Peel advocates call for the firing of Education Minister Calandra after defence of racist presentation by Peel Police

Following what many have described as a racist presentation given by Peel Police to senior educators that included discriminatory language and imagery about Peel’s Black communities, the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board and Peel Police apologized for the harm they caused. 

Both institutions committed to reviewing how what was meant to be an educational session, further entrenched systemic, anti-Black narratives within Peel’s education and policing systems.

Delivered on April 9 to more than 100 educators, including principals, vice principals and superintendents within the board, the presentation reportedly included discriminatory language; images of gang members, all of whom were Black; and a section of a profanity-laced song that included the n-word repeatedly. 

There were approximately 20 Black administrators in attendance for the presentation, which was provided as part of the Board’s “Safe Schools” program.

It drew the anger of advocates who wrote comments in an email chain shared with The Pointer, expressing that the presentation was “unacceptable”, “harmful”, “racist” and it was “extremely maddening to see this blatant disregard for Black people by a Peel Police officer”. 

The presentation also drew the attention of the Catholic Principals Council of Ontario (CPCO), which wrote to Dufferin Peel Catholic District School Board (DPCDSB) Director of Education Marianne Mazzorato and her team condemning it. 

“Our interest as an association is directly aligned with Dufferin-Peel’s recent Black History Month theme, Reclaiming the Narrative, which calls on us to challenge reductive portrayals and uplift the authentic, multifaceted experiences of Black students,” the letter obtained by The Pointer explains. “Our schools serve diverse communities, and our leadership responsibility requires us to ensure that professional learning and system level communications affirm student and staff identities rather than reinforce harmful or historically rooted stereotypes.”

The apologies from the Board and Peel Police were welcomed by Peel’s Black advocacy community, which has been fighting to eliminate anti-Black racism from institutions like local school boards and Peel police that have resisted change for decades. 

The next day, following concerns raised by several educators in attendance, Mazzorato issued an apology, acknowledging the harm the presentation caused to those in attendance. 

“The audible use of discriminatory language, specifically the n-word, caused harm and distress, and I deeply regret that this occurred within one of our professional learning spaces,” Mazzorato wrote in the letter sent on April 10 to all principals and vice principals, and obtained by The Pointer. 

“I want to acknowledge the harm caused by the way the presentation depicted only Black-identifying youth, without including or contextualizing other identity groups. This reinforced harmful stereotypes and deficit-based narratives that we actively work to dismantle as a system.”

But then, shockingly, the PC government got involved, and decided to walk back the apologies, defending the racist presentation. 

At Queen’s Park on Monday, under questioning from Liberal MPP Rob Cerjanec (Ajax), Education Minister Paul Calandra doubled down on the ministry’s stance, refusing to apologize after claiming the presentation was an accurate representation of reality and that people need to accept harsh truths. 

Cerjanec demanded Calandra explain whether he was directly involved in the Board’s decision to walk back the apology. 

Calandra did not address the question. Instead, he offered strong words of support for the presentation which advocates have said was riddled with discriminatory language and imagery. Calandra, who worked in insurance prior to entering politics, and has no experience in the education system, let alone one as diverse as Peel’s, claimed the presentation from Peel Police showed an “accurate, unvarnished reflection” of the challenges in Peel.

Calandra acknowledged the material may have been “difficult for them to see”, but the information was meant to teach them how to identify signs of gang activity and keep schools safe.

After questions were sent to the DPCDSB about the presentation, the PC government—which has placed the board under provincial supervision, meaning elected trustees have been sidelined from their governance responsibilities—contradicted the apology issued by the school board. 

On April 14, The Pointer sent questions to the DPCDSB seeking comment on the presentation and how the Board would be reviewing its practices and partnerships alongside Peel Police. 

Bruce Campbell, the Board’s director of communications, responded less than 15 minutes later, indicating responses would be forthcoming. 

The next day, Campbell acknowledged the Board would not be able to reach The Pointer’s deadline as “we are required to run all media responses through the Ministry of Education” under the provincial takeover of the Board.

An extension was granted. 

“Thanks,” Campbell replied. “Always happy to help.”

No response has been received. Further emails and phone calls to Campbell have gone unanswered.

Then, over the weekend, statements from the Board, provided to other media outlets, indicated it no longer supported the apology issued by Director Mazzorato. 

According to Peel advocate Dave Bosveld, who spoke with multiple administrators who attended the Peel Police presentation, they said it accomplished the opposite of goals meant to dismantle systemic discrimination and harmful stereotypes.

Mazzorato acknowledged this. 

“We are often mindful of the distinction between intent and impact, it is clear that the impact of yesterday’s presentation was significant and harmful,” she wrote in her original apology letter. “Our responsibility as a system is to ensure that all learning and professional environments are rooted in care, respect, and an understanding of historical and present-day realities.” 

