Safe and Inclusive Schools with Harmony Movement

“Words Matter” is a fundamental principle that should guide every interaction.  Join Iyanuoluwa Akinrinola from the CTF/FCE for a compelling discussion on the growing issue of harmful language in Canadian schools. Alongside leading advocates from Harmony Movement, this episode explores the epidemic of aggression and harmful language in schools and its serious impact on school communities. Highlighting the “Words Matter” campaign, this episode delves into actionable strategies for creating safe and inclusive school environments through restorative justice and shared responsibility.

(Cet épisode de notre balado est en anglais, mais il s’accompagne d’un résumé en français et en anglais.)

Featuring (in order of appearance)

• Clint Johnston, CTF/FCE President  
• Janelle Yanishewski, Executive Director, Harmony Movement
• Taraneh Vejdani, Words Matter Project Lead, Harmony Movement
• Marcia Lewis, Secondary School Teacher, Words Matter campaign participant
• Twyla Jackson, Vice-Principal, Words Matter campaign participant

Resources | Ressources

• Harmony Movement Words Matter Campaign | Campagne « Les mots comptent »
• Take Action to Make Schools Safer | Passez à l’action pour rendre les écoles plus sûres
• Youth Defenders for Human Rights: Larissa Crawford | Jeunes défenseurs et défenseuses des droits de la personne : Larissa Crawford
• OSSTF/FEESO study on identity-based bullying

Des écoles sûres et inclusives avec Harmony Movement

« Les mots comptent! » Ils peuvent faire du bien, comme ils peuvent faire du mal. C’est là une vérité fondamentale qui devrait guider chacune de nos interactions.

Joignez-vous à Iyanuoluwa de la CTF/FCE qui anime ici une discussion nécessaire sur le problème grandissant des agressions verbales dans nos écoles. Dans cet épisode qui lève le voile sur ce fléau, des porte-paroles de l’organisation Harmony Movement en dénoncent les graves conséquences pour les communautés scolaires.En présentant la campagne Les mots comptent de Harmony Movement, ces personnes nous suggèrent des stratégies pour créer des milieux scolaires sûrs et inclusifs en

The Source podcast is produced by the CTF/FCE in Ottawa, on the traditional unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabe People. | La balado Source est produite à Ottawa, sur le territoire traditionnel non cédé du peuple algonquin anichinabé, par la CTF/FCE.

Follow us on social media | Suivez-nous : Facebook @CTF.FCE, Instagram @ctffce, Bluesky, X @CTFFCE

Views expressed do not necessarily represent the policies nor the views of the CTF/FCE. | Les points de vue exprimés dans cet épisode ne représentent pas forcément les principes directeurs ou les points de vue de la CTF/FCE.

Transcript

**This transcript was automatically generated using Descript. Although there has been some minor human revision of the transcript, the accuracy of machine generated captions varies depending on the audio quality, topic and speaker and therefore are unlikely to be 100% accurate.**

Janelle: Addressing harmful and discriminatory language is essential to building safe schools where every person that’s part of your school community, parents, caregivers, students, educators. Principals, our custodians can feel like they’re safe and they belong.

Iyanuoluwa: Welcome to Source a production of the Canadian Teachers’ Federation. I’m Iyanuoluwa Akinrinola, researcher at the CTF/FCE. And it’s my pleasure to bring you the first episode of Season four with special guests from Harmony Movement, a not-for-profit organization that provides diversity and equity education programs to inspire youth and educators to become leaders for social change through their programming.

They combat interracial intolerance and confronts the “us versus them” attitude, which is prevalent in Canadian society. In this episode, harmony Movements, Executive Director Janelle Yanishewski and Words Matter project lead, Taraneh Vejdani explored the growing issue of harmful and discriminatory language in Canadian schools.

They emphasized the serious effects that this language has on the entire school community, and discussed strategies for addressing harmful language through a restorative justice approach. Additionally, they highlight the positive outcomes of speaking up. To start us off, let’s turn to CTF/FCE President Clint Johnston, as he provides an overview of the verbal violence and aggression epidemic in Canadian schools.

He will highlight the contributing factors and emphasize the urgent need for safe learning and working environments for all.

Clint Johnston: When we talk about safe and inclusive schools, it’s important to recognize that safety is about more than preventing physical harm. For students to learn and for teachers to teach.

