Listening to Black youth in Franco-Ontarian communities

Elie Ndala was six years old when his family fled a civil war in their home country and landed in a refugee camp. When he and his parents finally immigrated to Canada, he recalls early struggles trying to ‘fit in’ in a new country and an unfamiliar culture. These lived experiences forged a profound interest in learning about identity construction and inclusion, eventually forming the basis for his doctoral research in the Faculty of Education.

As part of the Scholars in Education series, we spoke with about his research with Black youth in francophone minority contexts and his focus on improving equity and inclusion initiatives in schools. His work is funded in part by a scholarship from the

Tell us about your academic journey.

I left the Democratic Republic of the Congo and came to Canada as a war refugee just before starting elementary school in Montreal. I then spent all my school years in one Francophone community or another. Being uprooted instilled in me the conviction that education could give meaning to my experience and fuel my natural curiosity. After getting my bachelor’s in education from the Université de Moncton, I explored several different sides of education by working as a teacher, a manager of bilingualism training camps, and an education consultant.

Throughout my career, I’ve often been struck by how rare it is to see racialized men in education and how much good I did for some students just by being present — they looked at me and saw themselves. With immigration making classrooms more and more diverse, I felt the need to get a deeper understanding of these dynamics. This is what motivated me to pursue graduate studies at the Faculty of Education, where I’m currently a doctoral candidate. I wanted to make a significant contribution to ongoing conversations about education in a diverse society.

What is the focus of your research?

My project explores how Black students in Franco-Ontarian communities negotiate and affirm their identities. Ontario welcomes the greatest number of Black immigrants. They come from all sorts of ethnic backgrounds, and their average age is generally younger than that of the rest of the population. After the surge of social justice movements following the death of George Floyd, there’s been more interest in the experiences of Black students. The Government of Ontario even announced it was incorporating new mandatory lessons on Black history in Canada into its curriculum.

That said, few studies provide up-to-date insight into the current experiences of Black youth in Franco-Ontarian communities, and on how equity and inclusion policies interact with the mandate of supporting Francophone language and culture.

I’m conducting an ethnographic case