Whose 'truth' matters? Problematizing the epistemological underpinnings of social policy research.

Despite many policies produced to mitigate racism and other forms of discrimination in the public education sector, the inability to implement these policies fall short. These policies may appear to address inequities by attempting to meet legal requirements, however, they do not always address the structural power dynamics grounded in white supremacy which continue to perpetuate systemic racism. Drawing on examples from the Ontario public education sector such as employment equity policies, Afrocentric Alternative Schools in the TDSB and the Student Resource Officer program in Toronto schools, I illustrate how positivist inspired "evidence-based" policy processes fail at offering policy solutions for equity issues by ignoring those who do not fall into the purview of the economic and political interests of dominant stakeholders in the policy process. Deploying an anti-racist and anti-colonial framework, I examine the superficial attempts to garner inclusivity through equity policies that continually fail to heal the wounds of exclusion by reproducing multiple band-aid policies rather than formulating a restructuring of public education in the Ontario public education system that will allow equity seeking groups a place at the table. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]