PDSB’s broken promise to name community’s Centre for Black Excellence after beloved advocate, just the latest display of its ‘anti-Black racism’

“If you’re looking to see the progress the Board has made with Black communities and families, tomorrow’s event is a reflection of where the relationship is. At the very top end, in a long line of insults, we – the parents who have been at the forefront of this work, including making the original request for a Centre for Black Excellence – have not even been invited.”

Danielle Dowdy, who was previously honoured as Brampton’s citizen of the year, and has tirelessly advocated for more than a decade to strengthen the institutions at the heart of civic life, expresses a mix of disbelief, anger and resignation over the Peel District School Board’s decision to open the Centre for Black Excellence on Wednesday, without the participation of many who fought for years to create the new initiative, and without the name of the man who was supposed to be recognized on the front of the building.

After committing to name the centre after the late community leader and advocate Kola Iluyomade, who worked with Dowdy and other stakeholders at the centre of the effort to create the new space that will highlight, promote and spread Black excellence, PDSB trustees who opposed Iluyomade’s dogged equity work, made sure his name would never appear on a PDSB building.

Despite being directed to follow through on the community’s desire to honour Iluyomade, who passed away suddenly during the COVID pandemic in 2021, and even after former education minister Stephen Lecce instructed trustees to name the new centre after the late community champion, PDSB trustees snubbed Iluyomade and went back on their promise to follow the wishes of Peel’s Black families.

Former education minister Stephen Lecce’s letter to Chair of the Peel District School Board David Green ordering the board to fulfill its promise to the community and name the Centre for Black Excellence after Kola Iluyomade. 

And now, they have failed to invite many of the key proponents behind the entire initiative, who were left off the list of attendees for tomorrow’s launch.   

“We are the ones who worked with staff to scout and identify to find a suitable location, we are the ones who discussed renovations and required facility upgrades with their architectural staff, and we are the ones who worked with educators and senior leaders to discuss appropriate programming and usage for what we all understood would be the ‘Kola Iluyomade Centre for Black Excellence’,” Dowdy told The Pointer. “Since this policy was implemented, the work, the trust, and the progress that was being made all came crumbling down. To know this day has come and we weren’t even invited, speaks to the severe breakdown between the PDSB and the Alliance. The opening of the Centre tomorrow without the advocates who have led this work since 2018, and who have brought the Board to even opening a Centre, speaks to the board’s inability to stop perpetuating anti-Black racism.”

The Alliance is made up of We Rise Together and Advocacy Peel, serving as the official parent and family advocacy body designated by the PDSB to fulfill the core work of dismantling anti-Black racism within the Board.

“The weaponization of Board processes to keep Kola’s name off this building, after years of working toward this goal, after public and private commitments that were made, including the then minister of education Stephen Lecce directing the Board to fulfill its commitment, speaks to how entrenched anti-Black racism is embedded within the culture and operations of the PDSB.”

The Peel District School Board will officially open the doors of its Centre for Black Excellence on Wednesday. What was meant to be a celebration of the contributions and ongoing work by Peel’s Black residents to lift the entire region, has been tarnished, advocates told The Pointer. 

The ongoing refusal by the board to honour its own promise made in 2022 to name the centre after Iluyomade—an advocate pivotal in launching a 2020 review of the PDSB which exposed the systemic racism that for decades had traumatized children across Peel, and had been protected by some of the same PDSB trustees who later took steps to keep his name off the new centre—is a reminder of the structural discrimination embedded deep within Canada’s second-largest school board, advocates told The Pointer.

In 2023, after Lecce ordered the naming and after the Board committed to it, trustees who had for years fought against Iluyomade’s strategies to reform a school system that he helped expose for its deeply harmful culture of racism, changed the PDSB’s naming policy to make sure no building would ever again feature someone’s name.

