{"id":133,"date":"2020-04-05T19:32:46","date_gmt":"2020-04-05T19:32:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/box5353.temp.domains\/~dabizblo\/?page_id=133"},"modified":"2020-09-19T22:42:26","modified_gmt":"2020-09-19T22:42:26","slug":"bye-bye-blackburn-campaign","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/box5353.temp.domains\/~dabizblo\/bye-bye-blackburn-campaign\/","title":{"rendered":"Bye Bye Blackburn campaign"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This page is dedicated to the campaign to get Ottawa Carleton District School Board trustee for Barrhaven Knoxdale-Merivale, Donna Blackburn, to resign. To find out why, see my previous post<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the latest in a long list of transgressions of Board policy by Blackburn and enough is enough. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As neither the Board, the Province nor the City have the power to fire Blackburn, we are calling on the community to come together to support the campaign to get Blackburn to do the right thing and resign. You can help by doing any, or all, of three things:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Sign the Petition<\/a> demanding that Blackburn resign.<\/li>
  2. Send the email below to your OCDSB school trustee, your Ontario member of the provincial Parliament, Ontario Education Minister Stephen Lecce and Ontario Premier Doug Ford.<\/li>
  3. Post and share the social media posts below.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    To find your OCDSB trustee, do one of the following: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    1. Go to Contact Us on your child\u2019s school\u2019s webpage. The trustee should be listed.<\/li>
    2. Google \u201c[NAME OF YOUR CHILD\u2019S SCHOOL] OCDSB trustee\u201d. Look for your child\u2019s school\u2019s Contact Us page in the search results.<\/li>
    3. Go to the Board\u2019s list of trustees<\/a> and look for the trustee you think is yours. Click on their name. On the next page, scroll to the bottom and choose Elementary School or Secondary School, depending on what level your kids are at. Check if your child\u2019s school is in the list. If not, try another trustee.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      If Donna Blackburn is your trustee, send the letter to Board Chair Lynn Scott at lynn.scott@ocdsb.ca<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Find your MPP<\/a> – enter your postal code to find your MPP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Ontario Minister of Education, Stephen Lecce\u2019s email – stephen.lecceco@pc.ola.org<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Ontario Premier Doug Ford\u2019s email – doug.fordco@pc.ola.org<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Adapt the email below as needed. The social media posts are after the letter.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Letter to send<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Dear Mr\/Ms. XXXX,
      I am writing to demand your support for the immediate resignation of Barrhaven\/Knoxdale-Merivale trustee Donna Blackburn in response to her repeated violations of the OCDSB Code of Conduct, culminating in her actions on Friday, March 27, 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      On Friday, trustee Blackburn confronted a young man of African descent playing basketball by himself in a Barrhaven park. She accused the young man of violating COVID-19 social distancing protocol, interrogated and threatened him and took his picture without his consent. She then posted her version of events on Facebook, including the comment:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \u201cSo I had to go to the drugstore for an essential and then bought deodorant. I am sure my pets love me no matter what I smell like. When I got home people playing basketball in the park. Went over to politely ask them to leave, kid gave me attitude and played dumb. Then I said, parlez-voux francais? Yeh kid I can argue in both official languages.\u201d (sic)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      In her post, she also revealed what school the boy had previously attended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      According to the boy\u2019s father, and clearly evident from the picture taken by Blackburn herself, his son was in fact at the park by himself as he had specifically looked for a hoop with no one around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      The boy also told his father that Blackburn said, \u201cOh you\u2019re graduating? If you are, I will be at the graduation ceremony and I will trip you before you get your diploma.\u201d and \u201cYou\u2019re going to go to Innes road\u201d, clearly making the racist insinuation that, because he is Black, the young man is destined to end up in Ottawa\u2019s detention centre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Blackburn\u2019s actions violate Board policy on a number of fronts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      The Board\u2019s Code of Conduct<\/em> states that, \u201cIt is a policy of the Board that a positive school climate exists when all members of the school community feel safe, comfortable, accepted and valued.\u201d As Blackburn is the trustee for the school the boy attends, her actions will certainly make him feel the exact opposite. This clearly contravenes the Board\u2019s position that, \u201cmental health and well-being are important to learning and life\u201d and that it \u201cstrives to enhance students\u2019 sense of belonging…sense of self…and resilience…within an inclusive, safe and caring learning environment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      The standards of behaviour in the Code <\/em>fall into two categories: things that people should <\/em>do and things they should not <\/em>do. It states that all members of the school community should: <\/p>\n\n\n\n