MONTREAL -- One of Montreal’s largest school boards has officially banned the use of a racial slur on school grounds.
Citing the impact of racism that can no longer be ignored, commissioners with the Lester B. Pearson School Board passed a resolution Monday evening saying that the racial slur "must never be uttered" within the confines of its schools and centres.
The resolution refers specifically to the N-word, stating that it is not only "derogatory" and "denigrating" but also "harmful to the safety and well-being of our school community."
Last fall, Lester B. Pearson School Board was one of two local boards that yanked high-school history workbooks with the same racial slur from their curriculums following complaints.
The English school board represents more than 23,000 students and more than 50 schools in the Montreal area.
Around the same time, a teacher at Henri-Bourassa High School in Montreal North was suspended after being recorded using the offensive slur in class multiple times and directed it at several ethnic or religious groups.
The debate over using racially charged terms in academia even reached the National Assembly earlier this year. Sylvain Gaudreault, a Parti Quebecois MNA who represents the Jonquiere riding, agreeing to sign and table a petition that called for the government to introduce a bill guaranteeing professors' rights to "research and transmit knowledge" free of "doctrinal constraint" or "external pressure."
