TORONTO - Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty said Wednesday he's open to the idea of making the province's school curriculum more Afrocentric -- but creating a school focused on black students is the wrong approach.
The Toronto District School Board has voted to create a black-focused school in hopes of lowering their 40 per cent drop-out rate but McGuinty has repeatedly spoken out against separating kids from different backgrounds.
"We believe it's a matter of principle: that the single most important thing we can do for our kids is bring them together so they have an opportunity to come to know one another, to understand one another and to learn together and grow together,'' McGuinty said Wednesday before a cabinet meeting.
"We think that's the foundation for a caring, cohesive society.''
Instead of separating students from different races, McGuinty said he would be open to the idea of making more changes to the provincial curriculum so all Ontario children learn more about black history.
"There have been some changes made to the curriculum in the past and if we need to strengthen that further to ensure that it is truly inclusive, then let's have that dialogue,'' he said.
"And let's do it in a way that ensures kids continue to come together and share the same classrooms.''
Critics of a black-focused school, including the Opposition, have been pressing McGuinty to step in and order a halt to the project, but the premier's staff say he would rather try to persuade the Toronto board to abandon the idea than impose his will.
McGuinty sent another clear signal Wednesday that he doesn't want to see a school created for black students in Toronto, warning the province will not give the board extra funding for the project.
"We don't fund alternative schools,'' he said. "It's up to the (Toronto) board to make its own decisions on an internal basis.''
Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory, who also opposes the idea of a black-focused school, said changing the curriculum to make it more inclusive is the correct approach.
"What we should be doing here is really looking at the best tools we can use most effectively and fast to help all students with special needs, including students in the black community, to do better and to stay in school longer,'' said Tory.
"(McGuinty) seems to be changing his position every day because he's not really making an effort to face up to the issue.''
The proposed school in Toronto would be the first black-focused school in Canada.
There is a school in Nova Scotia -- Nelson Whynder Elementary School in North Preston -- which has Afrocentric content and a primarily black student body, but it follows the regular provincial curriculum and is not considered a black-focused school in the same vein as the one proposed in Toronto.
