York Region trustee Nancy Elgie has announced she’ll step down, saying her use of a racial slur has “brought undeserved distress” to the community and harmed the school board’s reputation.
In a video statement posted on YouTube, a well-spoken Elgie said that over the past 17 years as a trustee, “I have always tried to make a difference, particularly for our most vulnerable children.”
She said using the word n—– to refer to a black parent, after a public meeting last November “was a terrible mistake.”
“In a private conversation with Trustee Loralea Carruthers, I was trying to refer to a parent who had been at the board meeting, but I did not know her name, only that she had been featured in media stories about children being called a hurtful racist word.
“In trying to explain that, the words came out horribly wrong. I was mortified. I apologized immediately.”
After the remark was overheard by a staff member, who complained, the board hired an independent investigator.
Following that investigation, Elgie apologized via email to the parent, as well as to fellow trustees.
Read more:
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“Today, I reiterate that heartfelt apology,” she said in her video statement.
“I know how hurtful that word is — even if used inadvertently — and I am truly sorry for the pain my words have caused.”
Elgie’s children have said a head injury Elgie suffered last October caused a concussion that made her struggle for words.
She only recently — and amid the controversy over her use of the slur — took a medical leave.
“I have come to realize that while my head injury may help explain what I said — why I mixed up my words — it doesn’t excuse it. I used a hurtful word — one that is directly at odds with my values, with the things my husband and I fought for, and with how I’ve lived my life and brought up my children.”
Calls for Elgie to resign have come from parents, a 3,000-signature petition, community members as well as two Ontario cabinet ministers and the leaders of the Progressive Conservatives and the NDP.
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