“The Toronto District School Board recently voted in favour of a motion to that effect, which was introduced by board trustee Yalini Rajakulasingam. Sixteen trustees voted in favour of the motion and five voted against it.”
Toronto’s school board has become the first in Canada to recognise that Hindu caste discrimination exists in the city’s schools and has asked a provincial human rights body to help in creating a framework to address the issue. The Toronto District School Board recently voted in favour of a motion to that effect, which was introduced by board trustee Yalini Rajakulasingam. Sixteen trustees voted in favour of the motion and five voted against it, reported trtworld.com.
The move addresses an issue important to the area’s South Asian diaspora, particularly the Indian and Hindu communities. It comes weeks after Seattle became the first US city to outlaw caste discrimination after a city council vote.
“This motion is not about division, it is about creating healing and empowering communities and providing them safer schools that students deserve,” Rajakulasingam said.
Rajakulasingam called for a partnership between the human rights commission of Ontario, Canada’s most populous province, and Toronto’s school board.
Even though India has banned untouchability, Dalits still face widespread abuse across that country, where their attempts at upward social mobility have at times been violently put down. Activists opposing caste discrimination say it is no different from other forms of discrimination like racism and hence should be outlawed.
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