Lawyer: False White Supremacy Claims Due To DEI Spurred Principal’s Suicide
A popular Toronto principal took his life earlier this month after a two-year bullying campaign led by DEI forces claimed he was a White supremacist. This is the charge from Richard Bilksztos’ attorney in the aftermath of his death.
Defending his Canadian home against woke radicals apparently led to Bilksztos being harassed and ostracized. His mental health deteriorated until he took his own life, according to his supporters.
The tragedy began in 2019 at a DEI workshop held by the KOJO Institute. This group claimed to “deliver innovative solutions that achieve equitable outcomes, improve culture and produce transformation results.”
Bilksztos, who worked with non-traditional students including recent immigrants and those enrolled in adult education, was appalled by what he heard. KOJO founder Kike Ojo-Thompson declared Canada to be a “more racist place than the United States.”
She then blasted the nation as a “bastion of White supremacy and colonialism.”
A patriotic Canadian, Bilksztos spoke up against the smear on his homeland. “To sit here and talk about facts and figures and then walk into the classroom tomorrow and say, ‘Canada is just as bad as the United States,’ I think we are doing an incredible disservice to our learners.”
Cancel culture immediately sprang into action.
First, Thompson insinuated to the DEI gathering that Bilksztos was a White supremacist. One fellow seminar attendee reportedly expressed gratitude to the KOJO Institute for “modeling the discomfort administrators may need to experience in order to disrupt” White supremacy.
Then the very next day, his school administration blistered him for his male White privilege and issued a reprimand for him speaking out.
The pressure became so intense that he took a leave of absence and was later successful in suing for workers’ compensation for lost wages. Still, the persecution continued.
After returning to work, Bilksztos was never restored to his former position and was barred from attending a graduation ceremony. Then the Toronto system declined to renew his contract for the following school year, reportedly as reprisal.
He finally retired, but even that did not end his mental anguish. According to attorney Lisa Bildy, the former principal took his own life on July 13 at age 60.
An outpouring of support and condolences came from his former at-risk students and even the Toronto district and KOJO Institute offered their sympathies. But it was too late — the damage was already done.