MONTREAL -- Two English schools boards in Montreal are pulling high-school history workbooks with a racial slur in them from their curriculum.
There have been calls for the textbooks' immediate removal after it was brought to light earlier this week that the books contained the offensive 'N-word'.
The Lester B. Pearson School Board confirmed that it is removing the workbooks entirely from its Secondary 4 curriculum.
The English Montreal School Board, meanwhile, is temporarily collecting the books to place labels inside each one blocking out the n-word and explaining why it is doing so.
The word was used in reference to a book by a spokesperson for the radical separatist FLQ group that compared what French-speaking Quebecers experienced in the 1960s to what African Americans endured during the civil rights movement in the United States.
The EMSB wants this to be a teachable moment, said school board trustee Marlene Jennings during a recent board meeting.
"When I hear and see that word, I am filled with such pain because I know what my ancestors went through as slaves," she said.
The move comes in the same week a Montreal high school teacher who used the n-word in his class was suspended after students alleged he had a history of racist behaviour.
-- With files from CJAD 800's Shuyee Lee
