A group of parents of Black children in Guelph are asking for change within the Upper Grand District School Board (UGDSB).

The UGDSB Black Parent Council say they are frustrated because there’s no support or proper action taken when their children report experiencing racism at school. They say there’s also limited education and action towards creating a strategy against anti-Black racism.

“So we want them to first understand that there is a problem,” said Marsha Myrie, a member of the UGDSB Black Parent Council, a grassroots organization that is not affiliated with the school board.

“Once they accept that, then come to the table to honestly be willing to fix [issues with racism]. Not to try to be performative around it, not to try to dismiss the parents, just really be willing to work in a collective way to address the issues.”

She says they want the school board to adopt an anti-racism strategy.

“[The council wants] a space where students and staff and parents can report their experiences and have those repeat reports treated confidentially, treated seriously, treated in trauma-informed ways so that we are not continuously harmed even as we try to find solutions,” Myrie said.

“We also want more accountability … better reporting on school performance, school experience of Black children, better accountability around the curriculum, around what our children are learning and who is teaching our children.”

She says there also needs to be more Black teachers and administrators.

“Education is not just inside the classroom. Education starts with making sure students have a proper meal to eat. It starts with making sure that there’s homework programs and support programs, educational programs that go beyond schooling.”

Human rights review findings

In April 2025, UGDSB commissioned an independent third-party human rights review that was prompted by feedback from public consultations.

The review went on to conduct more than 4,200 student survey responses, review over 780 written submissions and interview over 200 students, staff families and community members.

The findings from that review were discussed at a Policy and Priorities Committee meeting on March 3.

The findings backed concerns that the Black Parent Council says it was already sounding the alarm on long before the review began.

“There’s nothing in the report that is surprising,” Myrie said.

“Every single account, as dastardly as it was, we are well aware of because we deal with those accounts in the evening when our children come home and we ask them, ‘How has your day at school been?'”

In its findings, the review has identified the need for “clearer governance and mandate delineation, more consistent and transparent complaint pathways, defined response timelines, strengthened workforce representation transparency, and improved consistency in school-level implementation”.

The report says the impact of identity-based harm is reflected in the underrepresentation of Black and Indigenous students in honours-level programming — while at the same time being much more likely to receive suspension.

“These patterns underscore the Board’s obligation to address identity-based harm and inequitable outcomes in a structured and measurable way,” the review said.

UGDSB committed to ‘sustained, system-wide action’

In a statement to CBC News, UGDSB says it takes concerns about racism seriously.

“The action plan focuses on strengthening governance, learning, data, and accountability across the system,” the statement says in part.

“This includes establishing clearer and more accessible complaint processes, implementing defined response timelines, expanding mandatory human rights learning for staff and leaders, and strengthening the use of identity-based data to identify and address systemic barriers.”

The school board highlighted work it has already done to try and strengthen its human rights framework, including the establishment of a Human Rights, Equity and Accessibility Office and the commissioning of the human rights review.

“We want to be clear that the board acknowledges the existence and impact of systemic anti-Black racism within publicly funded education and is committed to addressing it through sustained, system-wide action.”