{"id":765142,"date":"2026-06-27T17:42:19","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T17:42:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/765142\/"},"modified":"2026-06-27T17:42:19","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T17:42:19","slug":"smol-remember-richard-bilksztos-brave-stand-against-woke-decolonizing-indoctrination-on-canada-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/765142\/","title":{"rendered":"SMOL: Remember Richard Bilkszto\u2019s brave stand against woke decolonizing indoctrination on Canada Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been almost three years since Toronto teacher and principal Richard Bilkszto took his own life after being harassed and demeaned when he dared to stand up for Canada during a Toronto District School Board DEI professional development session.<\/p>\n

His long-drawn-out litigation and subsequent suicide in the wake of the petulant comments from a woke, corporate, self-described \u201cequity thought-leader\u201d \u2013 Kiki Ojo-Thompson of the Kojo Institute<\/a> \u2013 and her rube teacher-followers at TDSB heartbreakingly came before his final publicly uttered words praising Canada and could serve as a catalyst to the recent surge of Canadian nationalism.<\/p>\n

Sadly, Richard Bilkszto has left us, but shouldn\u2019t his standing up for Canada remain in our collective memories on occasions such as Canada Day?<\/p>\n

The circumstances that led to Bilkszto\u2019s suicide on July 13, 2023, sparked outrage among many, forcing several members of the media, including myself<\/a>, to address the narrow-minded intolerance of the DEI decolonizing agenda.<\/p>\n

It is a battle that is still ongoing, though somewhat muted, in the wake of Trump\u2019s annexationist threats, the happy surge in Canadian nationalism, all the cheesy variations of Mike Myers \u201celbows up\u201d slogan, and Prime Minister Carney\u2019s assertion that Canada can serve as a \u201cbeacon to the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, do we not owe a debt of gratitude to the likes of Richard Bilkszto for having carried the lonely torch of Canadian nationalism at a time when woke, decolonizing, anti-Canadian ideological fad was at its height especially in government, public education and academia?<\/p>\n

By way of reminder, what did this humble public-school teacher and popular principal say that could cause a corporate bourgeois DEI instructor to, figuratively speaking, scream blasphemy and tear her\/his\/their fancy business attire? What irreverent profanation to woke decolonizing educational dogma did Bilkszto utter in April 2021 that would result in his actually being admonished by senior administration before being publicly humiliated again by the school board\u2019s hired \u201cequity thought leader\u201d in a follow-up session?<\/p>\n

He claimed, according to the audio transcript of the session, that Canada, based on facts and figures as well as his teaching experience on both sides of the border, is \u201ca more just society\u201d than the United States and that it would be an \u201cincredible disservice\u201d to learners if they were not taught this reality.<\/p>\n

These remarks were prompted by Ojo-Thompson\u2019s reported assertion that \u201cCanada is a bastion of white supremacy and colonialism\u201d and that \u201cthe racism we experience is far worse here than there (the United States).\u201d<\/p>\n

Say it ain\u2019t so Ojo!<\/p>\n

The result was sadly predictable to anyone who might have witnessed the unwillingness of the DEI re-education dogma to entertain civil, fact-based debate. It was reported that Bilkszto was shunned by his superiors and his contract with the board was not renewed.<\/p>\n

Ojo-Thompson went on to further shame Bilkszto\u2019s comments in a subsequent session.<\/p>\n

\"<\/p>\n

Former Toronto school principal Richard Bilkszto.<\/p>\n

Bilkszto ended up on workers compensation for the stress that the backlash for his pro-Canada comments caused. He deserved better.<\/p>\n

Should this just be taken as a sad misunderstanding or tragic sequence of events? Should Bilkszto have just sucked it up and endured the way almost all teachers today put up with harassment from students, administrators, parents and self-styled \u201cthought-leaders?\u201d<\/p>\n

Before we answer this question lets ponder the following.<\/p>\n

If asserting \u201cI am Canadian\u201d or \u201cthis is what is great about Canada\u201d is to become more than just a slogan without substance, there has to be a willingness to freely assert its value in all forms of civic debate. Especially when those who might want to dismantle and denounce this country\u2019s traditional Judeo-Christian western styles colonial fabric might jealously try to impose their evidence challenged historical agenda.<\/p>\n

And may I also add that this country\u2019s \u201cheroes\u201d do not necessarily have to wear uniforms and carry weapons. Equally important are those such as this country\u2019s Fathers of Confederation headed by Sir John A. Macdonald who, against the powerful continental pull of the U.S., peacefully created and asserted a better vision for North America \u2013 one that we should shamelessly stand up for and try and make even better.<\/p>\n

Richard Bilkszto was one small recent testament to the vision once championed by the likes of Sir John A.<\/p>\n

\"<\/p>\n

Kike Ojo-Thompson is the founder and CEO of the KOJO Institute.<\/p>\n

Finally, one cannot fully address this issue without mentioning what happened to Kiki Ojo-Thompson. Did her callous actions that reportedly initiated this tragic chain of events force her into some form of professional exile?<\/p>\n

Nope! Based on her LinkedIn profile she continues to ply her trade in the corporate world. Since leaving her Kojo Institute she has been gainfully employed in the corporate world as a Partner, Human Capital at Deloitte from September 2024 to January 2026 and, more recently, as an \u201cExecutive Advisor\u201d with MJY Advisory.<\/p>\n

Seems that, when it comes to Kiki Ojo-Thompson, the Canadian Dream\u2019s sense of humour can only be matched by its unrequited forbearance.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Robert Smol is a retired teacher and military veteran. He is currently completing a Ph.D in military history. Reach him at\u00a0rmsmol@gmail.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s been almost three years since Toronto teacher and principal Richard Bilkszto took his own life after being…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":765143,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[49,48,15815,272221,272219,272220,44,272218,73381],"class_list":["post-765142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-day","tag-canadian-nationalism","tag-kiki-ojo-thompson","tag-kojo-institute","tag-news","tag-richard-bilkszto","tag-toronto-district-school-board"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/765142","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=765142"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/765142\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/765143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=765142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=765142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=765142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}