The Death of Merit in Canada’s Largest School Board

When Toronto’s public schools replaced excellence with equity, students paid the price—and one educator lost everything.

Two years ago on July 13th, Richard Bilkszto tragically died by suicide. This week, we commemorate his death by continuing to tell his story.

Hard work makes the dream work.

That was once the guiding belief in Toronto’s schools. But in May 2022, the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) took a decisive step away from that principle. Trustees passed a new admissions policy that eliminated merit-based selection for specialized high school programs, replacing it with a lottery system.

These specialized programs, ranging from dance and drama to intensive STEM pathways, offered students from all backgrounds the chance to excel. For many, they were a passport to opportunity: a nominally priced gateway to the same International Baccalaureate (IB) program found in elite private schools.

In one fell swoop, all of that changed. No more auditions for arts programs, no more math exams for STEM. Instead of demonstrating talent or academic excellence, students would now wait to see if they were randomly selected.

The board framed this as a move toward equity. In practice, it crushed the aspirations of countless young people.

Now, a straight-A student who excelled in every science test has no greater chance of entering a program than a peer who barely passed. By ignoring readiness, the system sets students up to fail—dropping out of programs too demanding for their current level, eroding their confidence, and forcing teachers to dilute their curriculum.

Worst of all, those who truly earned their place may never know it. Instead of being told, “You worked hard, and you made it,” they’re told they simply got lucky.

No one wins—except the DEI activists who looked at the racial composition of these programs and concluded that merit must be the problem.

Even the data used to justify this experiment is questionable. The school board has shown little regard for transparency or evidence. When a provincial letter forced them to revisit their admissions policy and launch a consultation process, the board’s top superintendent downplayed public input. At a committee meeting, he declared that “responsiveness isn’t necessarily reflective of the loudest voices or the majority of voices”—a troubling admission that some opinions matter more than others.

This wasn’t the first time the TDSB ignored clear evidence. When staff recommended banning school resource officers (SROs), the data showed that 57% of students felt safer with an SRO present, and 76% of parents agreed. Still, the board chose ideology over safety, citing a vague “discriminatory impact.”

The consequences of this mindset are not abstract.

My late friend Richard Bilkszto, a retired principal and beloved member of FAIR For All, was a fierce opponent of the lottery system. But more than that, he became a tragic example of what happens when identity politics goes unchecked.

In 2021, the TDSB hired Kike Ojo-Thompson, a DEI consultant, to lead professional development sessions for principals. When Richard—drawing on his experience teaching in Buffalo, NY—suggested that Canada was not as racist as the U.S., Ojo-Thompson berated him, labeling him an “apologist.” At a subsequent session, she held up his comments as an example of what needed to be “called out.”

Richard never recovered from the ordeal. He took his own life in July 2023, overwhelmed by the stress and public humiliation.

Rather than reflect, Ojo-Thompson’s firm responded with defiance. Fearing government contracts might be at risk, they issued a statement warning that Richard’s death could be “weaponized” to discredit DEI work. In effect, they argued that questioning their methods, even after a tragedy, was dangerous.

Two years later, the TDSB still refuses to release its “independent” investigation into the events that led to Richard’s death. It seems the board has taken its cues from Yes, Minister: when in doubt, bury the report. Perhaps the findings are too damning for a board that devotes more time to debating whether “co-ed” is a discriminatory term than fixing plummeting student math scores.

But the province did act. In the months following Richard’s death, Ontario introduced new regulations requiring school boards to publicly disclose the names and topics of guest speakers.

It’s a small but meaningful legacy, and a tragic reminder of the real human cost of dogma.

In the wake of Richard’s passing, a group of us founded Friends of Richard Bilkszto, a registered Canadian charity that awards an annual scholarship in his name. Our mission is to ensure that his memory—and the ideals he stood for—are never forgotten.

We all want schools that are safe, inclusive, and welcoming. But DEI programs as they exist today do the opposite. They divide students, undermine educators, and cast suspicion where there is none.

Richard believed in something better. So do we.

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