Everyone needs, not just to be safe, but to feel safe socially, emotionally, and psychologically. Across Canada, teachers are telling us that aggression and harmful language are on the rise. Violence isn’t always physical. It can be verbal harassment, threats, swearing, insults, exclusion, or cyber bullying. It can also take the form of bias-based bullying, where someone is targeted simply because of their identity.

These behaviors can come from students, parents, or even colleagues, and their impacts are serious. Research shows that verbal violence is more common than physical violence, yet it’s often minimized, under-reported or dismissed as just words. The CTF/FCE’s Parachute Survey Series confirms that many teachers feel pressured to pick their battles.

Reporting can be stressful, time consuming, and sometimes even made worse by uncooperative or at worst adversarial parents. As a result, many incidents go unrecorded, even though the toll on teachers and students’ mental health is undeniably real. Canada is not alone in facing this challenge either.

However, in the 2023 International Barometer of Education Staff Survey Canada ranked the highest among 10 countries with 40% of education staff reporting that they had been victims of verbal violence at work and our own data shows. This is not an isolated problem. It’s part of a trend that has been growing for years. 

There are lots of reasons for this increase. The pandemic certainly played a role, but so have broader societal divisions. The evolution of social media use. And declines in students’ social emotional skills. There are lots of reasons for this increase. The pandemic certainly played a role, but so are broader societal divisions.

The evolution of social media use and declines in students’ social emotional skills. The reality today is that bullying and harassment don’t end when the school bell rings for both teachers and students. Online spaces have extended the school yard into homes and communities at the same time. Our classrooms are larger and more complex than ever.

Teachers know this isn’t about bad kids. It’s about unmet needs. Many students involved in aggressive behavior have special and specific needs that aren’t being met or face challenges with regulation and overcrowded classrooms make it even harder to support them. As one teacher told us through parachute verbal aggression from a student felt like it was not a personal attack, but rather a result of the child feeling dysregulated.

Schools are a microcosm of society. They are where students learn how to cooperate, how to respect differences, and how to be citizens in a democracy. That’s why we need them to be both safe spaces and what’s often called brave spaces. Places where young people can have difficult conversations, confront, prejudice, and grow empathy.

But teachers can’t do this work alone. They need support, trust, and stronger protections. That’s why the CTF/FCE is calling on governments across the country to act. We’re asking the federal government and the Council of Ministers of Education to enhance legal protections for teachers and education workers in the face of growing harassment, intimidation, and online abuse.

We’re calling for stronger enforcement of existing workplace safety laws and for Canada to uphold its commitments under international conventions that protect workers from violence and harassment. Because what happens in our classroom. Doesn’t just affect teachers and students. It shapes our future workplaces and communities.

If we want a society rooted in respect and belonging, we need to ensure our schools reflect those values today. With that over to Iyanuoluwa and her interview with Harmony Movement.

Iyanuoluwa: Hello and thank you for joining us today. We are so delighted to have you speaking with us on this very important topic of inclusions in schools with harmony movement . So we’re going to dive into the conversation to give our listeners some context.

What is happening in schools across Canada when it comes to harmful language?

Taraneh: Hello and thank you for having us here. In a short form, we are hearing a drastic increase in the use of discriminatory language, specifically slurs, atory terms and microaggression across the board in different identities and across different age groups. So as young as grade two, all the way to grade 12, we are really hearing this language being used and being normalized.

 I think the volume that we are hearing is much more significant than before. And something that every school board that we have worked with is struggling with and has identified as an issue.

Iyanuoluwa: Yeah, there are so many contributing factors that oftentimes it seems, where do we even start? Just situating ourselves, being people from equity backgrounds, oftentimes it’s one of those things where it’s how do I have these conversations or how do I help to facilitate these conversations in meaningful ways, While recognizing that I’m also dealing with, or I’m also navigating here in these languages around me. 

So, what happens when harmful language is not addressed? Why do we need to, as educators address these languages?

Taraneh: One thing I wanna start with is recognizing that the educators are also part of the school community, and we know this language creates this poison environment that everyone who’s in that environment is impacted by it negatively. So we know educators get targeted by this language as well, but also when this language is used by anyone, now everyone is impacted.

So we are hearing and seeing that, educators are experiencing a burnout, right? They’re experiencing this fatigue of being able to address, and then there are also situated within this larger context where there is increasingly reduce amount of resources and funding and support for our educators. Then they have a lot on their plate. There’s a lot going on. There’s a lot of demand from them. And hearing this harmful language, not only is having a emotional and psychological impact on them but also that means stepping in becomes much more difficult considering how much they have on their plate.

