Juno News - School board hired activist who said Canada Day was a celebration of genocide

00:00:00.000 Would you feel comfortable with your child's principal being trained about the Black Canadian

00:00:05.660 experience by a woman who said Canada Day is a celebration of genocide? Well, this is what's

00:00:12.400 happening. We reported it here at Juno News. The Ottawa Catholic School Board paid an activist,

00:00:17.640 her name is Salaam Debs, nearly $3,000 to train principals about racism. On her website,

00:00:24.580 she describes white people as exhausting and defensive. I'll read this quote here she has on

00:00:30.440 her website. It says, white people can be exhausting. Particularly exhausting are the

00:00:35.400 white people who don't know they are white and those who need to be white. But the first I found

00:00:40.160 exhausting were those who expected me to be white. You can pause and read the rest of this page if

00:00:45.460 you'd like. The training was one of more than 100 DEI sessions between 2020 and 2025. 23 of these

00:00:52.440 sessions were delivered by outside consultants for $74,660. The school board told Juno News that

00:01:00.020 they did this training to focus on the historical and contemporary Black Canadian experience

00:01:05.380 and support participants in reflecting on how racism, including anti-Black racism,

00:01:10.360 may affect students and families, as well as identifying ways school leaders can continue

00:01:14.660 fostering welcoming school communities. If you guys would like to read the rest of the story

00:01:18.960 or stories that are similar, you can click the link in our bio and description or visit

00:01:23.080 junonews.com. It's your guys' support that helps us continue producing fearless,

00:01:27.960 hard-hitting journalism just like this.

Juno News - February 26, 2026