Rights chief hears fears of racial profiling in schools

BY MARLENE HABIB
CANADIAN PRESS

Some parents worry their children may have been suspended under zero-tolerance policies in schools simply because of their race or disability, Ontario's human rights commissioner said today after releasing his annual report.

Keith Norton said the Ontario Human Rights Commission is looking into the province's Safe Schools Act and the "disproportionate impact" it may be having on certain students, although no formal complaints have been filed with the commission.

The act, passed three years ago, promotes strict codes of conduct that pave the way for zero-tolerance policies on issues such as student swearing and drinking.

"Some community members believe their youth are being differentially treated in the education system," Norton told reporters.

"There are concerns teachers are using the act to harshly treat students."

Norton gave the example of one black student who was suspended from school after a fellow student met him at his home and he answered the door reportedly holding a knife. The parents said the boy had simply just finished buttering bread, but the girl complained to the school and he was suspended.

As well, added Norton, some students with disabilities — including Tourette's syndrome, a disorder resulting in erratic behaviour — have been suspended for swearing and other "disobedient behaviour."

Pat Nelson, a spokesman for the Education Ministry, did not immediately provide comment.

But Annie Kidder of People for Education said the parents' advocacy group has heard numerous concerns about the effect of zero tolerance "on a number of different groups of students."

While parents want safe schools, many feel it may be time to evaluate whether the act is working, said Kidder.

"There are concerns raised by a number of groups about how the act is applied in schools," she said. "We need to make sure that we're really looking at that carefully."

Norton said the commission is investigating possible "inappropriate applications of the act."

However, he said that one stumbling block in proving discrimination is that schools don't record the race or disability of students when they're suspended — a move that would be a racially questionable practice in itself.

The commission will, however, release guidelines to schools this fall on their duties to accommodate students with disabilities, said Norton.

In his 16-page report on the commission's accomplishments for the 2002-2003 fiscal period, disability issues accounted for 1,172 of the 1,776 complaints filed with the commission during that period, followed by 435 complaints involving sexual orientation and pregnancy, 400 complaints involving race and colour and 217 complaints on ethnicity.

The commission also closed 1,954 cases, while referring 58 complaints to the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario.

The report also highlighted several steps the commission has taken to address human rights issues, including a policy to prevent age discrimination against older people, working to ensure equal access for disabled restaurant-goers and transit users and helping aboriginals become aware of their rights.

Norton said he's awaiting reports from seven major restaurant chains that failed to accommodate disabled customers — because of things like not having braille menus, signs that were too high for wheelchair-users to read and non-accessible washrooms.