But things boiled over in early December at the Bob Birnie Arena in the Montreal suburb of Pointe Claire, when the 13-year-old had an argument with a white teammate who, he alleges, made derogatory comments about his skin colour.“He started saying racist stuff to me,” Hart’s son insisted. “After, I retorted and started saying stuff back to him.”Hart said she spoke to the school’s principal about that and other alleged racist acts against her son, but maintains she wasn’t taken seriously.
Fo Niemi, head of the civil rights group Center for Research-Action on Race Relations, believes both John Rennie High School and the Lester B. Pearson School Board, which oversees the school, dropped the ball. “One of the disturbing things is that during the two months that was trying to get answers from the school board and the school, nobody told her about recourses under the anti-bullying policy,” he pointed out.“In the wake of the incident, disciplinary measures including suspensions were taken against the individuals involved. As well, the school offered the team a series of anti-racism workshops and team-building exercises.