A Peel trustee who called McCrimmon Middle School — it has a large racialized student population — “McCriminal” has apologized, following a raucous board meeting Thursday night with members of the Black community demanding action.

Will Davies, who represents the Brampton school, said Friday he had apologized after making the reference during a private conversation and wanted to extend the apology.

“I apologize again for the hurt that it has caused members of the Peel community,” he said in an email to the Star, adding his own children once attended McCrimmon.

“This is a nickname that has been used to refer to the school over the years, and although I never intended it as a racist comment, I have learned that the reference could be perceived as not only offensive, but racist.”

Despite the apology, Trustee David Green said Friday he will proceed in filing a complaint to the integrity commissioner. It’s a commitment he made at the board meeting Thursday night, which led to a standing ovation by the crowd of about 60.

That night members of the public repeatedly asked Peel District School Board acting chair Sue Lawton how the issue was being handled, but were told to take their concerns to the integrity commissioner.

“Us youth, we look up to you,” recent high school graduate Colin-Winston Derek Browne said. “How can a board member call a school ‘McCriminal’? Do you see us in chains?”

Tenth grader Rhyan Douglas asked, “Why can’t there be a written apology sent to the students of McCrimmon? … I don’t think anyone should be called a criminal. That’s so degrading.”

Many in attendance spoke passionately about anti-Black racism and asked for a review of “We Rise Together,” the board’s action plan to tackle anti-Black racism in schools.

Lawton said the board is committed to “equity and inclusion” and addressing systemic racism, adding, “We need to be better.”

That night Davies did not address the public and it was not clear who had called the school McCriminal or what the context was.

In an interview with the Star on Friday, Trustee Kathy McDonald said the comment was made in April. McDonald said she, Davies, another trustee, a superintendent, and two associate directors, were eating lunch when Davies said his daughter attended McCriminal Middle School and chuckled.

McDonald said she was taken aback and replied: “That is not funny. It’s highly problematic for a trustee of a school board to be calling a school that has predominantly Black and Brown students McCriminal. And I take great offence”

The matter gained some attention at an Aug. 27 public board meeting, when McDonald said she tried repeatedly to raise concerns about “systemic racism” in private sessions, but was denied. She also said the board was not willing to do something about the school being called McCriminal — but didn’t elaborate on who made the comment.

Green, who also represents the school, says while some use the moniker McCriminal, an elected official should know better.

“I am upset, I’m disappointed,” he told the Star. “It’s disheartening and sickening that in a time like this that we live in, in a diverse community … people think it’s OK to call people names. It’s not.”

Green said the comment “hurt me to the core of my guts” and reminded him of when he was a student in Toronto and a teacher would say to him, and other Black students, “Bang, Bang, Bang,” imitating the sound of a prison cell closing.

Roderick Brereton, founder of Urban Rez Solutions, an organization that has run after-school youth programs at McCrimmon, said the comment was “totally inappropriate and insulting.”

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“(Trustees) are there for the betterment of students,” he told the Star. “Not to be contributing to negative stereotypes.”

In his statement Friday, Davies recognized that as trustee he is responsible for advocating on behalf of those he serves.

“Referring to the school in this way perpetuates negative stereotypes and does not honour the amazing work that is done by staff and students.”

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