Ontario school boards grapple with use of the N-word in books

As part of its equity plan and “in response to feedback and engagement with members of the Black community, we developed a protocol to address discriminatory language, and the use of derogatory slurs such as the N-word,” said Shazia Vlahos, the Toronto Catholic board’s chief communications officer and head of policy.

“We recognize that the impact of books written by non-Black authors with the inclusion of derogatory slurs brings harm to many Black students, and this protocol presents an opportunity for our educators to pause and reflect on the use of resources that are more reflective of and responsive to their student population,” she said. 

While the Catholic board encourages schools to remove books like “To Kill A Mockingbird” and others written by non-Black authors that contain the slur from collections, it has not forced removal from library shelves.

In the Greater Essex board, in the Windsor area, such books are taken off library shelves, said Johanna Gibson-Lawler, adding there is an explicit ban on use of works with the word by non-Black authors.

Gibson-Lawler, an instructional coach for school libraries for the board who is also president of the Ontario School Library Association, said there is a directive “prohibiting the use of the N-word … because we don’t want to create harm. We want to be inclusive.”

Books by non-Black authors that contain the slur — such as “Underground to Canada” — aren’t used. But another — bestseller “The Hate U Give” by Black author Angie Thomas, that also uses the N-word — can be taught, “but there has to be an education piece around the nature of the word so they’re not encountering the word without having some context first.” Teachers are not allowed to say the slur out loud.

“Let’s say we’re doing a full class, novel study,” Gibson-Lawler said. “Students and parents should be alerted in advance … We want to make sure that Black students are safe.”

“To Kill A Mockingbird” is also not in schools nor used in classrooms, and not just because of the N-word, she added. While the novel is considered a classic, “it also carries a whole theme of Black people being saved by white people, and that causes harm in itself. What might have been great years ago, in today’s context is not — and now that we know more, we can do better.”

School boards are always updating library collections and looking at curriculum materials to ensure they are inclusive, reflect modern times and aren’t discriminatory. These policies come amid controversies around Canada and the U.S. about the increased push for the banning of books in schools on any number of grounds.

“The Hate U Give,” for example, has been banned in some U.S jurisdictions for its language, as well as for its portrayal of police, and was reportedly removed from the curriculum in Nova Scotia in part because of the use of the N-word. 

For Carl James, a York University professor who holds the Jean Augustine Chair in Education, Community & Diaspora, staying away from works with the N-word in schools is a “useful idea … and not just applied to the N-word, but I think just about any other situation. Teachers will have to consider the implications of the materials that they use and the impact that materials might have on students in their classes and how that material might interrupt, or disrupt or make difficult the learning process.”

Other boards have not banned such materials, but have set up rules around their use.

The Peel District School Board, which recently landed in hot water for confusion over a directive that saw schools throwing out books more than 15 years old — including classics — said it does not “prohibit books with offensive slang,” but said slurs are “never to be repeated in their entirety and/or out loud in any (board) spaces regardless of (circumstance).”

Malon Edwards, the board’s manager of communications, said schools must province “a safe, respectful and culturally responsive curriculum which empowers and affirms them on their journey to reaching their highest potential” and provide … “learning environments (free) from the harmful use and/or condonation of any hate speech, racial and discriminatory slurs, epithets and/or statements.”

The Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board said “teachers are expected to teach all texts critically so that students understand the historical and cultural influences of the times during which they were written, and what that means in our current world.”

Bruce Campbell, the board’s general manager of communications and community relations, said slurs like the N-word are never to be uttered, and that “when encountering a word in a resource that carries historical harm and trauma, best practices are to support student well-being by unpacking the word in advance of the lesson through an understanding of the historical and continued impact of the word.”

The Toronto District School Board, the country’s largest, “does not direct educators to reconsider specific books. Instead, we have a procedure that outlines the responsibility of schools in the selection and approval of supplementary learning resources for school library and learning activities” that includes “affirming and reflecting student identities and experiences,” said Ryan Bird, executive officer of government, public and community relations.

Toronto Catholic teachers have been told to use their professional judgment, but must respect the diversity of their classrooms and consider if materials bring harm to students — and the board has been clear that books with the N-word by non-Black authors do cause harm to Black students.

While malicious use is never tolerated, a memo from the Toronto Catholic board, obtained by the Star, said the intent of the policy is not to target Black youth who may have reclaimed the term and are using it in an “amicable” sense, but rather provide context about why the term is offensive.