South Etobicoke Cluster Anti-Black Racism Statement
March 2022
In light of recent events at Etobicoke School of the Arts and local community service hub and place of worship, St. Margaret’s New Toronto Anglican Church, our collaborative group of community service agencies and leaders will not be silent in the face of acts of anti-Black racism and are compelled to speak out against these actions and the hate that they represent.
As a collaborative of organizations we will not tolerate racist vandalism and graffiti, hate speech, racial slurs, racist verbal and online abuse.
Anti-Black racism is deeply embedded in our systems and our organizations and ourselves. The events that occurred in South Etobicoke are all too familiar. Within our cluster of community service agencies*, we commit ourselves every day to acknowledge, disrupt and dismantle all forms of hate, discrimination, exclusion and anti-black racism. We stand in solidarity with Black leaders and community members of South Etobicoke including students and staff at Etobicoke School of the Arts and Reverend Jacqueline Daley at St. Margaret’s New Toronto, a leader grounded in truth, justice and reconciliation.
Actions and words are powerful, accompanied by self-reflection. We all must continue to look for implicit and explicit bias. We choose to speak against hate, honour our commitments and breathe life into our values of equity, diversity and inclusion. South Etobicoke Cluster Anti-Black Racism Statement
*The South Etobicoke Cluster is a collective of agencies supported through the City of Toronto and the United Way Greater Toronto. The South Etobicoke Cluster was established at the start of the GTA’s COVID-19 lockdown in March 2020 as part of a broader Community Coordination Plan (CCP). The purpose of the CCP is to ensure that the emerging needs of vulnerable communities are addressed in a timely manner through the coordinated, collective efforts. See pdf of this statement for the community organizations that have endorsed this message.
