An Ontario court has ruled in favour of a teacher whose presentation at a school board meeting was shut down when she raised questions about how some books made it seem “simple” or “cool” to transition genders.
Justice Ramsay on Nov. 23 handed down his ruling on the school board’s quest to throw out a defamation lawsuit Ms. Burjoski filed against the board and former chair, Scott Piatkowski.
“The Human Rights Code does not prohibit public discussion of issues related to transgenderism or minors and transgenderism. It does not prohibit public discussion of anything,” he said.
School Board Blocks Presentation
Ms. Burjoski has shared her story on a website called cancelledteacher.com, which details what happened during the school board meeting.
She said she had been a teacher in the region for 20 years when she attempted to give a presentation questioning some of the books available to students.
She was also expelled from her classroom and became part of a disciplinary investigation for her comments.
“He attributed to me remarks that I did not make, characterized them as hateful, and accused me of violating the Human Rights Code,” Ms. Burjoski said.
“The Board quickly removed the video of the meeting from its website so people could not hear for themselves what I actually said.”
In response, Ms. Burjoski filed a defamation lawsuit, and on Nov. 23 the court dismissed the board’s application to throw out the case, the National Post reported. Ms. Burjoski was also granted $30,000 in costs.
Justice Ramsay said she should be permitted to proceed with her case as the comments made against her were “defamatory.”
“They accused her of breaching the Human Rights Code, questioning the right of trans persons to exist, and engaging in speech that included hate. She did not do any of those things,” the court said.
“The chairman of the board acted with malice or at least, with a reckless disregard for the truth. He had made an embarrassingly erroneous and arbitrary decision to silence a legitimate expression of opinion and he was widely criticized for it. It is not a stretch to infer that, realizing that, he tried to justify himself with the public by assassinating the plaintiff’s character.”
Ms. Burjoski said she suffered trauma as a result of the incident, and decided to retire early. She said she is speaking out to protect other teachers.
Action to Protect Freedom of Speech
Ms. Burjoski has also filed an action against the WRDSB asking the court to overturn the decision to stop her presentation.“The Board and its Chair violated my right to freedom of expression guaranteed by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms,” she said. “I am also asking the court to order the Board to allow me to return to the Trustee’s meeting where I hope to deliver my presentation in full.”
On her website, she said she was originally given 10 minutes for her presentation but was cut off after four minutes.
During her presentation, she said she was concerned about some school library books that dealt with topics such as a 12-year-old finding happiness after undergoing gender transition and a Grade 3 student declaring his “asexual” identity after wondering why he’s “not thinking about naked girls.”
She is represented by Jorge Pineda, a lawyer from the Justice Centre For Constitutional Freedoms who has argued that the WRDSB violated Ms. Burjoski’s charter-protected rights to freedom of expression by cutting her presentation short.
A GoFundMe set up for Ms. Burjoski has raised over $65,000 as of Nov. 25, 2023.
