Stephen Leche, Minister of the Cabinet of Progressive-Conservative Ontario. Fred Loom / The Globe and Mail
Ontario’s Progressive Conservative Party minister Stephen Lecce is under fire from education and anti-racism advocates after revelations that he participated in a “slave auction” and “slave day” with his brotherhood at Western University more than 15 years ago .
Mr Lecce was Minister of Education in Doug Ford’s government and is running for a second term, representing King Won’s ride in the June provincial elections. He took part in the controversial events in 2006 while a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity, as PressProgress first reported this week. Both were part of an annual event called Derby Days, which included a charity event.
Mr. Lecce was apparently one of the “slaves” sold at auction to another student, a type of fundraising of racist origin that was common in American and Canadian fraternities and even in high schools until the last decades.
In an e-mail statement, Mr Lecce said: “The 2006 event was inappropriate and in no way reflects who I am as a person, which is why I unreservedly apologize. I will continue to passionately support the interests of all Ontarians – regardless of religion, heritage, orientation or race. “
The Ontario Primary Teachers’ Federation, which has 83,000 members, issued a statement condemning Mr Lecce’s previous actions as “disgusting anti-black racist behavior” and calling on Mr Ford, the PC leader, to address them.
The Ontario-based Parents of Black Children advocacy group also issued a statement in response to the news, saying it sheds light on “anti-black racism, which was and still is part of Ontario’s university culture. black students are often forced to deal with this racial trauma on their own. “
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Three NDP candidates in Ontario have called on Mr Lecce to step down.
“Mr. Lecce has chosen to lead and participate in events that ridicule and belittle this painful story,” Jill Andrew, Faisal Hassan and Laura May Lindo said in a joint statement.
“He also chose to hide them for years as a civil servant, as a minister in charge of the education, opportunities and well-being of black students, and as a man tasked with overseeing provincial investigations into anti-black racism in schools. “All these actions are repulsive and constitute clear anti-black racism,” the statement said.
Ontario Liberal leader Stephen Del Duca also commented on Mr Lecce’s situation.
“I think it’s reprehensible. I think it’s obviously unfortunate. I know he apologized for that, “Mr Del Duca said. He did not call on Mr Lecce to drop out of the race.
Mr Lecce’s past behavior has drawn comparisons to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who was revealed to have repeatedly dressed in black in 2019 and said he could not remember how many times he had done so.
Nigel Barif, president of the City Alliance for Racial Relations, said learning of Mr Lecce’s involvement in “fundamentally anti-black” events called into question the policy’s assessment. As a teacher in Toronto, he said he did not know how to explain it to his black students.
“They feel even more insecure, knowing that the Minister of Education, the person in charge of public education, took part in such an event and did not think about it at the time,” he said. “It’s easy for him to apologize now – they caught him.”
While slave auctions were apparently allowed in Mr Lecce’s time by his fraternity, a little over a decade later they were banned. According to PressProgress, the 2018-19 Derby Days guide, published by Sigma Chi, states that all events involving “Auction of human beings or slavery” are prohibited. Sigma Chi did not respond to a request for comment.
While events run by university-related fraternities and associations are treated as off-campus activities outside the institution’s jurisdiction, Western University has struggled with campus racism throughout its history and administrators have tried to address it formally in last years. .
In 2020, the Presidential Working Group on Racism at Western University presented a terrifying report from the school, in which its members said they had identified “systemic problems embedded in colonial history, traditions, structures, practices and policies of the university that normalize “The whiteness that” other “racial groups perpetuate racism.
In her book from 2020 They said it would be funwriter Eternity Martis documented her experiences with anti-black racism while attending Western University, and based on her stay there, the news about Mr Lecce was not surprising to her.
“There was still a ‘boys will be boys’ culture’ at the university about fraternities, and even in 2010 we had rape chants during the fresh week and no one really questioned them,” she said.
“I think the very essence of what brotherhood is is engaging in misogyny, racism, homophobia and transphobia in an attempt to create ‘brotherhood’ or friendship, and that hasn’t really changed.”
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