one of the prime examples of that would be in the suspension and expulsion rates. If there's a high percentage of a racialized minority in those rates that's a pretty good clue that equity isn't happening as fully as it could. That's the hard part. This is the hard work of equity, because you can't say you're an equitable organization until you have the facts to prove it, and so that's where we're trying to move towards” she said.

Mariette said the work taking place at Kenora Catholic begins is working towards true equity. She also spoke about a number of projects taking place in the coming months to help with this work, including a student census – which is a project mandated by the Ministry of Education – to collect data regarding student’s identities. As well as the Culturally Relevant and Responsive Pedagogy Project. The CRRP is funded by the Ministry to support school boards to ensure that all students, including racialized minorities have equitable access to a good education and feel a sense of inclusion in their schools. Kenora Catholic is working to ensure that families, students, and staff are respected in their identity and feel a sense of belonging to the school.

“Real change means we need to be able to identify the barriers to equity, and we need to have the guts and the courage to see oppression, and work to eliminate it by everyone. Everyone from the secretary's welcoming people in our buildings, to the custodians, to the superintendents, to the religious educator. We all have the ability to impact and make a change for equity, so we need to do this. Not because of the Education Act, not because the Ministry of Education is telling us to do it, but because it is inherent to our vision as Catholic educators. There is nothing more Catholic than fighting for the oppressed and ensuring that we are not the oppressors. That's the hardest and guiltiest part of all this, is owning the fact that we have committed acts of oppression, and we sometimes do it so innocently and accidentally, but we do and that's the challenge. So, all we have left to do is the work.” She said.

At the end of her presentation, Director of Education, Paul White thanked Mariette and the equity team for their work.

“I just want to thank Mariette for her leadership. We do have a strong committee that's working with her, but she is leading this in a very strong way and I do appreciate all of her hard work. It is hard work. There isn't a path to follow, we are making the path as we go. So every day is a new challenge and I just want to thank her and the entire team for getting together and making it the best place for all students within our school system,” He said.

During a presentation to the board of trustees Religious and Family Life Coordinator, Mariette Martineau, spoke about the road to equity.
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