“Theres nothing preventing this policy from being reversed other than the Board’s commitment to continue not doing right by Black communities,” Dowdy said. She and dozens of other Peel residents have pointed out the blatant contradiction and racism in naming schools after white people for decades, before suddenly changing the policy right when Black families and the education minister at the time demanded to have the new centre honouring Black excellence, named after the Black man who was at the heart of the struggle to eradicate racism from the PDSB.

No public notice has been issued by the PDSB about the centre’s opening, starting at 3:30 p.m. at the Peel Alternative School North, tomorrow, November 5th. 

A year after agreeing to name it after Iluyomade, trustees stripped his name from the plans, citing the suddenly amended naming policy that prevented them from doing so. 

The about face was done without any community notice or consultation.

PDSB Trustee Kathy McDonald, who worked with the same advocates and families Iluyomade represented, and fought for the sweeping 2020 provincial government review that they both championed, which revealed the extent of the PDSB’s systemic racism, told The Pointer she would not comment on the policy change after the Board vote that approved it, “But I did not vote for the policy to end the naming of PDSB buildings after people,” she told The Pointer Tuesday.  

Board Chair David Green and a majority of trustees have claimed the amended policy creates a complete ban on naming facilities and schools after people. This has been challenged by advocates and trustees. Others have pointed out that the effort to amend the policy was to ensure the names of those who have ever participated in harms against segments of Canadian society and others whose behaviour should preclude them from being honoured, would never be recognized by the PDSB.

This would in no way prevent Iluyomade’s name from being memorialized on the new facility. Critics of the trustees who forced the change have pointed out that someone like him, who fought to defend and protect core Canadian values, is exactly who children should see reflected in the PDSB’s values, as illustrated by the names that deserve to be featured on its educational buildings.

Kola Iluyomade (left) with Tim Vining (second from left) during a PDSB meeting.

(Courtesy of Tim Vining)

Instead, the mean-spirited decision has left advocates feeling betrayed, and has further fractured the relationship between Peel’s Black communities and its largest school system, which seems incapable of addressing its culture of racism.

Lecce had repeatedly admonished the PDSB’s trustees for perpetuating the systemic racism he tried to help eradicate. When the former director, Peter Joshua, and Green took legal action in 2020 against community groups who had used social media to highlight the PDSB’s alarming opposition to equity reforms, Lecce stepped in, ordered the legal action to be ended, and wrote: “I have asked the new supervisor to have PDSB immediately withdraw from litigation against community members to begin the process of driving change and meaningful engagement with those affected. We cannot silence community. In fact, we need more community in these moments.” 

He later wrote: “We expect all schools and classrooms in the province to be safe and inclusive. For far too long, this has not been the case at the Peel District School Board. From day one, I said that if the PDSB does not act swiftly and completely to counter racism and positively change the culture within our schools, then the government will act. For a generation, students have felt ignored, powerless, and disrespected. This ends starting today.”

Trustee Green in 2020 had called the police to a public PDSB meeting, after claiming an advocate who worked closely with Iluyomade, Idris Orughu, had threatened him. Orughu was banned from entering PDSB properties and Iluyomade was warned that he could be served with a trespass notice as well. 

After police concluded Green’s claims were unfounded, and after Lecce stripped the PDSB’s trustees of their governance roles for failing to cooperate with provincial efforts to eradicate the board’s culture of systemic racism, the man appointed by Lecce to replace Joshua (who was fired from his job as the PDSB’s director), issued the following apology: "The Peel District School Board is taking many steps in its efforts to dismantle anti-Black, African and Caribbean racism and achieve racial equity. One of these important steps is to acknowledge past mistakes to enable reconciliation.

On March 9, 2020, the Peel District School Board issued a notice of Trespass to Idris Orughu, a community leader and advocate. The notice stated that he engaged in disrespectful communication towards members of the Board of Trustees on February 11, 2020, and made harassing and threatening comments on February 25, 2020 to members of the Board of Trustees, requiring the intervention of Peel Regional Police.

The Peel District School Board extends an apology to Mr. Orughu.

