On April 24 and 25, a two-day national conference entitled “Breaking the Cycle: Understanding the Educational Experiences of Black Children in Canada” was held at Brock University.
Organized by Future Black Female, a non-profit organization led by Founding Executive Director Dr. Tapo Chimbganda, the event aimed to deepen understanding and drive meaningful change in how Black children experience the Canadian school system.
The first day of the conference was focused on “Building Inclusive Systems” and was geared toward educators, administrators and system leaders. Among the day’s speakers was Faculty of Education Professor Dolana Mogadime. During the talk, cowritten by Mariana Garrido, FBF Social Issues Researcher, Mogadime incorporated Garrido’s “What the Evidence Shows: Black Children, Schooling, and System Readiness in Canada” to shed light on the realities of inclusive education in classrooms.
Dr. Tapo Chimbganda, Founding Executive Director of Future Black Female.
“It was an honour to speak about Future Black Female’s survey and to highlight what universities can do to contribute to change, such as partnering with community organization in support of their programming for Black students and increase collaboration with school boards in redressing anti-Black racism. These insights can guide and support the role of faculties of education as “duty holders” as suggested ty the Ontario Human Rights Commission report, “Dreams Delayed: Addressing Systemic Anti-Black Racism and Discrimination in Ontario’s Public Education System.”, said Professor Mogadime.
Day two of the conference, “Empowering Black Families” was centred on Black parents, caregivers and community members who engaged in workshops learning about anti-racist frameworks and accountability in education systems. Incoming PhD in Educational student and community leader and educator Kathryn Crooks moderated the discussions.
