Education minister orders review into allegations of Toronto principal who died

Ontario's Education Minister Stephen Lecce is shown in this file photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

Ontario’s education minister says his staff will review the allegations of a principal who died by suicide months after launching a lawsuit against the Toronto District School Board for allegedly failing to support him when he was accused of racism during a professional training session.

Minister Stephen Lecce calls the allegations raised by Richard Bilkszto "serious and disturbing" and says he's asked his staff to review what happened and bring him “options to reform professional training and strengthen accountability on school boards so this never happens again."

A lawyer for Bilkszto says her client, who worked on contract with the TDSB after his retirement in 2019, died by suicide earlier this month.

The TDSB issued a statement acknowledging his death and saying it shared the ministry's desire to learn what happened and make necessary changes, calling Bilkszto a strong student advocate over his 24-year career.

Bilkszto filed a lawsuit against the TDSB earlier this year, related to a 2021 online anti-racism training session where he claims to have been implicitly referred to as a white supremacist by the trainer and berated in front of his colleagues when he disagreed that Canada was more racist than the United States.

He alleged the TDSB failed to investigate his workplace harassment claim and then retaliated by disinviting him from a graduation for a program he helped create and revoking a temporary contract offer.

The claim alleges he started a sick leave after the training session and was diagnosed with anxiety secondary to a traumatic workplace event.

The consulting firm hired to conduct the training session did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 25, 2023.