REVEALED: DEI group received THOUSANDS from Trudeau government prior to leading training that led to Toronto educator's suicide

It has been revealed that the diversity firm linked to the suicide death of former Toronto principal Richard Bilkszto had been awarded tens of thousands of dollars in contracts from the federal government since 2021.

The KOJO Institute and its leader, Kike Ojo-Thompson, have denied any wrongdoing.

KOJO brought in $30,510 for providing Employment and Social Development Canada with "training packages and courses," as well as $25,730 for "other services." For its work with the nation's Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions, which included "diversity and inclusion training sessions," it was awarded $39,956.

Notably, all the contracts were listed as "sole sourced," which means KOJO was deemed the only company capable of providing the desired services.

KOJO has also been hired by countless universities, schools, and corporations to lecture people about their privilege and spread the gospel of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

The organization has been under fire since news broke that Bilkszto took his own life on July 13 after succumbing to the stress of dealing with those who criticized him for supporting equality-based policies over those focused on equity. 

In a lawsuit filed before his death, he noted that during a 2021 workshop, he was bullied and harassed for daring to suggest that Canada was not as racist as the United States. Despite having been left-wing and pro-anti-bias training, his ideas were branded white supremacist, and he was publicly shamed by numerous members of the organization and his colleagues.

Ontario Education Minister Stephen Lecce and the Toronto District School Board have since launched an investigation into the events that led up to Bilkszto's death. In a statement, Kike Ojo-Thompson offered her condolences to his family, but denied that her organization had anything to do with it, and called all the allegations leveled at her "false."
 

"This incident is being weaponized to discredit and suppress the work of everyone committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion," she argued. "While the coverage by right-wing media of this controversy is disappointing and led to our organization and team members receiving threats and vitriol online, we will not be deterred from our work in building a better society for everyone."