The issuing of the notice of trespass and contacting the Peel Regional Police were acts of discrimination and anti-Black racism.

The Peel District School Board recognizes and apologizes on behalf of senior leadership for the impact of that trespass letter on Mr. Orughu’s advocacy efforts to change education policies that perpetuate anti-Black racism and oppressive practices.” 

Three years later, responding to a letter from Advocacy Peel, Lecce ordered trustees to honour their commitment to name the Centre for Black Excellence after Iluyomade: “I am satisfied that promises were held out to community members that this would be done…I expect, that as a Board of Trustees, you will, without further delay, take the needed steps to fulfill the commitment to name the Centre for Black Excellence after Kola Iluyomade,” Lecce wrote in a July 2023 letter to PDSB Chair David Green and obtained by The Pointer. 

In the copy of the letter obtained by The Pointer, Iluyomade’s name is redacted but multiple sources confirmed it is his name: “The PDSB has worked hard over the last several years on building the trust and confidence of communities that have experienced longstanding discrimination and harm, particularly Black students, families, staff and community members. Honoring promises made, such as the naming of the Centre for Black Excellence, are essential to that trust.”

Dowdy says the entire process has been sullied by the PDSB, and the ongoing refusal by board officials to honour their promise to Iluyomade and his family.

“It's just been a really painful process…it’s such an insult. I have not spoken to anyone outside the parents I work with. I haven’t told others about it, because what should have been a big celebration and a community gathering has been turned upside down and on its head. The family has accepted this as an outcome, and we accept it, but this isn’t something that we’re celebrating.”

Former education minister Stephen Lecce met with advocates for Peel’s Black communities before launching a sweeping review of the Peel District School Board in 2020.

(Government of Ontario)

According to advocates who spoke with The Pointer, in lieu of naming the facility after him, a plaque is being installed at the new centre to honour Iluyomade. Details of the plaque and tomorrow’s ceremony were not shared with advocacy groups, and they only learned of the announcement through Iluyomade’s family members who were invited.

The exclusion of those instrumental in bringing to light the harm caused to Peel’s Black and other visible minority students is further evidence that systemic, anti-Black racism remains deeply entrenched within the PDSB’s leadership, advocates say. 

 "This lack of invitation is significant because it was the demand of Advocacy Peel and other groups to have a Centre for Black Excellence,” Tim Vining, who co-founded Advocacy Peel alongside Iluyomade, told The Pointer. “We are the ones who presented and fought for this idea and received a promise. Now, while the centre is opening, we were never invited. This is why the community does not trust the Peel District School Board—when you exclude those who led the effort.”

The PDSB did not respond to requests for comment about the event, or the board’s ongoing refusal to honour their commitment to name the centre after Iluyomade. 

In 2023, board members claimed they were unable to name the centre after Iluyomade due to the recently amended PDSB policy which prevented them from naming schools after individuals. No such policy exists. 

The board’s Naming and Renaming of Schools, Special Function Areas, and Facilities Policy allows for the naming of schools and board facilities after individuals just like Iluyomade. 

According to the policy, names used shall: “Align with PDSB’s commitment to anti-colonialism, anti-racism, antioppression, and human rights, and consider equity, diversity and inclusion, (and) consider the diversity of PDSB Community Members, including but not limited to diversity of race, gender, creed, and abilities, for example, and strive to name and rename to reflect that diversity.”

Changes made were designed to ensure names of individuals who contributed to, or support anti-Black racist, or colonial systems were removed or kept off of future schools and facilities—not to prevent the honouring of community heroes.

“From our perspective, the message from PDSB is clear—if buildings can’t be named after white supremacists, then they won’t be named after Black advocates either,” Vining told The Pointer. “It’s absolutely a double standard. The board named a building after (former PDSB chair) Janet McDougald, yet when it came to honouring a Black man who led the fight for racial justice, they hid behind policy. The ministry’s equity directive required an audit of building names, but instead of acting on it, the board used it to refuse naming the Centre after Kola Iluyomade. That’s open defiance of the spirit of that directive—and a clear betrayal of the community and his family.”

