The Canadian Constitution Foundation (CCF) has been granted intervenor status in the Ontario government’s appeal about math tests for teachers. .“This case reveals the problems with current Section 15 jurisprudence and the lack of clarity in the law,” said CCF Litigation Director Christine Van Geyn in a press release. .“The Divisional Court has taken the application of theories on adverse impact discrimination to the extreme and this somehow led them to the strange conclusion that a math test for Ontario teachers is racist.”.Petrucci vs. Ontario found legislation requiring teachers to pass a math proficiency test was unconstitutional racial discrimination in 2021. .The Ontario government developed a plan to reverse the decline in student math scores in 2018. A key component of the plan was an amendment to the Ontario College of Teachers Act to require all new teacher candidates to complete a math proficiency test before being certified. .The test consisted of questions sourced from standardized tests administered to Grade 3, 6, and 9 students and an instruction component. They were reviewed for bias and cultural insensitivity before being administered. .The Ontario Teachers Candidates’ Council (OTCC) was formed to oppose the test. It argued at the Ontario Divisional Court the pass and failure rates of it varied, and some of these variations could be mapped out by race. .The Divisional Court ruled the test was unconstitutional and that the disparities in outcome by race showed a violation of equality rights guaranteed under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. It found it created a distinction between white and non-white candidates, and this was discriminatory. .The CCF said it has been granted intervenor status to argue about the interpretation of equality rights..It acknowledged it will argue arbitrariness is a key component of the equality rights test, and accommodations made by governments which are responsive to a group’s actual capacities and needs are not arbitrary and will seldom be discriminatory. .In the case of the test, the Ontario government made accommodations. These included allowing candidates to retake it, focusing on a minimum level of competency, giving them three hours to write a two-hour version, screening questions to prevent discrimination, making practice ones available free online, and not sharing unsuccessful attempts with the Ontario College of Teachers. .The CCF is represented in its intervention by Baker McKenzie LLP lawyers George Avraam, Jennifer Bernardo, and Rono Khan. .Van Geyn concluded by saying clarification of the Section 15 test is “badly needed.” In this case, the government made accommodations for marginalized groups. .“When the government has taken care to accommodate disadvantaged groups, that ought to be taken into account when determining if adverse impact discrimination has occurred or is unjustified,” she said. .The Ontario Mathematics Coordinators Association (OMCA) held a retreat to discuss the power and potential of indigenous knowledge systems in math in February. .READ MORE: Ontario math educator conference to focus on indigenous knowledge systems.“Because ‘mathematics, along with other subjects, are not exempt from colonial bias,’” said former Ontario high school teacher Chanel Pfahl. .The OMCA invited math teachers and leaders from across Ontario to its retreat to deepen their understanding of incorporating indigenous knowledge systems to enhance and transform teaching math to students. Speakers included Canadian social justice activists Tesa Fiddler, Sandra Indian, Isaac Murdoch, and Jodie Williams.