None of this appeared to matter to Calandra. 

“I will not apologize for that,” he said at Queen’s Park. “This is just a contention of the Liberal agenda, the Liberal NDP agenda, which says that police are bad and they should be removed from our schools and that our teachers should functionally be police officers.”

He went on to claim the presentation was triggered by an incident “a week or so ago” that involved one student pulling a gun on another. He did not say which school this allegedly occurred at, or the date.

The Pointer could find no record of such an incident occurring in Peel within the last month. 

Questions sent to the Minister of Education seeking clarification of the alleged incident Calandra referred to were not returned.

“The Minister has proven he is out of touch with local realities, unfit for this job, and should resign or be removed,” Bosveld, a prominent advocate for Peel’s Black communities and a member of the Board’s Black Community Advisory Council, told The Pointer. 

“There is no data or evidence that supports his claims. The minister, his comments, and his reiterating the ‘unvarnished’ truth line have offended Black community members in Peel and across the province. This is the very definition of anti-Black racism and should disqualify him from the position of Minister of Education in this province.”

Bosveld continued: “The comments are racist and further the narrative of Black people as criminals, a harmful stereotype that is not based in fact and has been difficult for our communities to overcome. Note the Minister claimed in the legislature that a gun was pulled on a student in a DPCDSB school, yet there is no evidence that is true.”

Minister of Education Paul Calandra has been labelled out of touch, and advocates have called for his resignation over his support for a racist presentation provided to educators at the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board.

(Government of Ontario)

The reversal of the board’s apology has left advocates stunned. 

“When harm has been clearly articulated—particularly by Black educators—the response should not be to retreat, but to listen, reflect, and respond with accountability. Reversing an apology risks signalling that the impact of that harm is either disputed or minimized, which further erodes trust,” Heather Meara Thomas, the Founder & CEO of the HM Youth Foundation told The Pointer. 

The HM Foundation provides programming for Black and other marginalized youth. “Leadership at the Ministry level sets the tone for how issues of anti-Black racism are addressed across the system. In situations such as this, the expectation is not simply to endorse or defend, but to ensure that concerns are taken seriously and that the impact on those affected is meaningfully considered.”

The Catholic Board and Peel Police were asked if any review is being conducted to find out how the presentation was allowed to go forward. They have not responded to any questions. 

In walking back the apology, advocates are also worried other commitments made by Mazzarato in her letter, including a comprehensive review and vetting process for any future presentations, will also be sidelined.

“We were also told they would be ending relationships with police because of this presentation and that they were considering how to bring those administrators back in for a session to unlearn the harmful narratives put forward,” Bosveld says, acknowledging this would be an “appropriate response” to rebuild trust with Peel’s Black communities. 

The status of these commitments is now unclear. 

Bosveld is doubtful there will be significant change with the PC government controlling the board. 

“It’s obvious that the ministry-appointed Supervisor is in full control of DPCDSB…the Supervisor reports to the Minister, Paul Calandra, and the Director, Marrianne Mazzarotto, reports to the Supervisor. She is not in control of the DPCDSB and everyone should be alarmed that the Ministry and the Supervisor would attempt to downplay serious racial harm to staff and students.”

Advocate David Bosveld speaks during an event hosted by students in the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board after a tactical unit was called to their school to deal with an altercation between students and an off-duty police officer. Students who witnessed the incident say the off-duty officer instigated the fight, which Peel Police denies.

(Joel Wittnebel/The Pointer files) 

In the Legislature, MPP Cerjanec said the issue clearly illustrates concerns with the PC government’s ongoing effort to insert itself into the day-to-day running of local school boards. 

Both of Peel’s publicly funded boards are currently under provincial supervision, the DPCDSB since July 2025, and the Peel District School Board (PDSB) since early March. 

“You can’t run the province’s education system out of an ivory tower at Queen’s Park disconnected from local realities, students and educators,” Cerjanec said. “The Minister isn’t an emperor. I strongly believe that the police, the school boards and the community together must work to create safer schools and address crime, including the root causes. This province’s approach is failing the very same people they say they want to protect…Members in this house from all parties have acknowledged that anti-Black racism exists. This minister’s actions and what has taken place, in my view, I think it shows otherwise.”

Peel Police did not respond to questions from The Pointer about the presentation, including who created it, if it has been delivered to other school groups, and whether any review will be conducted as a result of the recent controversy.

Deputy Chief Anthony Odoardi, in responding to an email chain that included advocates and a number of senior officers with Peel Police, said a discussion about the presentation would be held at last week’s Anti-racism Advisory Committee. It’s unclear what came out of any discussion at the meeting. 

Senior Black administrators at the DPCDSB are calling on the Board to take action, pointing out this is not an isolated incident. 