So really it becomes like a loop that, you know, it’s not addressed. So they’re hearing it more, they’re impacted by it which prevents ‘em from really intervening. And again, it just keeps growing and growing. And so really from an educator perspective, we recognize that it has a strain on them as well.

And one thing we’ve heard and learned from research that is being done is that educators really are looking for support. They recognize that it’s an issue. They know it is happening.

But then again, there’s a lack of resources. It becomes harder for them to take that time off to be able to have support staff that covers them. It goes back to our educators are strained. They are in a space that they’re being impacted by it, and all we need to do is just provide them with more support and trainings so that level of comfort increases as well.

Iyanuoluwa: And if I may, Janelle just throw this to you for a second, the understanding of the importance of safety for all who are a part of the school community, we’re talking about students, educators, we’re talking about even support staff in and outside of the building. Safety is a central point of this conversation. What are some ways in which educators might want to, or might be empowered to do what they can right now , while, Yes, there isn’t resources or there isn’t the support we need as there should be...

How could they still move forward in a good way to address harmful language when it happens around them?  

Janelle: yeah, there’s so much that can be done. And so the Words Matter campaign, part of the reason we created this is because we wanted to give teachers, educators, principals, students, families, and caregivers, The whole school community is provided with resources to have these conversations and those are focused around one, highlighting what the impact is through storytelling.

We know storytelling shifts behavior, it builds understanding in a way. You know, We can give stats and figures all day, but if we really want people to understand why this is so important, as you said, to create safe spaces, to create schools where people have a sense of belonging, then we really need to have that, an understanding of the impact of this language.

And then giving the tools to interrupt, in a way that I’m gonna steal some language from our friends at OTF Moses Velasco, who’s at the Ontario Teachers Federation, when we were creating this together with him, and so many other amazing partners said, we wanna do this in a way that maintains human dignity for everyone.

And just like such a beautiful sentiment stuck in my head. And that is the approach. So how can we restore community when there’s been issues of harmful language. So it is about interrupting and speaking out, explaining, educating, and then acknowledging the harm that’s been done, providing support to the people that have been targeted by the language.

Often we spend a lot of time focusing on who used the language and putting punishments in place and not really supporting those that maybe have been targeted. And then also how to reintegrate everyone back together in community after there’s been that harm. How do you build that accountability back in?

So it’s really taking a restorative justice approach to this work. And again, we have great partners at Peace Builders Canada, who are we’re releasing a module specifically on restorative justice shortly that’ll be included in the campaign materials, and there’s so much power in that model. We know talking to schools and going to schools and talking to students. When there is an issue, and every school we’ve talked to for the last four years in K to 12 settings has said they’ve had issues with harmful and discriminatory language. It’s a universal issue right now across Canada. And so when we talk to these students, they in some ways see the suspension is necessary, and that’s often where these issues go if there’s been an issue, is student gets suspended, they get sent home for a couple days, they play their video games and they come back and there’s no understanding, there’s no knowledge building. And the other students see it and they know it. They see that, okay, like sure they got some kind of punishment, but then it’s just gonna happen again.

There’s no restoration. There’s no accountability in that model. And so trying to give teachers the tools to build up their comfort: practice how you speak up, practice how you do the education piece, practice how you reintegrate. And so there’s a lot of scenario-based tools working through in community with each other to learn and grow.

And when, every educator in a space is committed to speaking up, it really does help accept that comfort level thing. We also do have a lot of amazing union partners. There is responsibilities for educators to create safe learning spaces. So as much as there’s discomfort, there’s also a lot of harm and a lot of issues if you don’t speak up.

We focus on like, oh, this feels awkward in the moment, but realistically, there’s a responsibility as an educator that’s codified across Canada in various languages about how you need to create these safe learning spaces.

Taraneh: I just wanna share, when we were designing our conversation with the educators and the curriculum, one thing that was very important for us is how do we create spaces where educators can talk to each other? How can we create a space where they can share what this environment is doing to them. What is happening with their safety and how do we support one another? How can educators help on one another? ‘cause we know oftentimes it’s educators who hold these identities that are being targeted, that often are stepping in. So really thinking about, okay, if it is this responsibility of all of us, all the educators to address this, that means the first thing we need to do is to talk with each other. And one thing we found out and we heard from schools is that, those who did deliver the educator training or went with it, they found that it is creating this space where educators now can talk to each other about it.

