Ontario School Board Replaces Reference to Parents to Be ‘More Inclusive’

A grade six classroom in Scarborough, Ont., in a file photo. The Canadian Press/Nathan Denette

An Ontario school board is changing the word “parent” to “family” or “caregiver” in its policy documents in order to be “more inclusive” and says it’s working on an updated list of lexicon.

Waterloo Region District School Board (WRDSB) trustees voted on the change to four policies during a meeting on Dec. 11.

Policies about such issues as supporting students with medical conditions, improving engagement and communications with families, and fundraising had the terms parents and legal guardians removed and replaced with families and caregivers.

A board policy on extreme temperatures, which had no previous mention of parent or legal guardian, had the terms families and caregivers added.

During the discussion, trustee Cindy Watson questioned the need to change the terms, saying that the words families and caregivers seemed too broad.

“I’m just not sure why we don’t want to say the word parent,” she said.

“I’m quite embarrassed that we don’t want to say parent or even legal guardian.”

Trustee Kathleen Woodcock said they were looking for more inclusive language and that a list of terms and definitions was being developed.

“This lexicon is forthcoming, we just haven’t finished it,” Ms. Woodcock said.

“We’re looking to modernize the language, make it more inclusive, and make sure that all our policies have the same language according to our developing lexicon.”

A question was raised regarding whether the board could make such a change as it conflicted with provincial legislative practice.

“We have not had any concerns utilizing this language as it results in our day-to-day operations,” associate director Graham Shantz responded.

“Families include parents, but not every student is being raised by their parent,” trustee Scott Piatkowski said.

“We need to recognize that there are different kinds of families, and family and caregivers includes traditional parent relationships and it includes other forms of caregivers.”

The Epoch Times reached out to the board and the Ontario minister of education but did not hear back by publication time.

Previous Clashes at WRDSB

It’s not the first time WRDSB trustees have clashed over ideological issues.

In January 2022, the board restricted a presentation by then-teacher Carolyn Burjoski. Ms. Burjoski was sharing concerns over the age-appropriateness of the content of some children’s library books that discuss gender identity and transition.

Ms. Burjoski expressed concern about books available in elementary school libraries that made it “seem simple or even cool [to] take puberty [blockers] or opposite sex hormones,” according to court documents filed in Ms. Burjoski’s lawsuit for judicial review, which was denied by Ontario’s Divisional Court on Nov. 29.

During the meeting, board chair Scott Piatkowski stopped her, saying she may be violating Ontario’s Human Rights Code.

Ms. Burjoski is appealing the court decision.

Trustee Mike Ramsay has also questioned a recent code-of-conduct complaint against him, something he says is driven by a “radical left NDP group of trustees.”

He said the complaint was over something he said in meetings and on a radio talk show years ago.

Mr. Ramsay said there was “no merit to this latest complaint” but that there were some trustees on the board who “simply [refuse] to accept the results of the October 2022 election,” which saw Mr. Ramsay returned to his role as trustee for another term.

Marnie Cathcart contributed to this report.