By The Canadian Press

Hidden racial slur sparks recall of hundreds of yearbooks from Quebec high school

Jun 13, 2022 | 11:54 AM

MONTREAL — A suburban Montreal high school has recalled more than 900 yearbooks after a racial slur was found hidden in a student biography. 

The Lester B. Pearson School Board said that for one graduate’s entry, the biography included a series of words separated by commas, with the first letters of the words forming a slur. The school board says two students from Macdonald High School in Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, Que., were responsible for the entry.

The board condemned the students’ actions as “extremely inappropriate and unacceptable” in a statement Sunday.

“We cannot let racist attitudes of any kind go unchecked,” the board said. 

Board spokesperson Darren Becker said on Monday the slur went unnoticed during the editing process before the books were printed and distributed, but he said people took note on social media at the end of last week. He said, “It’s extremely subtle the way they went about it.”

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“It’s extremely unfortunate that this is how these two students decided to leave their school, to start a new chapter of their lives,” Becker said. “Disappointing isn’t even strong enough.” 

Becker said the 2021-22 yearbooks will be edited to remove the offending passage and returned to students. The students involved will face disciplinary action, although Becker declined to comment on what measures would be taken.

Fo Niemi, executive director of the Center for Research-Action on Race Relations, a Montreal-based civil rights organization, welcomed the board’s reaction.

“By taking swift and firm actions to condemn the racist act and its author, and to remove the offensive hateful passage in the yearbook, the (school board) deserves praise,” Niemi said Monday in an email.

Niemi said the incident shows the need for ongoing vigilance from school officials, teachers, parents and students.

“Racism is often subtle and pervasive in education, and it’s bound to occur,” Niemi said.

“All school boards should pay serious attention to racism, especially anti-Black racism, and invest in effective measures to combat and prevent it as much as possible — because they owe children of colour and their parents a racism-free learning environment.” 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on June 13, 2022. 

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This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Meta and Canadian Press News Fellowship.

Virginie Ann, The Canadian Press