Creating Accessible Neighbourhoods (Live Educate Transform Society), among other organizations, signed on to the open letter. The following is an abbreviated version:
Dear Minister Rachna Singh (Parliamentary Secretary for Anti-
Racism Initiatives),
Surrey Together Against Racism [STAR], the Surrey-White Rock Spoke for Resilience BC Anti-Racism Network, expresses our deepest gratitude on the launch of Anti-Racism Action Plan for K-12 students.
To foster the impact of this Action Plan, we are writing this letter to request the BC Government’s support in mandating anti-racism education in the BC K-12 curriculum.
Upon discussing the current state of education in schools with educators and community organizations, we strongly believe in the need for governmental action in mandating anti-racism education.
In addition to the tremendous awareness around long-existing systemic racism in Canada post pandemic, there are several reasons anti-racism education must be mandated in the BC K-12 curriculum, such as:
- To combat racism proactively
- To consolidate resources
- To avoid tokenism
- To ensure safe schools
We believe that this mandate will foster more equitable, diverse, and inclusive communities and support one of your key priorities to address issues of racism in our education sector. With our conviction in this positive change in the education system, we include our signatures below.