Statement of solidarity and commitment

June 20, 2020

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