In the ‘90s, PDSB trustees unsuccessfully appealed a ruling by the Human Rights Commission which found it had discriminated against Sikh students, after the PDSB was the only school system in Canada that banned the wearing of a kirpan. McDougald, the longtime chair and a trustee with the board for 30 years, defended the board’s decision and defended its pattern by white leadership of denying their own racist attitudes that continued for decades without reform. In 2011, the PDSB renamed the Hartsdale Avenue Public School to Janet I. McDougald Public School. 

For many advocates and community members, there is ample evidence that the PDSB has not changed from its harmful past. Visible minorities, who make up approximately 85 percent of the board’s student body, were finally protected in June 2020, when Lecce stripped trustees of their governance role after the provincial government had seen enough evidence of the board’s continued refusal to address its systemic discrimination. Following its sweeping review, the education ministry appointed Bruce Rodrigues to supervise PDSB to “undertake the necessary actions to eliminate the practices and policies underpinning discrimination and inequalities.” Iluyomade was instrumental in launching this review, and the change that followed. 

The former director, Peter Joshua was removed by the Province, a decision that was welcomed by advocates who had watched Joshua ban parents from meetings; take legal action against advocates speaking out on social media; and allegedly retaliate against a former equity leader after she took him and the board to the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal alleging serial discrimination. 

The Province’s intervention led to the creation of 27 binding directives for the PDSB to complete in an effort to remove harmful policies and practices. It has yet to complete all 27.

In considering naming the Centre for Black Excellence after Iluyomade, PDSB’s Director Rashmi Swarup had glowing words for the late advocate in a 2023 report to trustees. 

“Kola Iluyomade was a passionate activist and community leader, who lobbied relentlessly for the disruption and dismantling of anti-Black racism within the Peel District School Board. Known as the 'modern-day Superman,' Kola Iluyomade was a symbol of hope for others, and specifically, for Black, African and Afro-Caribbean students within the Peel community. Kola always strived for equality in the PDSB. Despite the resistance he faced, the only true thing he wanted from his work as an advocate and leader, was for Black, African and Afro-Caribbean students to be treated as equals,” her report describes.

Swarup also acknowledged that such a decision by the board and its elected trustees to name the centre after him would become “a symbol of acknowledgement by the Peel District School Board of Kola's transformative leadership that guides the PDSB’s actions, initiatives, policies to create safe learning and working environments for Black students and staff to date.”

The words were ignored by the majority of trustees who voted to keep Iluyomade’s name off the new centre.

McDonald, one of the few champions on the board of trustees over the last decade committed to dismantling anti-Black racism, voted against the decision. 

“I think a vote to eliminate his name from the Centre is a slap in his face, is a slap to his family that was approached and in principle his widowed wife and two fatherless children were many times in public on different occasions made to believe that this was going to happen,” McDonald told The Pointer in 2023. “Remember why we got here under supervision, we talk about building trust in a community, I think this is going to undermine trust.” 

Advocates agree.

Dowdy says the ongoing refusal to place Iluyomade’s name on the centre is clear evidence PDSB officials are “not really willing to work with the community, and they're more interested in clinging to policies that don't make sense and that don't serve their intended purpose. All these directives that came from the ministry were supposed to bridge with the community and bring the community and the board closer together. They've actually weaponized these directives to build a wedge,” she said.

According to Vining, the PDSB is attempting to use Iluyomade’s family to widen that division. 

"We’re concerned that the Peel District School Board is trying to divide the community from the family by suggesting that the family has agreed to or accepted the plaque,” he said. “The family has been very clear—they are not giving up on their position. They insist the center should be named after Kola Iluyomade and do not accept that the plaque is a substitute for naming the center. The plaque is appropriate in the sense that, when you name a building after someone, you usually have a plaque inside explaining who that person is. That’s how we understand the role of the plaque, but it should not be seen as a compromise on the naming commitment."

