The History of Segregated Schools in Ontario

Did you know that Ontario was home to several segregated schools as recently as 1964?

If we don’t learn about Black History, we cannot learn from Black History. The history of segregation in Ontario's school system highlights the basis of where prejudice and discrimination originated in our present-day school system.

School segregation in Ontario began pre-Confederation. School act amendments made in the 1850s allowed segregated schools based on petitions from local groups and families.

Most segregated schools were located in Essex and Kent counties, where the Underground Railway system led to the establishment of Black communities.

School conditions for Black children were horrific. The school year lasted as little as three months, and student attendance was poor. Facilities were hardly maintained, and libraries were scarce. Rats were common. In Windsor, a Black observer found 35 Black students being taught in a 16 x 24-foot coop, while a neighbouring White school had extra space.

Courts denied Black students access to white schools. If a teacher spoke out in favour of integration, they were threatened with docked pay or termination.

In 1964, at the height of the civil rights movement in the United States, more than 50 elementary students in rural southwest Ontario were still experiencing segregated schooling.

The Globe and Mail newspaper described the conditions of one segregated school in November 1964:

"The rooms...are dreary, poorly lit and cluttered…Each building has two toilets, chemical ones that must be flushed out daily with a pail of water in order to keep them minimally sanitary…A pump in the schoolyard is the only source of water." It was later discovered that at one of the schools, the well water was contaminated.

When Leonard Braithwaite, Canada’s first Black provincial legislator, discovered that laws permitting school segregation were still in existence, he took action. On February 4, 1964, Brathwaite, a Liberal representing Etobicoke, discussed the issue during his first speech at Queen’s Park, stating: “There has not been a need for such schools since before the beginning of this century. Those days have passed.” -@theglobeandmail

Finally, after a petition with 60 signatures was sent to school trustees and a 5-hour meeting, the agreement was reached that racial segregation “constitutes an offense to human dignity and the public policy of this community.”- @theglobeandmail

Once the Minister of Education, Bill Davis, amended the Separate Schools Act to remove all references to segregated schools, a Windsor Star newspaper article was published, claiming that segregated schools in Essex County had been abolished since the turn of the century.

The whitewashing of the history of racism in Canada would easily have us all believe that Canada was a haven for Black people looking to escape the misery of slavery and oppression, but many of the same oppressive behaviours propagated here as well. To this day, we continue to strive for equality for Black students at every level of the educational system.

To read more about Ontario's history of school segregation, click here:https://www.tvo.org/article/the-story-of-ontarios-last-segregated-black-school

What are some ways that Ontario can do better for Black students? Comment below.