A school board trustee in the Durham region of Ontario has filed a court application against her board for banning her from future committee meetings after she criticized its recently drafted policies around race, gender, and sexuality.
‘Derogatory’
Stone had criticized the board for using the term “white supremacy” in its draft “Human Rights, Anti-Discrimination and Anti-Racism Policy” during a committee meeting on Oct. 25, 2021. She argued that the term “separates whites from anyone else” and was being seen as “derogatory” by her constituents.According to the draft policy, “systemic discrimination and racism exist in the DDSB and stem from discriminatory and racist ideologies, systems, cultures and the structural dominance of white supremacy, sexism, ableism, heteronormativity, cisnormativity/cisgenderism, cissexism and faithism.”
Stone requested the definition be changed or the term be removed.
In another meeting on Nov. 9, 2021, Stone probed about the meaning and appropriateness of the term “cis-normativity” included in the draft. She asked the board whether the term applies to statements such as “men cannot get pregnant or give birth,” or that “men can’t breastfeed.”
She also addressed the topic of “Privacy and Confidentiality” in the draft relating to a student’s gender identity.
“Trustee Stone was concerned that pursuant to that section, parents would not be informed if their children identified as transgender,” said Stone’s Notice of Application document.
Complaints
The JCCF said Stone’s remarks and questions were not well received by some other trustees and community members, resulting in several complaints launched against her leading to a formal board inquiry.“For her remarks, and for similar statements and questions published on her personal Twitter account, the Board decided that Trustee Stone had breached its code of conduct,” the Justice Centre said.
“The Board has also excluded her from all Board committee meetings until December 31, 2023, effectively prohibiting her from exercising her role as elected trustee.”
Stone had resigned in May 2022 over the controversies, but was re-elected in the fall that same year.
Trustees who complained included Niki Lundquist, who alleged Stone had “undermined confidence in the Board” and had “caused questions to be raised about the Board’s commitment to integrity and its obligation to uphold well-settled human rights principles” when she spoke about her views on free speech on Jan. 24, 2022, the Notice of Application states.
‘Unreasonable Violation’
James Manson, counsel for Stone, says the DDSB cannot “violate” trustees’ freedom of expression or “punish” them for expressing their opinions and asking questions, simply because other trustees may disagree with them.“We contend that the Board’s decision to punish Trustee Stone for bravely doing her job was unreasonable,” said the lawyer.
“Our goal is to have Trustee Stone’s ability to fulfill her elected role as trustee reinstated as soon as possible so that she can continue to fulfill her mandate for the people of Durham Region.”
The Notice of Application states that Stone is asking the court to set DDSB’s decision aside.
She also seeks a declaration that the board’s decision “was made without justification” and amounted to an “unreasonable violation” of her charter-protected freedom of expression.
She is demanding a public apology from the board.
The DDSB’s communications department confirmed to The Epoch Times that the board has received Stone’s application for judicial review related to the decision made regarding her code of conduct.
“The DDSB will be addressing and responding to the application through the Court process,” said the department in a statement.