Prior to the departure of the provincial supervisor, there were signals from trustees, and PDSB staff, that they were not fully committed to the work Lecce ordered them to complete. 

Kola Iluyomade (right) was instrumental in bringing to light the systemic anti-Black racism that persists within the Peel District School Board.

(The Pointer files)

In August 2021, nine trustees sent a letter to Lecce requesting the removal of Rodrigues, the appointed supervisor, despite limited evidence they were committed to the work he was leading to dismantle systemic racism within the board. Two years later, a damning review revealed ongoing resistance to the critical equity work, with staff “undermining” the efforts to change these harmful systems, and made 108 recommendations for improvement. 

Now, in 2025, the 27 directives have yet to be completed, and Trustee McDonald believes the board is not adequately funding efforts to address anti-Black racism. She voted against the budget for the 2025-2026 fiscal year due to a lack of investment in these critical initiatives. 

"I'm acutely aware that DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) appears to be out of fashion, but to me, it is a cornerstone of my modus operandi, and this budget does not address and, in some cases, neglects the human rights of the people we serve," she told those in attendance during the public board of trustees meeting in July. 

The board is also considering the reinstatement of the School Resource Officer program which places a Peel Police officer within local public schools. The program was eliminated in 2020 with Peel Police acknowledging the harm it had done to Black students.

A notice of motion that went before the Board on October 29 recommends the PDSB begin discussions with Peel police about “re-establishing a community engagement program/school resource officer program”. 

The motion claims three petitions were received by the board requesting a plan to return “some form of police program in schools”. It disregards the acknowledged harm this program has done to racialized students within the board. Instead, it attempts to paint the program as one where “the interaction of police in schools can be a positive influence”.

Parents and advocates in Peel have already begun opposing such a decision, and Peel Police have not committed to restarting such an initiative. 

According to dozens of Peel residents who have reached out to The Pointer, including Dowdy, there has been a clear effort by PDSB trustees and officials to distance themselves from the critical equity work launched by Iluyomade and other advocates, which led to Lecce’s support and his takeover of the board.

“Since the board was returned from supervision, it’s been very intentional about whitewashing the issues that led to the provincial takeover,” she says. “They’ve distanced themselves from the Ministry’s directives and stopped engaging with parents and community members. The board never truly accepted the findings of the ministry review—they’re trying to erase that history and pretend those conversations never happened. And with Stephen Lecce gone, there’s no continuity or accountability from the province to ensure those anti-racism commitments are upheld.”

She questions why the trustees who took votes that led to Iluyomade’s name being kept off the new centre, are hiding behind a process, and a claimed procedural technicality, which they ultimately control. 

“They are the Board, but they are acting like they can’t reverse a policy that has created such deep pain and frustration for members of the Black community. They are not some entity outside of themselves – they have the power to lead with humility, admit where they went wrong, and to fix this.”

“It should be said that we recognize the difficult position that the Board has created for Black staff and Black community members, who ideally should be working together, but aren’t. Black staff feel constrained by the Board’s decisions, while Black community members are frustrated watching staff plow ahead, implementing Board plans that the community has not asked for or agreed to." 

Dowdy is saddened about an event that should have been a celebration to honour a man who so many advocates worked alongside to reform Peel’s most influential institution. 

“Tomorrow should be a very big deal for the community, and maybe it will be. Maybe they invited everyone, but us.”

Despite PDSB’s efforts to exclude them, Vining says he and other members of Advocacy Peel plan to attend tomorrow. 

"We will be at the event and speaking. As far as we are concerned, the promise made to the community was that the Centre would be named the Kola Iluyomade Centre for Black Excellence. The Peel District School Board has not honoured that promise. We remain consistent: to us, it is the Kola Iluyomade Centre for Black Excellence.”

Email: [email protected]

Email: [email protected]

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