'I just didn't feel wanted': Former Indigenous student says school suspensions led to drop out
CBC
When Michael Henderson looks back on his high school years, he wonders how things would be different for him if hadn't dropped out of school.
Henderson, now 21, was suspended five times over a two-year period from St. John's High School, before dropping out in Grade 10.
The Ojibwe man says the first time he was suspended for a week was because he missed too many classes. The other times were because he got into verbal conflicts with other students.
"I got suspended five times and it made me feel kind of hard to catch up on my work and, like, I didn't want to go there anymore,"Henderson said. "I just didn't feel wanted there."
Henderson is just one of hundreds of Indigenous students who were dealt suspensions by the Winnipeg School Division in recent years.
A report released by the Winnipeg School Division on Tuesday shows more than half the students suspended between 2016 and 2019 were Indigenous, though they comprise less than one-third of the student population.
The figures don't come as a surprise to Janine Newton Montgomery, an associate professor in the school psychology program at the University of Manitoba.
She says national studies have long shown that minority groups are over-represented in school suspensions.
"I actually do think it's really good that Winnipeg School Division shared this information," Newton Montgomery said. They're showing their awareness, and, if we think about truth and reconciliation, the first step is telling the truth."
She says the WSD data could point to racial bias in the system, but also inequities among students and access to supports.
The former school teacher says suspensions can be handed out for a variety of reasons, ranging from extremely serious situations, such as violence or safety concerns, to things including attendance or interpersonal conflicts. It's often at the school's discretion.
Newton Montgomery says while some severe cases warrant a suspension, the practice should be used sparingly and should never be the only action taken.
"Unfortunately a lot of the children who are suspended have terrible attendance, or they have limited opportunities elsewhere or they've got behaviour and emotional problems that need to be addressed and those are not being supported in a suspension," she said.
"Excluding a child from school for a behaviour incident and then expecting them to come back as if nothing happened and as if everything is going to be OK is rarely effective."