A “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” consultant was hired by the York Region District School Board (YRDSB) to lecture about “disrupting racism”, despite being credibly accused of having driven a principal to commit suicide.

Sue Levy of True North News broke the story that Toronto-based diversity trainer Kike Ojo-Thompson of the Kojo Institute created pre-recorded classes that were available to YRDSB staff through an online portal during a PA day on October 20. 

The four sessions lasted eight hours and covered such topics as “racism, anti-black racism, and racial inequity”, “whiteness, white supremacy and organizational culture”, and “fostering change for racial equity”.

This kind of woke language is par for the course in the professional instruction now offered at school boards. which have all too frequently become hives of “social justice”.

However, the truly disturbing thing is that the revelation comes in the wake of the tragic story of TDSB principal Richard Bilkszto, who died by suicide following an encounter with Ojo-Thompson during an April, 2021 session in which he challenged her claim that Canada is a more racist country than the United States.

Bilkszto had politely suggested that public schools serving Canada’s poorest students are better funded than their American equivalents, and that perhaps Canada isn’t the bastion of white supremacy that Ojo-Thompson claimed it was.

Ojo-Thompson then turned on Bilkszto, labelling him a white supremacist in front of 200 of his colleagues, and told him that his and other white peoples’ “job in this work, as white people, is to believe.”

Bilkszto had been described by friends and colleagues as a deeply progressive man hailed for his focus on 'equity' at work. 

But none of that mattered to Ojo-Thompson, who aggressively berated Bilkszto, terming his response “resistance in support of white supremacy”. 

Nor did it matter to the TDSB, who followed Ojo-Thompson’s lead by revoking contracts they had with him and reneging on others.

For Bilkszto, the humiliation and betrayal fostered a downward spiral of depression, ending with his death in July of this year.

An Ontario Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) inquiry into the matter found Thompson’s behaviour to be “abusive” and reported that it amounted to “workplace harassment”. 

“I find it outrageously insensitive and bordering on cruel that the board’s brass would even entertain any training by Ojo-Thompson.”

-Sue-Ann Levy, True North

Two reviews of Ojo-Thompson’s behaviour, one by the TDSB and one by the Ontario’s education ministry are still ongoing, and yet she is still being paid to consult at publicly-funded institutions such as the YRDSB.

What Kike Ojo-Thompson and her Kojo Institute are peddling has nothing to do with justice. It’s all about revenge and punishment for the non-compliant. They will continue to produce, promote, and push their toxic, divisive, racist ideology.

They have no tolerance for dissenters, or even for those who question their positions.

Kike Ojo-Thompson has no business being anywhere near boards of education. 

It’s a travesty that she is still being rewarded by them with lucrative contracts.