What happened to Richard Bilkszto? Petition demanding an inquiry into professor's death receives more than 1000 signatures

A petition demanding an inquiry into Richard Bilkszto’s death has received more than 1000 signatures after the former Toronto principal died by suicide on July 13, 2023.

Trigger warning: The following story contain mentions of suicide. Reader discretion is advised

Richard Bilkszto, 60, had served as a fill-in principal for the Toronto District School Board after retiring in 2019. He allegedly took his own life after facing harassment for calling out an anti-racism instructor during a training seminar in 2021.

While the potential motive remained nebulous, multiple reports citing his lawyer said that Bilkszto was plagued by anxiety and insomnia. This allegedly stemmed from this traumatic experience in 2021 which led to his suicide. The assertions stemmed from a lawsuit filed by Bilkszto before his death against workplace bullying he faced after objecting to an anti-racism instructor’s claims.

In a statement, Bilkszto’s attorney, Lisa Bildy, said despite a Workplace Safety and Insurance Board probe ruling that the principal was the subject of harassment, the initial fallout led to his suicide.

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Details of Richard Bilkszto’s lawsuit against TDSB explored in the wake of his death

Earlier this year, Richard Bilkszto filed a lawsuit against Toronto District School Board alleging that he was the subject of workplace bullying after disagreeing with an assessment made by an anti-racism instructor during a training seminar in April 2021.

According to allegations in a lawsuit, while attending “an anti-Black racism” seminar for school administrators run by the KOJO Institute, Bilkszto disagreed with a claim made by the facilitator, Kike Ojo-Thompson. The latter had said that Canada was more racist than the US. Ojo-Thompson asserted that while the US is facing a reckoning of its discriminatory past, Canada has “never reckoned with its anti-Black history.”

According to the lawsuit, Bilkszto, who objected to Ojo-Thompson's claims said:

“To sit here and talk about facts and figures and then walk into the classroom tomorrow and say ‘Canada is just as bad as the United States,’ I think we are doing an incredible disservice to our learners.”

Ojo-Thompson, seemingly irate over Bilkszto's disagreement, labeled him a supporter of white supremacy.

“We are here to talk about anti-Black racism, but you in your whiteness think that you can tell me what’s really going on for Black people?”

During a follow-up session, Ojo-Thompson allegedly brought up the argument describing it as an example of someone supporting white supremacy.

The lawsuit alleged that Bilkszto never disagreed that racism was real but pointed out the folly in Ojo-Thompson’s cross-border comparison. Bilkszto allegedly reported Ojo-Thompson's conduct to the school board, which failed to launch an inquiry.

Bilkszto was eventually found innocent by the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB). They also deemed Ojo-Thompson’s conduct as “abusive, egregious and vexatious, and rises to the level of workplace harassment and bullying.”

However, Bilkszto said that the damage had already been done and his character was ruined by the instructor’s characterization of him as a supporter of white supremacy.

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Ontario’s education minister, Stephen Lecce launches an investigation into Richard Bilkszto’s death

In the wake of the tragedy, a Petition on Change.org demanding a probe into Richard Bilkszto’s death has received 1227 signatures. The petition prompted Ontario’s education minister, Stephen Lecce, to conduct a review of the incident. In a statement cited by Toronto Sun, he said:

“These are serious and disturbing allegations. No staff member should ever be subject to harassment while in their place of work. I have tasked my officials to review what happened in this instance in the TDSB and bring me options to reform professional training and strengthen accountability on school boards so this never happens again.”

Meanwhile, the Toronto District School Board issued a statement mourning Richard Bilkszto's death. They expressed gratitude for Bilkszto’s 24 years of service and serving as a fill-in principal after retiring in 2019.