Statement of Solidarity and Commitment
As a community of music educators from across Canada, we stand against ongoing violence
against the Black community both in Canada and the United States. The deaths of George
Floyd and countless others in Canada and the USA are painful examples of the persistence of
anti-Black racism.
As an organization:
• We acknowledge that Canada has a deeply rooted history of racism against Black,
Indigenous, and racialized peoples and communities who continue to face ongoing
oppression.
• We acknowledge that schools, music programs, music teacher education, and other
educational and cultural structures in our society reinforce and perpetuate systemic
racism and settler colonial structures that serve to maintain white supremacy*.
• We acknowledge that many of our students, colleagues, and members experience
racism on an ongoing basis.
We commit to fighting white supremacy and anti-Black racism, anti-Indigenous racism, and all
other forms of racism, discrimination, and exclusion. We commit to examining our own practices
that contribute to the ongoing harm of racialized communities, and to amplify the voices of
racialized peoples within the Kodály community.
As an organization, we undertake to:
1. Listen to and learn from Black, Indigenous, and other equity seeking and racialized
voices.
2. Facilitate Canadian music educators’ access to culturally appropriate music materials
and perspectives, and to engage in decolonizing the repertoire that is commonly used in
elementary and choral music programs in Canada.
3. Facilitate professional learning for music educators towards decolonizing music
education.
4. Advocate for and work toward the dismantling of racist structures in music teacher
education and work to diversify the music education teaching force in Canada and on
our Board of Directors.
* See http://www.findingmusicresources.com/anti-racist-pedagogy.html for resources
discussing systemic racism and white supremacy