Investigating an antiracism policy: The case of an Ontario school board

Abstract

How are the issues of racism, antiracism and the antiracism policy development process understood and discussed at the school board level? What is the relationship between antiracism policy makers' personal experiences of racism and their involvement in the antiracism policy process? How do antiracism policy makers' understandings of racism and antiracism affect their participation in the antiracism policy process? This case study uses a humanistic and narrative mode of inquiry to examine the preceding questions. This particular mode of inquiry emphasizes (a) the role of the individual in the organization and in the antiracism policy making process, in particular, (b) how the individual affects the way in which organizations work; (c) and the existence of contested meanings and understandings of how to define the theoretical aspects of antiracism approaches and the idea of race and racialization as lived experience. Seven individuals who participated in the Ontario School Board (OSB) antiracism policy process were interviewed and asked to discuss their personal understandings of racism, antiracism and the antiracism policy development process. Findings indicate that (a) there are underlying racialized assumptions that play a formative role in the OSB antiracism and ethnocultural equity policy development process, (b) participation in the policy process is often motivated by the participant's personal experiences and interests, (c) and that organizational structures may simultaneously foster and hinder the creation and subsequent enactment of antiracism policy. Analyzing participant understandings of racism, antiracism, and the antiracism policy development process raises awareness of the complex nature of social, organizational and to a lesser extent, micro- and macro-political conditions that are central to antiracism policy development and implementation.