{"id":1501,"date":"2026-03-13T16:09:25","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T16:09:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/schools.wrdsb.ca\/alternative-education\/2026\/03\/13\/march-21-is-the-international-day-for-the-elimination-of-racial-discrimination-3\/"},"modified":"2026-03-13T16:09:25","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T16:09:25","slug":"march-21-is-the-international-day-for-the-elimination-of-racial-discrimination-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/schools.wrdsb.ca\/alternative-education\/2026\/03\/13\/march-21-is-the-international-day-for-the-elimination-of-racial-discrimination-3\/","title":{"rendered":"March 21 is the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>March 21 marks the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/en\/observances\/end-racism-day\">International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>This day is observed on March 21 each year to mark the day police in Sharpeville, South Africa, killed 69 Black men, women and children, and injured 180 more, at a peaceful demonstration against apartheid &#8220;pass laws&#8221; in 1960.<\/p>\n<p>This day serves as a reminder to us all about our rights and responsibilities under the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ohrc.on.ca\/en\/ontario-human-rights-code\">Ontario Human Rights Code (OHRC)<\/a>. Under the Code, every person has the right to be free from racial discrimination and harassment in the social areas of:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Employment<\/li>\n<li>Services<\/li>\n<li>Goods and facilities<\/li>\n<li>Housing accommodation<\/li>\n<li>Contracts and membership in trade and vocational associations<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>When racial harassment and discrimination happen in our schools and workplaces, it is the Board\u2019s responsibility to:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Act<\/li>\n<li>Name what took place<\/li>\n<li>Respond to address it<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>The WRDSB Human Rights Policy and Procedures<\/h2>\n<p>As an employer and service provider (of education), the Waterloo Region District School Board (WRDSB) is required to uphold the OHRC. In 2020, the WRDSB established the Human Rights Branch to create a Human Rights Policy and Procedures.<\/p>\n<h3>The WRDSB Human Rights Policy<\/h3>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrdsb.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/1017-Human-Rights.pdf\">WRDSB Human Rights Policy<\/a> describes how we all play a role in creating schools that are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Welcoming<\/li>\n<li>Inclusive<\/li>\n<li>Caring<\/li>\n<li>Safe for everyone<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>The WRDSB Human Rights Procedure<\/h3>\n<p>The procedure guides the process to address situations where school community members feel that their human rights are not being respected.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrdsb.ca\/about-the-wrdsb\/indigenous-equity-and-human-rights-department\/human-rights\/understanding-our-human-rights-policy-for-students-and-families\/\">Read more about the WRDSB Human Rights Policy and Procedure<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2>Getting Support<\/h2>\n<p>We are committed to ensuring every person at the WRDSB has the opportunity to reach their full potential, regardless of race or personal identity.<\/p>\n<p>WRDSB students, parents, families, caregivers, staff and others can <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrdsb.ca\/about-the-wrdsb\/indigenous-equity-and-human-rights-department\/human-rights\/human-rights-complaints\/\">file a Human Rights complaint<\/a> based on the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ohrc.on.ca\/en\/ontario-human-rights-code\">protected grounds<\/a> in the OHRC.<\/p>\n<h2>Recommended Resources<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Canada reports:\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.canada.ca\/en\/canadian-heritage\/services\/canada-united-nations-system\/reports-united-nations-treaties.html#a3\">Canadian Reports and Reviews | International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ohrc.on.ca\/en\/learning\/elearning\/call-it-out\">Call it Out | Ontario Human Rights Commission<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ohrc.on.ca\/en\/tackling-anti-black-racism-education\">Tackling anti-Black racism in education | Ontario Human Rights Commission<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>International reports:\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/en\/observances\/end-racism-day\">International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination | United Nations<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Social media:\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=GKm7wQjpuac\">#BlackedOutHistory | Ontario Black History Society<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=p56b6nzslaU\">A Tale of O | YouTube<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=C8xJXKYL8pU\">Getting Called Out: How to Apologize | Franchesca Ramsey<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Questions?<\/h3>\n<p>Email your questions or inquiries about human rights to the Human Rights Branch at <a href=\"mailto:human-rights@wrdsb.ca\">human-rights@wrdsb.ca<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>March 21 marks the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. This day is observed on March 21 each year to mark the day police in Sharpeville, South Africa, killed 69 Black men, women and children, and injured 180 more, at a peaceful demonstration against apartheid &#8220;pass laws&#8221; in 1960. This day serves as [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\" role=\"complementary\"><a href=\"https:\/\/schools.wrdsb.ca\/alternative-education\/2026\/03\/13\/march-21-is-the-international-day-for-the-elimination-of-racial-discrimination-3\/\"><strong>Read more about<\/strong> <cite>March 21 is the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination<\/cite> &#187;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1143,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/schools.wrdsb.ca\/alternative-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/schools.wrdsb.ca\/alternative-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/schools.wrdsb.ca\/alternative-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schools.wrdsb.ca\/alternative-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1143"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schools.wrdsb.ca\/alternative-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1501"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/schools.wrdsb.ca\/alternative-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1501\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/schools.wrdsb.ca\/alternative-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schools.wrdsb.ca\/alternative-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schools.wrdsb.ca\/alternative-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}