“During the presentation, we were stunned. We were unprepared for the content that was shown and deeply troubled by its impact. Racist and derogatory images of Black boys and statements such as the repeated use of the N-word were presented which created a toxic work environment. The emotional labour required to process what was unfolding was overwhelming,” a letter details, written by the Dufferin-Peel Black Excellence Success Team (BEST), a group of dedicated Black educators and administrators within the Board. It was sent to Director Mazzorato and the Board’s senior leadership. “What occurred cannot be viewed as an isolated misstep; it reflects deeper systemic issues that continue to undermine trust, safety, and stated commitments to equity and anti-Black racism.”

The BEST Executive says this clearly shows the significant issues that arise when police are present in schools. 

The PC government has approved legislation to force schools to reinstate School Resource Officer (SRO) programs. The legislation was condemned by parents and advocates who said it would only continue the harm it was causing prior to its cancellation in Peel. 

The program was halted after it was found to negatively impact Black students locally with officers perpetuating harmful, anti-Black stereotypes in Peel.

“This experience represents a big step back with trust. Some of us have been cautiously navigating mixed feelings about police coming back in our schools, grounded in lived experience, historical harm, and deep concern for our Black students and communities,” the letter highlights. “That caution has now been validated in ways that are painful and destabilizing.”

BEST requested: Peel Police be removed from the list of those allowed to provide external presentations; for the Board to revive funding to Black History initiatives and programs to dismantle anti-Black racism that were previously eliminated; and a review of the staffing that is responsible for these programs.

Peel Police did not respond to questions about the steps it is taking to review the presentation, or how its content aligned with its ongoing partnership with the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) aimed at finally addressing systemic discrimination and anti-Black racism within Peel Police, exposed when a sweeping external equity audit of the force was conducted seven years ago. 

Peel Police signed a memorandum of understanding with the OHRC in 2020 in an effort to eliminate systemic anti-Black racism from the organization. 

In over five years under Chief Nishan Duraiappah, little has changed. 

The Chief has refused to acknowledge the role of racism in data that proves discrimination, and the scandals have continued—a tactical unit was sent to a local Catholic school to break up a fight between Black teens and an off-duty officer who allegedly triggered the incident; police brutality against Black residents has led to evidence and charges tossed out by the courts. Last year, a judge declared “racial profiling is systemic and intractable within Peel Police” while tossing out evidence against a Black man whose vehicle was illegally searched by officers.  

A recent report from Western Law tallied up Charter violations among Ontario’s major police forces between 2015 and 2025 and found more than 1,000 cases. Peel Police was the worst offender for serious Charter violations per 1 million residents.

Despite this failure to make progress on one of his own stated objectives after being hired in 2019, Duraiappah has become the highest paid police official in Canada, earning $611,000 in 2025, almost 40 percent more than the Toronto chief.

The harmful presentation depicting Black youth as violent gang members comes as Peel officers are harming the region’s Black residents more than any other demographic. 

Peel officers used force against Black residents in 2024 at a rate 111 percent higher than the year before. The data show that 28 percent of use-of-force encounters by officers in 2024 involved Black residents, while they only made up 9.87 percent of the population in Peel (the police department only patrols Brampton and Mississauga; Caledon is policed by the OPP).

“Peel Region police have a lot of work to do to repair this and other harm that is ongoing. Acknowledgement and apology are good, invoking the Anti Racism Advisory Committee is troubling and hearing yet another apology without changed culture, behaviour and experience is deeply unsatisfying,” Bosveld says. “Sharing powerful ideas that are rooted in anti Black racism with school administrators breaks trust, lays bare PRP’s failure to embed Human Rights and Equity throughout the organization, traumatizes the staff, who are fearful of retribution for speaking out, and harms students of all identities in publicly funded educational spaces and in the broader community. It reminds us of the dangers of police programming in schools, the performative nature of PRP’s proclamations about their so-called Human Rights Project, and of decades of harm when two racist systems collaborate.” 

He says more than an apology is necessary, pointing to Peel Police’s apology in 2021 when the SRO program was eliminated. Little has changed within the local police culture since then.

For Thomas with the HM Youth Foundation, the entire incident offers the ministry a chance to show leadership on an issue impacting students across the province. 

“From our work at HM Youth Foundation, we know that psychological safety within schools is foundational. It is built through trust, cultural understanding, and a willingness to acknowledge when harm has occurred. When that acknowledgment is absent or unclear, it creates uncertainty for the very communities the system is meant to support,” she said. 

“This moment presents an opportunity for the Ministry to demonstrate leadership by engaging directly with those impacted, supporting transparency and accountability, and ensuring that responses are grounded in anti-racist and community-informed practice. That is the standard that communities are looking for, and it is both reasonable and necessary.”

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