DEI trainer recorded bullying beloved gay principal who then committed suicide lands ritzy new job

A DEI trainer who falsely accused a beloved school principal of racism before his suicide has landed a new job with a major corporation in Canada. 

Kike Ojo-Thompson was branded abusive by an official government probe after she was found to have bullied and harassed Richard Bilkszto, 60, before he committed suicide over the summer.

The anti-racism professional was recorded mocking Bilkszto, who was openly gay and progressive, as an example of white supremacist resistance after he disagreed with her statement that Canada was more racist than the US. Bilkszto died after suing the Toronto District School Board for emotional distress.

But Thompson has now bragged that she has been hired as a ‘Human Capital Partner’ at Deloitte in Toronto, which provides consulting services to some of the largest corporations and governmental agencies in Canada.

The company’s clients in the US include Boing, Microsoft, Morgan Stanley, Berkshire Hathaway and Metlife.

‘When I was young, I knew I wanted to have an impact on changing the world for the better and as many of you know, I have committed myself to social justice for all, and creating equitable outcomes for workplaces and communities,’ Ojo-Thompson wrote on LinkedIn in September.

‘I am proud to announce that KOJO Institute has joined Deloitte Canada, and I am pleased to take on the role of Partner in Human Capital (Workforce Transformation).

‘I embrace this new opportunity to further revolutionize equity consulting, and together, we will continue to drive transformational change, delivering value in support of our people, clients, and communities.’

Bilkszto, 60, killed himself in July after suing the Toronto District School Board for emotional distress

DailyMail.com has reached out to Deloitte for comment on this story. 

Bilkszto was found dead on July 13 after two years of emotional turmoil stemming from the encounter. His family says he was devastated when Ojo-Thompson turned on him during a session in April 2021 after he challenged her claim that Canada is more racist than the US.

In audio of the session obtained by The Free Press, Bilkszto can be heard saying that maybe Canada was not ‘the bastion of white supremacy’ that Ojo-Thompson had made it out to be.

He pointed out that public schools serving Canada’s poorest students are generally better funded than their equivalents in the United States.

Ojo-Thompson turned on Bilkszto, telling him in front of all of the others gathered: ‘As white people, there’s a whole bunch going on that isn’t your personal experience. It will never be. You will never know it to be so. You will never know it to be so.

‘So your job in this work, as white people, is to believe.’

Ojo-Thompson – who was paid $7,500 an hour for eight hours of seminars – laughed in a subsequent discussion over the challenge made by Bilkszto, who was described as a deeply progressive man hailed for his focus on ‘equity’ at work. 

And she referred to him again in the next session as an example of ‘white supremacist resistance’ in newly-released audio clips which also show her laughing while making an example of him.

Richard Bilkszto  took his own life in Toronto on July 13 after two years of turmoil following an April 2021 encounter at the school where he was principal. He filed an official complaint and won, and had just filed another suit

The late principal’s family say his distress was only heightened when the superintendent of his school district, Sheryl Robinson Petrazzini, further shamed him in a tweet suggesting he was a racist.

The tweet, since deleted, hailed Ojo-Thompson ‘for modeling the discomfort administrators may need to experience in order to disrupt ABR,’ or anti-black racism.

The week after his death, Kike Ojo-Thompson, the diversity trainer, issued a defiant statement which did not apologize for her role in Bilkszto’s death – and even implied that she was the victim.

‘This incident is being weaponized to discredit and suppress the work of everyone committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion,’ she said.

‘We will not be deterred from our work in building a better society for everyone.’

Now, the school board and Ontario’s education minister are investigating Bilkszto’s death and whether the obsession with woke policies may have contributed to it.

Bilkszto, who was gay and single, was said by friends to have devoted his life to teaching, and spent time in a tough majority-black school in Buffalo, New York.

He had recently retired, hoping to travel more, but was convinced to come out of retirement to work as principal of Burnhamthorpe Collegiate Institute in Toronto.

Sheryl Robinson Petrazzini, the executive superintendent of education, thanked Ojo-Thompson for the session which so upset Bilkszto

In April 2021, the school district hired Kike Ojo-Thompson, a diversity trainer in Toronto, to carry out four two-hour sessions for school leaders – with her firm, the KOJO Institute, charging $15,000 for each session, according to The Free Press.

The first session was uneventful, but during the second session Ojo-Thompson claimed that Canada was significantly more racist than the United States.

He disagreed, but no one stood up for him.

After the meeting, Sheryl Robinson Petrazzini, the executive superintendent of education, thanked Ojo-Thompson for enlightening them.

‘When faced with resistance to addressing Anti-Black racism, we can’t remain silent as it reinforces harm to Black students and families,’ Petrazzini wrote.

‘Thank you @KOJOInstitute for modeling the discomfort administrators may need to experience in order to disrupt ABR,’ or anti-black racism.

She has since deleted the tweet.

Friends of Bilkszto said that Petrazzini’s tweet hurt him deeply. 

Bilkszto’s public shaming was compounded at the third session, where Ojo-Thompson said that his comments were a ‘teachable moment’.

‘One of the ways that white supremacy is upheld, protected, reproduced, upkept, defended is through resistance,’ she said.

The 60-year-old veteran teacher had worked for 24 years and still volunteered as a stand-in principal. His family say he was so ‘distressed’ by the disagreement with the anti-racism trainer and what happened afterwards that he took his own life 

She then laughed, and added: ‘I’m so lucky that we got perfect evidence, a wonderful example of resistance that you all got to bear witness to, so we’re going to talk about it, because, I mean, it doesn’t get better than this.’

The day after the third session, Bilkszto filed for sick leave, and missed the fourth and final session.

He then filed a complaint with school officials saying that he’d been harassed.

Ontario’s Workplace Safety and Insurance Board investigated and in August 2021 concluded that Thompson’s behavior was ‘abusive’ and amounted to ‘workplace harassment.’

Bilkszto was awarded seven weeks of lost pay.

But friends said he never got over the humiliation of being labelled a white supremacist, and the confrontation ate away at him.

In April this year, Bilkszto sued the Toronto District School Board, citing Thompson’s ‘defamatory statements’ and the unwillingness of administrators to defend him, despite previously praising him.

‘Bilkszto has suffered and will continue to suffer damage to his character and reputation both personally and professionally,’ the lawsuit states.

‘As well, Bilkszto has been subjected to embarrassment, scandal, ridicule, contempt, and severe emotional distress.’

He killed himself before the case could be concluded.