Chris
D'Souza
The
new face of diversity in Dufferin-Peel.
Toronto Star
By Tess Kalinowski
Jan. 1, 2005. 09:07 AM
Chris
D'Souza knew some people would have a problem with him
before he took the job as equity officer of the Dufferin-Peel
Catholic District School Board in June 2003.
Because of his brown skin, some people have had a problem
with D'Souza since he was born in Toronto 39 years ago.
He's never let his experience of racism steer his life.
Still, he hadn't expected to find opposition to diversity
policies among senior teachers.
But that's what happened at a leadership qualifying workshop,
part of the preparation for first-time principals. The
discussion turned confrontational, and D'Souza says he
was, for a time, devastated.
"One of them claimed that discrimination has always
been part of Canadian society. They said it was a normal
process by which people are acclimatized to a new country.
For an educator to say that, I found it extremely problematic,"
he said.
Eventually he realized that only three of the 34 people
present had said anything negative, but they hijacked
the discussion.
Diversity and equity are hot topics in Dufferin-Peel,
which is experiencing unprecedented growth in students
of diverse backgrounds. Attempts to make classrooms more
reflective of that diversity have put D'Souza at the centre
of a major change.
While the board's active approach to diversifying its
staff - to better reflect its 88,000 students - comes
straight from education director Michael Bator, D'Souza
is the lead messenger.
Much of his time is spent discussing equity and diversity
with students and teachers.
He helped create a campaign in which multi-ethnic churches
used Sunday mass to urge teens to consider teaching careers.
In November, he organized the board's first Diversity
Coalition Conference, which drew about 200 educators.
Another is planned for a school day, next year. "It
elevates the whole status (of equity) to that of literacy
and numeracy," said D'Souza.
He admits this is heady stuff for a guy who, less than
two years ago, was simply a high school teacher trying
to up the diversity quotient in his English classes by
assigning novels with non-white protagonists. Recently
he was one of 25 people invited by the Ontario Human Rights
Commission to discuss an amendment to human rights policies
focusing on race.
If there's one big influence in D'Souza's life, it's his
dad, Percy, who left India at 37. "He taught me about
human rights. He lived and breathed what he said. He rose
above discrimination. He realized people are afraid of
what they don't understand."
Pravasi
Bharatiya Diwas 2005
You are well aware of the PBD 2005 in Mumbai in January.
Attached are photo's of two Youth delegates [Rhys Lobo
and Roger Martin] from Vancouver who have been selected
as part of the 50 Youth worldwide to be delegates at the
conference.
They will be representing the Indian Youth Diaspora of
Canada and I believe this is quite an achievement. Given
the undesirable publicity our Indian youth have been getting
in the areas of gang violence and drugs I believe it would
not hurt to publicise some of the positive side too!
I have also attached an itinerary from the Govt of India
which describes how these Youth interns will be made aware
of their cultural and business heritage and groomed to
be spokespersons of India upon their return to theie country
of origin.
The entire cost [other than the airfare] for this 18 day
Internship is borne by the Government of India.
For more information on the PBD please see the web site
at www.indiaday.org
