Former student recalls years of racial abuse as reports find evidence of explicit racism in Surrey schools

Flipping through her high school yearbook doesn't spark nostalgia in Janaye Majer.

"Memories I don't miss at all," she said of her time at Queen Elizabeth Secondary. 

Majer, who is Black, says she was bullied and targeted with racial slurs at the Surrey high school. Over the years, she says she was subjected to the N-word and told "really derogatory racial things about myself."

"I was told to kill myself and just very terrible things that I had to go through."

Majer says in her case, teachers and administrators failed to stop the bullying. 

"I felt so alone. I didn't know I had support. I didn't know where to go. I would sit and eat lunch in the bathroom because that's how badly I was bullied."

Majer's experience is one of many documented in two reports commissioned by the Surrey School District that found evidence of explicit racism in its schools, citing the "discomfort" of school staff and administrators in trying and failing to address it.

The reports, the result of 39 listening circles conducted by an outside company, also highlighted a lack of diversity among the leadership.

One looked specifically at Queen Elizabeth Secondary and another examined the entire district.

The Surrey School District says it is committed to tackling racism within the school system and created a new committee that made its own recommendations, which include creating a new racial equity department and developing a five-year racial equity plan.

"This isn't a five-year plan where you'll only see the results in five years," said district spokesperson Ritinder Matthew. "A lot of these recommendations can be implemented immediately."

For Majer, who is in her second year at Simon Fraser University studying psychology and education, the changes can't come soon enough.

"I held my voice for so long because I was so scared, and I was always the one being punished," she said. "But I think I always speak out because at the end of the day, the truth does come out, and the truth is out now."