What would you do as a parent?
Since 2021 parents across Simcoe County, under the leadership of Natasha Shakespeare and her organization PARSC (Parents Against Racism Simcoe County), have been fighting the local public and Catholic school boards for the safety of their Black children.
One call for support after another from parents who were experiencing traumatizing situations at the hands of students, teachers and administrators while at school. Every story brought to the PARSC meetings highlighted the realities of systemic racism that is ignored and denied as the act of one bad apple.
It’s impossible to address an issue that isn’t acknowledged, and it has become clear that the school boards are not interested in systemic approaches to ensuring racism is not accepted in our schools.
Nicola is the mother of two black boys here in Simcoe County. This month, her son was helping his teacher clean up the classroom when he picked up a crumpled piece of paper from the floor. On it, there were three names and beside each a detailed description of the writer’s desire to kill them. One of those names was her son’s. She received a phone call from the principal explaining what happened.
Apparently the note was written in December of 2025. The student who wrote it was subsequently suspended for ten days when it was found. According to Nicola, she filed a police report. The police took possession of the written note from the school and spoke to both the student and his parents.
But now what?
When a student comes back to school from a suspension there is usually a meeting between the student who was suspended and the principal where they discuss rejoining the school community. But usually, that’s it. Students are often just expected to get along, keep calm and carry on.
But these experiences that families like Nicola’s are facing are traumatic. And, to clarify, Nicola has been clear to point out that there was action taken outside of the suspension. Both the suspended student and the boys named on the list will have access to counselling. As she states in one of her posts, “…none of this is to be taken lightly.”
But when we continue to hear these stories month after month, year after year. Despite the endless efforts of organizations such as Parents of Black Children and Parents Against Racism Simcoe County, despite their endless emails and delegations and reports; it’s still happening… often. More often than most are aware.
Dreams Delayed
The recent publication from the Ontario Human Rights Commission titled, Dreams Delay: Addressing Systemic Anti-Black Racism and Discrimination in the Ontario’s Public Education System outlines the prevalence of racism in Ontario schools, the impacts it has on Black students and most importantly actions for implementation which include:
- Transparency and Accountability
- Monitoring and Evaluation
- Student Well-Being
Each section presents a very specific short and long term plan for all the stakeholders – school boards, unions, faculties of education, Ministry of Education and Trustees. One of the actions includes school boards tracking and sharing, “the number of complaints about discrimination, anti-Black racism within the board/schools, how they were addressed and the outcome.”
The Simcoe County District School Board made headlines back in December over their lack of transparency on the frequency of violence in schools in their annual Safe Schools report. The board’s claims that there were under 100 violent incidents last year has been pointed out as grossly underestimating and misleading by critics such as the unions.
Teachers, EA’s and parents from across the county spoke out about their own experiences of the school experience and it was scathing. Individuals have shared stories on social media and have even formed a Facebook group to fight the Board’s decision to deny the release of further data.
While what happened to the three boys took place within the Simcoe Muskoka Catholic School Board, it was a violent act that happened within an Ontario school board. Was it documented as an act of violence for tracking? Was it documented as an act of racism for tracking? Or will it only remain as paperwork within the suspended student’s OSR?
Nicola is speaking out and saying that this incident must be seen as more than one random case of violence.
In one of her videos on Instagram she says, “They’re not going to expel him (the suspended student) because he’s only nine. But here is where I have the problem. Was he only nine when he wrote that list? He was only nine then too. Are my kids and the other kids on the list are only nine as well? Should they have to deal with the repercussions of this incident that is going to affect their mental health? Why should they have to sit in a classroom setting with the same person who threatened their life? Why is 10 days of a suspension sufficient for the amount of trauma that these kids will be left with?”
Not backing down
The way we, our proverbial society, treat victims of violence and especially those from marginalized communities, or those experiencing sexual abuse is harmful. And as Nicola pointed out, it can be in more ways than one, “This right here, what we are seeing is white privilege because if my black son was to make a kill list, they would victimize everyone and villainize my child.”
So, as a caring and protective mother, Nicola is not going to let this situation become another undocumented-let’s-move-on scenario. “I am not going to just bend over and take whatever consequence that they see fit. I said to the superintendent that I would encourage him to view the masses and focus on the masses. Look at how many families are affected by this versus the one. Look at how many kids you have to protect in the entire student body versus the one.”
In the coming weeks she will be meeting with the school board, accompanied by representatives from Parents of Black Children, and she has reached out to the media. She wants to ensure that this situation is recognized for what it is, anti-Black hate, since it was the Black students in the class whose names appeared on the list. She wants to ensure that her son and the other boys do not need to attend class with someone who writes down thoughts about killing them. And she wants to ensure the school and the Simcoe Muskoka District Catholic School Board are held accountable for not communicating with the school community about the death threats.
If you want to support Nicola’s continued efforts to create safe space for her son at school, here’s how you can help;
Sign the petition
Fill in the form below to email stakeholders at provincial and local levels.
Email Campaign to Support Nicola
By submitting your name, email and address you will send the following letter to each of the change makers listed below…
Change Makers:
Brian Saunderson – M.P.P. for Simcoe-Grey
Paul Calandra – Minister of Education
Kimberly Dixon – Director of Education with Simcoe Muskoka District Catholic School Board
Lonnie Bolton – Superintendent with Simcoe Muskoka District Catholic School Board
Janice Hutchison – Trustee with Simcoe Muskoka District Catholic School Board
Global News – Barrie
The Ontario Human Rights Commission
The Letter:
Thank you for receiving this email,
I support Nicola Reid-Collins, the mother from Tottenham whose Black son was named on a kill list along with two other Black boys. Her son found a note in his classroom outlining how a student in his class would kill him by setting him on fire.
While it is acknowledged that the situation was not taken lightly by the Simcoe Muskoka District Catholic School Board, the issue of anti-Black racism and the trauma these three boys face long term has not been addressed.
I support her efforts to have three important issues addressed in a timely manner.
- Ensure that the situation is identified as an act of violent racism and that all acts of racism are documented and reported on, as expected through the recommendations within the Dreams Delayed report organized by the Ontario Human Rights Commission.
- Her son and the other boys are expected to return to class with a student who threatened their lives. While the suspended student has a right to an education, so do the children who were and are facing the traumatic impacts of anti-Black racism. The board needs to find an alternative education location for the suspended student.
- The school and school board need to be held accountable for not communicating the incident to the stakeholders within the school community. Death threats must be taken more seriously.
I look forward to your response and actions regarding these matters.
Sincerely,
