Anti-racism group accuses Montreal-area school of systemic racism

By Alyssia Rubertucci, Posted Feb 1, 2023, Last Updated Feb 1, 2023, 3:09PM EST.

A Montreal group dedicated to fighting systemic racism and racial profiling is accusing a Montreal-area school of systemic racism.
The Red Coalition says young Black students at Collège Bourget in Rigaud, Que., 65 kilometres west of Montreal, are targets of discrimination and racism. They allege that white students at the elementary and secondary school have pulled Black students’ hair, spat on them and called them the N-word.
“It is unacceptable that in 2023 children continue to suffer in schools what I suffered myself 40 years ago,” said Joel DeBellefeuille, Founder and Executive Director of the Red Coalition, in a press release. “No child should ever be bullied and excluded because of their race or ethnicity, but unfortunately racism is a daily reality for many Canadian children.”
The Red Coalition says that these behaviours take place in front of teachers, support staff and school administration.
They say they believe that the recent law enacted by the Quebec government to protect academic freedom contributes to the use of the N-word in academic circles.
The Red Coalition and the Black Class Action Secretariat are joining forces to combat this.
“The tolerance of the use of the “N” word in elementary and secondary schools contributes to the development of anti-Black racism that continues in the workplace,” says Alain Babineau, Director of the Francophone section of the Secretariat.
Wednesday, the first day of Black History Month 2023, the Red Coalition and the Secretariat will hold a joint press conference to announce the measures they plan to take at the provincial, national and international levels to combat anti-Black racism.
Philippe Bertrand, the Director General of Collège Bourget, said the situation at the school is not what the Red Coalition describes and he plans on speaking to media to clarify. By email he said: “The Red Coalition is basing themselves on one case in which a young girl is unfortunately suffering racist insults, which we do not deny. In no way do we tolerate this kind of behavior, they are reprimanded.”