Bilkszto died by suicide which according to his family was 100% caused by an online anti racism training.
Bilkszto filed a lawsuit against the [Toronto District School Board] TDSB earlier this year, related to a 2021 online anti-racism training session where he claims to have been implicitly referred to as a white supremacist by the trainer and berated in front of his colleagues when he disagreed that Canada was more racist than the U.S.
None of the allegations have been proven in court …
The claim says Bilkszto acknowledged the country’s own anti-Black racism, but suggested Canada was a more just society than the U.S., making reference to different approaches to public education and health care.
He alleged the TDSB failed to investigate his workplace harassment claim and then retaliated by disinviting him from a graduation for a program he helped create and revoking a temporary contract offer.
He started a sick leave shortly after the training sessions and was diagnosed with anxiety secondary to a workplace event, according to the claim and a copy of a Workplace Safety and Insurance Board decision provided by his lawyer, lightly redacted to omit the names of medical professionals and the case manager, along with addresses and phone numbers.
The WSIB decision dated Aug. 16, 2021, concluded Bilkszto was subject to workplace harassment and bullying. The case manager wrote the trainer appeared to intend to cause reputational damage and make an example out of him. The decision granted him loss-of-earnings benefits up to July 1, 2021, noting the medical evidence on file indicated he could return to work at that time.
Interesting how an outside trainer is apparently responsible not only for a brief interaction during a workshop but also for subsequent actions taken by TDSB’s management. Somehow (not explained) she was plotting behind the scenes to have this guy’s hours cut. No one is safe from the embrace of precarious work, not even alternative school ex-principals.
Not that is matters much, but for some context: Toronto is a minority white city with some areas being <25% white. So it’s extremely on topic for anyone in charge of a highschool to know about how people see things even if he didn’t happen to agree.
He said it would be “an incredible disservice to our learners,” to say Canada was just as bad as the U.S., according to the lawsuit. Ojo-Thompson responded, “we are here to talk about anti-Black racism, but you in your whiteness think that you can tell me what’s really going on for Black people?”
The lawsuit indicates Bilkszto maintained Canada was a more just society, while acknowledging its anti-Black racism. Another KOJO Institute consultant then allegedly stepped in and said the session was not a place to be an apologist for either country.
The lawsuit claims Ojo-Thompson brought up the exchange in a followup session a week later as an example of the ways white supremacy is upheld through resistance.
That’s what it takes.
