An Ontario labour board has overturned the firing of a Toronto high school teacher who painted his face black as part of a Halloween costume while teaching in 2021.
Business teacher Gorian Surlan, who was born in Serbia in 1962 and moved to Canada in 1992, was fired from Toronto’s Parkdale Collegiate Institute in November 2021 after three students complained he was wearing a blackface Halloween costume in class. However, an arbitrator has ruled that Surlan’s appearance of blackface was unintentional, as was first reported by Blacklock’s Reporter.
Arbitrator Norm Jesin, vice-chair of the Ontario Ontario Labour Relations Board, found that Surlan did not intend to dress in an offensive manner and did not intend to offend or cause any harm to the school or the community, according to an Aug. 14 arbitration case document….