Education Forum: Building Capacity for Equity and Inclusion in Ontario Education
Integrating East and Southeast Asian Canadian Experiences & Addressing Anti-Asian Racism
Join educators, researchers, community leaders, and advocates for a transformative forum exploring how East and Southeast Asian Canadian (ESAC) experiences can be meaningfully integrated into teaching and learning, how teachers can be better supported to address anti-Asian racism, and how collaboration among schools, communities, and academia can help move this work forward.
A recent CPAC Institute report, Footnote in the Story: Fragmented and Marginalized Inclusion of East and Southeast Asian Canadian Experiences in Ontario Curriculum, highlights that ESAC experiences remain largely absent from Ontario curriculum, and many educators lack the resources and support needed to teach ESAC experiences or address anti-Asian racism in schools.
To explore these questions and move toward solutions, we invite educators, researchers, community members, advocates, and others interested in these issues to join the conversation at this forum.
Participants will:
- Hear an opening keynote from internationally recognized expert Dr. Kevin Kumashiro, titled “Three Lenses for Countering Anti-Asian Racism and Advancing Equity through Education”
- Learn about key research findings from the CPAC Institute study on ESAC experiences in Ontario schools
- Gain insights from leaders in education, academia, and community.
- Engage in breakout discussions on pedagogy, policy change, teacher professional development and support, underrepresentation of Asian Canadian leadership in education, school-community-academia collaboration, and the impact of anti-Asian racism on students
- Connect with educators, researchers, and community members committed to inclusive education
Date: Saturday, March 28, 2026
Time:1:00 pm - 1:50 pm: Registration
2:00 pm- 5:30 pm: Forum
5:30 pm - 6:30 pm: Reception
Venue: Crowne Plaza Toronto – North York (Pan Pacific Toronto), Crown Room, 900 York Mills Road, Toronto, ON M3B 3H2
(Complimentary parking is available at both the front and rear of the hotel building.)
Admission: Free (Prior Registration Required)
Register Here
Registration will be closed at 6 pm, Mar. 24, 2026.
Inquiries: Kate Zhang, Kate.zhang@cpac-canada.ca
Event Schedule
1:00 pm Registration and Networking
2:00 pm Opening
2:10 pm Keynote Speeches
3:15 pm Panel Discussion
4:15 pm Breakout Discussions
5:20 pm Closing Reflections
5:30 pm Networking Reception
Keynote Speakers:
Kevin Kumashiro
Dr. Kevin Kumashiro (https://www.kevinkumashiro.com) is an internationally recognized expert on educational policy, school reform, teacher preparation, and educational equity and justice, with a wide-ranging list of accomplishments and awards as a scholar, educator, leader, and advocate. He is the former Dean of the Schools of Education at the University of San Francisco and Hofstra University; the founding Chair of the national network, Education Deans for Justice and Equity; and the award-winning author or editor of ten books, including Bad Teacher!: How Blaming Teachers Distorts the Bigger Picture, Against Common Sense: Teaching and Learning toward Social Justice, and most recently, Surrendered: Why Progressives are Losing the Biggest Battles in Education. His recent awards include the 2016 Social Justice in Education Award from the American Educational Research Association, and an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from the Lewis and Clark Graduate School of Education and Counseling.
Bailing (Kate) Zhang
Dr. Bailing (Kate) Zhang is a Research Associate at the CPAC Institute. Holding a Ph.D. in Critical Policy, Equity, and Leadership Studies from Western University, she centres her research on equity and social justice, with a primary focus on critical policy studies, race, and anti-oppressive education.
Her work examines the impact of neoliberalism on education policy and practice, workplace equity, the underrepresentation of racialized Canadians in leadership, and anti-Asian racism in public education. She explores how social identities and systemic barriers shape marginalized individuals’ experiences and opportunities across these contexts. Committed to advancing inclusive and equitable systems, she advocates for policies and practices that promote justice within education and beyond.
Expert Panel:
Moderator
Kien Nam Luu
Dr. Kien Nam Luu is a proud teacher of Chinese heritage. His parents' steadfast determination to find safety, sanctuary, education and opportunities for their nine children led them to Canada. For their many acts of love and sacrifice, Kien Nam is eternally grateful to his parents.
As a teacher, Kien Nam taught across the elementary, secondary and post-secondary levels. He served as a teacher, vice principal, principal, university instructor and superintendent of education in Ontario.
As a Superintendent of Education, Kien Nam strives to nurture collaborative professionalism with educators, district partners and community members to build solidarity in dismantling systematic and colonial structures that prevent marginalized students and educators from achieving representation, voice and success.
Panelists
Gen-Ling Chang
Gen-Ling Chang is the Associate Executive Director at ALPHA Education and a former Associate Director of the Toronto District School Board. Her career has been dedicated to improving education systems, advancing literacy and numeracy, promoting anti-bias education, and transforming pathways to success for all students—especially underserved youth and families.
Gen-Ling believes education plays a central role in shaping lifelong outcomes for individuals, communities, and the nation. She has served within the Toronto District School Board and the Peel District School Board, including a secondment as a Senior Student Achievement Officer with the Ontario Ministry of Education’s Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat.
Her professional path has also been shaped by her experience as a senior researcher at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, where she contributed to two large-scale studies examining student learning and the factors that influence engagement and achievement.
Karlo Cabrera
Karlo Cabrera is the Centrally Assigned Principal of Equity, Anti-Racism, and Anti-Oppression at the Toronto District School Board. He immigrated from the Philippines and completed his studies in Toronto. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Education and a Master of Education from York University.
Vidya Shah
Dr. Vidya Shah is an educator, scholar and activist committed to equity and racial justice in the service of liberatory education. She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Leadership, Higher & Adult Education (LHAE) at OISE/UT and teaches in the Educational Leadership & Policy (ELP) program. Her research draws on anti-racist, decolonial, and anti-colonial frameworks in educational leadership and school district reform, supporting educators in developing the orientations and capacities to create structural, ideological, and pedagogical transformation for racial and intersecting justices. Dr. Shah curates The UnLeading Project, a podcast and website that invites us to undo and unlearn how we have been socialized into leadership. She is also a facilitator with the Center for Courage and Renewal, focused on nurturing deep integrity and relational trust for a more loving, equitable, and healthy world.
Acknowledgements
This event is made possible through the financial support of the Government of Canada’s Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism Program, and the Canadian Race Relations Foundation’s National Anti-Racism Fund.