They can start this dialogue of, okay, I am seeing this, you’re seeing this. What do we do about it? Rather than putting them as, you’re the only person who have to address this now it’s a community of people who are addressing this issue.

Iyanuoluwa: thank you for including that, and you mentioned the importance of supporting those who are doing the work of interrupting, disrupting and educating, which are educators across school communities ‘cause oftentimes they’re saddled with the burden of I would say supporting students as they unlearn and learn the impact of the language being used. Um And I wanna bring it back to a word Janelle used earlier talking about really caring for those who are victims of harmful language use. How do we ensure that we are holding those who are using languages accountable while ensuring that burden, yes, there’s a duty of care for all teachers across the country, ensuring that burden doesn’t rest solely on an individual or particular, demographic or group.

Is there one or two strategies from the campaign you can share?

Taraneh: So, I think I wanna go back to the five-part framework. So interrupt, explain, acknowledge, support, and reintegrate. The interrupt is the basic things we need to do and explain/ acknowledge is where the education part is really the key for creating that cultural change that we are looking for.

But then that acknowledgement and support, we are trying to reemphasize, right? Acknowledging the harm that is happening, even acknowledging on a broader sense, right? We don’t know how it’s impacting folks who’ve heard this language might not be the direct target. Right? So really acknowledging that what we are saying, this language, is damaging to an entire group of people. The slurs that we are hearing, doesn’t have effect only on one individual, but everyone.

And then thinking about what that support looked like, really reemphasizing support will look different for individuals. And how do we go about it? So, we open up and have a conversations. You need to approach the individual who was targeted to say what can we do to support you? Do not make assumptions. Really go and see what do they need, but also have a conversation at larger space as well. So do mention if this language was shared in the classroom to say, if anyone wants to talk to me afterward, please come and we can continue this conversation. So really there is this opportunity and openness for that support to be received; whether the students take up that opportunity, it’s a different conversation to have, but really we’re encouraging the educators to open these doors to create the spaces. And I think the relationship building is something that we’re reemphasizing as well, is that for this cultural shift to happen, we need to have stronger relation with our students which means when we do open that door of support, they are willing to come forward. So that safety is built.

And when it goes to the reintegration, again, suspension, we know they go, come back and nothing’s changed. But again, build that relation. Help them to reflect, to think about what could they do differently? What is something that they could learn from it and engage in that conversation with them and make sure they feel they can go back to that classroom to make that repair. Right. Students need support to understand what that looks like, right? They need to understand that yes, we make mistake. We all will say things sometimes we mean it but oftentimes we don’t mean it. And that harm is still there. So what do we do? What do we say and how do we not see this, that now we are a bad person, but rather we said a bad thing or we’ve done something that is bad. So there’s an opportunity for restoration.

But again I would say because we are taking a full approach educators have this important role, but when we go and talk to the students, remind them, they have a very important role in this as well. So it’s not just on the teachers, but rather everyone, again, the students, everyone in this school, they have a role to play. And we try to reemphasize this is Not on one individual, but all of us have a responsibility.

One quick thing I would share often with younger students, their to go is, I heard something. I’m gonna go tell the teacher. So we had to kinda have these conversation, wait, are you, do you go to the school? They’re like, yeah. So do you hear it? Do you feel impacted by it? They’re like, yeah. So I’m like why? Why can’t you say something? What would you say in this situation? So really empowering them to know they can make an impact. They’re being impacted by this language. Therefore they also have this opportunity to make an impact and create change in their school. And we are hearing students using the frame, words matter as their go to. They like point out, your words matter or words matter, to really start that change.

So again, acknowledging that educators have a very important role just because of their power within the classroom and the way that they are really the leaders of the spaces. But really, empowering our students and everyone else in the school to say, we all need to be engaging in this conversation. We need to call it out. We need to be part of the education part of it. We need to be part of seeing it’s everyone’s responsibility to create this shift.

Iyanuoluwa: Oh, thank you so much for that. And what I heard is these five pillars provide an opportunity for everybody within the school community to stand up, stand together, and really recognize that intentionally or unintentionally, Our words matter. And how do we hold each other accountable as a collective, but also hold ourselves accountable as individuals to ensuring the words we use in the words we choose are good words.

Janelle in addition to that, what are some positive impacts of challenging harmful languages in schools and why should schools get involved? How can school get involved?

