Toronto teacher fired for wearing blackface costume should be reinstated: arbitrator – Toronto

An Ontario arbitrator has ruled that a Toronto high school teacher who was fired after wearing a Halloween costume involving blackface four years ago should be reinstated and compensated for lost wages.

In a decision last week, arbitrator Norm Jesin wrote that the teacher had gone to Parkdale Collegiate Institute in October 2021 after dressing in black clothes, wearing a black face mask and painting his face black to present “a scary persona, like that of a zombie” for Halloween.

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The decision says multiple students were upset by the teacher’s blackface after he removed the black mask while teaching and later attended a school assembly.

It says the Toronto District School Board fired the teacher after an investigation, but the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation called it “an excessive response” given the teacher did not intend to cause harm and had immediately apologized.

Jesin wrote in his decision that the teacher took courses on anti-Black racism and expressed remorse for his actions before he was restored to “good standing” by the Ontario College of Teachers on Oct. 1, 2023, so he should be reinstated with no loss of seniority and compensated for lost wages since that date.

The Canadian Press has reached out to the TDSB and the OSSTF for comment.