There are extensive studies on Black student resistance in Ontario’s high schools, however research that focuses on how oppositional behaviour can provide opportunities for change is understudied. To expand the scholarship on Black student resistance, Esther Hayford explores the advocacy and organization related experiences of 20 African high school girls in Ontario through semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions. This Narrative Inquiry will also explore issues of race with a specific focus on anti -Black racism.

Esther Hayford is a PhD Candidate at the Faculty of Social Work, Wilfrid Laurier University. She qualified as a lawyer in Ghana in 1993 and holds an LLM from Queens University in Kingston, Ontario, and an MA in Development studies from York University (Toronto). Esther enjoys working in the community and has worked with community and government agencies, post-secondary institutions, and private law firms. Some of the institutions and agencies she has worked with include the AIDS Alert Ghana, Ghana Law Reform commission, Faculty of Law, University of Ghana and the African and Caribbean Council on HIV/AIDS in Ontario (ACCHO). Her current research focuses on African girls and activism in high schools in Ontario.

Laurier Milton Lecture Series: African Canadian Girls and Activism in Ontario