HWDSB Trustee Tracker

School board trustees are elected officials who are supposed to serve the community and, above all, students.

Parents of Black Children has taken the time to evaluate the performance of trustees, record any instances of anti-Black racism, and also share information about trustees who are strong advocates.

While trustees with limited information may not have instances of anti-Black racism or strong advocacy that ends up in the news, their silence speaks volumes. Silence is complicity in the harm perpetuated against Black students and their families in Ontario schools. Trustees must actively stand up for what is right and make their support for the the fight against anti-Black racism in Ontario schools known.

Please note that this list is not exhaustive and is constantly evolving. If you have information to share about the conduct of trustees, please email us at [email protected]

**NOTE** Very serious allegations of racism among the board of trustees have been raised by the former student trustee Ahona Mehdi and covered extensively in various news outlets. These issues have been summarized below; for access to the full report of the investigation into these allegations, please click here.

For a concise summary of the issues surrounding Trustees Paikin Miller, Archer, Johnstone, and Buck, click here.

**NOTE 2** The HWDSB uses a numbered ward system to designate the constituency of each trustee rather than city/town/neighbourhood names. To see the geography of each trustee’s ward, please click here.

Carole Paikin Miller (Ward 5)

Issues: Throughout the tenure of former student trustee Ahona Mehdi, Trustee Paikin Milller made anti-Muslim remarks and had a poor attitude at human rights and equity advisory committee meetings. A third party report (see above) concluded she, among other trustees, made comments like “all lives matter,” and made “overtly anti-Muslim and racist remarks.”

She was one of 3 trustees who voted to not issue sanctions or reprimands against themselves and attempted to keep their names out of the public copy of the report rather than declaring a conflict of interest (click here).

She has made aggressive, on-camera statements to other trustees (click here).

The board of trustees has already voted to ask her to resign, which she declined.

Paikin Miller currently “faces sanctions that include censure, a call to publicly apologize, and more training on equity, governance and anti-racism. She’s also barred from sitting on any committees until December 2021” (click here).

Alex Johnstone (Wards 11 &12)

Issues: As outlined in the report (see above), Trustee Johnstone, the former chair, attempted to persuade former student trustee Ahona Mehdi to remove her personal experiences with racism from a statement to a safe schools panel.

The report also notes that Johnstone attempted to sideline Mehdi’s effort to introduce a motion to cancel the police liaison program in HWDSB schools.

Kathy Archer (Ward 6)

Issues:

Throughout the tenure of former student trustee Ahona Mehdi, Trustee Archer made comments like “all lives matter,” and made “overtly anti-Muslim and racist remarks.” This was confirmed by a third party investigation into the conduct of HWDSB trustees (see above).

Becky Buck (Wards 8&14)

Instances of Anti-Black Racism:

As outlined in the investigation into HWDSB trustees, Trustee Buck referred to community activists as “Twitter trolls.”

Maria Felix Miller (Ward 3)

Issues: None. Trustee Felix Miller (not to be confused with Trustee Paikin Miller) is a strong advocate for social justice generally and Black and racialized students more specifically. She is the only currently sitting trustee who is endorsed by Hamilton Students for Justice.