Janelle: Well, we know that folks who have started this training, the educators and admin, like 94% reported afterwards that they felt they had the tools and skills. Which is interesting, because before 87% said they didn’t feel confident, so it really does help build educator efficacy around addressing this language.

I know, I got the privilege in last spring to talk to a bunch of schools that had integrated this training, and some of them, we can’t necessarily point to, yes, there’s been less language. No one’s necessarily measuring that or tracking it. Like, a lot of things get unsaid in the hallways or don’t get addressed or don’t get reported, right.

So it’s hard to know how much it’s reducing it. But we have heard there’s culture shifts. So you know, principals, even when there is an issue, when this training has been done, when students have heard this message from early in the year. It gives an opening conversation for when there is an issue, principals being able to say, listen, we talked about this. And even going to families when there’s been an issue and saying, we’re not being reactive about this. Like, we’re having proactive conversations and that shows to families, to students, to, you know, all the people in the building. That there is a culture shift taking place.

It’s not gonna be a one and done training. It’s not an instant fix but it is a step in the right direction, and we’re excited to be announcing more identity specific trainings coming out. So we’re working on a training around anti-black language specifically that’ll be coming out this fall, and then hopefully around homophobic and transphobic language in the new year cause these are the top two we’re hearing educators and principals say are happening in their school daily, weekly, on unfortunately, on way too regular of a basis.

Iyanuoluwa: Right.

Janelle: And so not to say the other issues, around mental health and ability, these are, I think, all issues as well, but they’re almost more normalized. And so I think we hear language that, you know anti-women or anything like that, and we don’t necessarily even flag in our brains as being an issue. But the shifts are coming, so, it’ll be exciting to see how things continue to develop.

Folks can obviously access the campaign. All the resources are completely digital. They’re available in English and French. So anywhere in the country you can get access to these resources. It is from a Canadian context, Canadian perspective. And so there’s lots of opportunity for folks to engage. There’s recordings of a lot of webinars and sessions on issue specific points and resources like living and growing too. So, as we get feedback, as we continue to expand this campaign across Canada, we’re excited to continue to adjust and adapt to the different policies and contexts across all provinces and territories. So lots of positive impacts we’re seeing around culture shifts. And really excited to just watch the campaign grow and see the transformations that our school communities can go through.

Iyanuoluwa: I love that and I love to hear that it’s working in collaboration and partnerships across the country. And the CTF/FCE is incredibly privileged and honored to be a partner with Harmony Movement.

And as we wrap up our time together if you can tell our listeners in 10 seconds or less, one thing to walk away with from this conversation?

Taraneh: I would say as daunting as it feels, as much as you feel like you are pouring water on an ever-growing fire, every word that you say, every time you intervene is making an impact. And the main impact is beyond our understanding, but it has such a huge impact for that one educator, for that one individual to just step in and say what I just heard is not okay. So believe that your words matter, and interrupting and engaging these conversation is changing students’ lives.

Iyanuoluwa: Thank you. Janelle?

Janelle: I think that the core piece is addressing harmful and discriminatory language is essential to building safe schools, where every person that’s part of your school community, parents, caregivers, students, educators, principals, our custodians can feel like they’re safe and they belong. And having restorative responses that build understanding are really critical to creating that culture.

Iyanuoluwa: Thank you so much to both of you. Our words matter and we must keep that top of mind. Janelle and Taraneh, thank you so much for taking time outta your day to join us today. Thank you for sharing your insights with us. But most importantly, thank you for giving us just a short peek into the wonderful work harmony movement is doing not only in Ontario, but also across the country.

And I know that our listeners there’s a lot to glean from this, so we just thank you so much for your time.

Taraneh: Thank you for having us.

Janelle: Thank you.

Iyanuoluwa: Thank you for tuning into Source. In this episode, we explored the impact of harmful language on school communities, strategies for creating safe learning spaces, a five-part framework to encourage cultural change and the role everyone plays in fostering safe and inclusive schools for all.

Have you experienced harmful language in your school? Harmony Movement wants to hear from you. Reach out to share your perspectives and stories. 

Check out the show notes for links to resources mentioned throughout the episode, including a resource on Handling Conflicts, Turning Attention Into Growth and information about the Words Matter campaign.

Source is produced by the CTF/FCE on the traditional unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabe People.  

This episode was hosted by myself, Iyanuoluwa Akinrinola, produced and edited by Julieanna Mawko, sound engineered by Rolf-Carlos Klausener.