Public School Board Trustee Banned From Meetings, Says Move Meant to ‘Silence’ Him

Waterloo Region District School Board trustee Mike Ramsay. Handout

An Ontario school board trustee who has often taken opposing views to some other board members on issues such as critical race theory and free speech has been barred from attending future board meetings for reasons not disclosed to the public.

Mike Ramsay, a six-term trustee from the Waterloo Region District School Board (WRDSB), was banned from participating in several meetings and sittings until this fall after fellow trustees voted 6-3 in favour of a motion that he had breached the trustee code of conduct.

The alleged breach stems from a complaint filed in late February.

A statement issued by WRDSB on June 7 said trustees met in a closed session the previous evening to discuss a confidential report from its integrity commissioner with respect to the complaint, prior to conducting the vote in a public session that same evening.

WRSDB did not disclose who the complainant is and what the complaint is about, other than stating they are not allowed to do so under the Education Act.

“As the report was a part of the private in-camera session, it cannot be shared publicly as per the Act,” the statement said.

Ramsay said in a statement posted on Twitter on June 6 that the decision has to do with his “sharing information from Journalists which the complainant considers demeaning and disparaging.”

Ramsay publically criticized board chair Scott Piatkowski earlier this year for shutting down debate about the content in some children’s books on gender transition in elementary libraries and has been a vocal opponent on issues such as teaching critical race theory in schools and stopping in-person learning during the pandemic.

The board of trustees noted that the report from the integrity commissioner “does not make recommendations,” as it only serves as a “finding of facts.”

“Per Board Policy G201, the Board of Trustees are responsible to determine whether the Code of Conduct has been breached and, if so, whether any of the sanctions available to Trustees will be imposed,” said the WRSDB statement.

Ramsay received a censure from his fellow trustees and was banned from all committee-of-the-whole meetings until Sept. 30.

He is also not allowed to attend an upcoming board meeting on June 27, as well as being barred from attending all in-camera meetings and from receiving in-camera materials until Sept. 30.

Ramsay said the censure was an attempt to “silence” him for holding views different from the board’s majority.

“They pretend to advocate about diversity, inclusion and equity. But the irony of all of this is that when a Black person disagrees with them, they’re quick to put me in my place,” he said in an interview with The Record, reported on June 7.

“It didn’t matter what the report would have said from the integrity commissioner. They had their minds made up that this is a way to silence me and I think they’re wrong.”

Piatkowski said the matter was about “public accountability.”

“As public officials, school board trustees are duty bound to be accountable to the public and the WRDSB Code of Conduct is our tool to ensure public accountability,” he said in the WRSDB statement.

Ramsay said the complaint and report should be open to public scrutiny.

“I asked for the complaint and the report to be released so that the public can judge for themselves. They refused, claiming it was for my protection,” he said on Twitter on June 6.

“I don’t need their false protection. Waterloo Region residents have my back.”

More than 10,000 people voted for Ramsay in the 2018 election. He is now in his sixth term representing Kitchener.