Tag: #Law

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Cease and Desist Letters

There are parents who have received a cease and desist letter. I don’t hear this often, but it does happen. Or they will be threatened with being given one.

Here is one example that went public.

Mom threatened with legal action after questioning B.C. principal who’s now accused of misappropriation

2014 letter from school board lawyer warned against ‘defamatory statements’ about Tricia Rooney

CBC News · Posted: Jan 25, 2023 4:12 PM PST | Last Updated: January 25, 2023

Mom threatened with legal action after questioning B.C. principal who’s now accused of misappropriation | CBC News

This parent knew something was wrong, and when she was questioning the spending she was served with a cease and desist letter. Years later, Tricia Rooney is investigated for misappropriating funds.

From the article:

“Last week, Lee’s phone “blew up” with messages from fellow parents when news broke that Rooney, also known as Tricia Low, was accused of misappropriating about $170,000 from Britannia Elementary, where she was principal from 2017 to 2020.

Lee says she felt somewhat vindicated by the news, but she was also angry.

“I have to unpack all the feelings that I have,” she said.

The allegations about misappropriation at Britannia are contained in a notice of claim filed against Rooney earlier this month on behalf of the school board, alleging “conversion, theft and fraud” from the tiny east side school. It includes allegations that she stole donated gift cards intended for families in need.”

One parent whom I am aware of, in another province, was served a cease and desist order because they were on a public platform and they were crying over what was happening with their child. The school district wasn’t aware, but this parent had retained a lawyer for over a year and they were building their case. After the cease and desist order, the lawyer hit them with with something so severe, that they would have begged for a human rights complaint. I thought, oooohhhhh these school district lawyers have made a BIG mistake. They had no idea who they were messing with. It’s a risky move for them to send this to a parent. You are poking the bear.

If you get served a letter like this, I would highly suggest you consult a lawyer.

Depending on what they are wanting you to stop doing, if anything, it may be appropriate to use it in your human rights complaint.

Here is my lawyer referral list. There are paid and free options on this list.

Lawyer Referral – Parent Advocacy Tribunal Help (School Advocacy)

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What do I do now?

It’s been three months since I wrote my Life After K-12 blog. I have been sorting myself out, trying to look at what moving on means and what that is going to look like.

I have declared that this summer I am taking a vacation and reducing my services and social media presence.

Less than 24 hours later, I was cleaning out my office at 5 am. Weeding through old textbooks I no longer need, books I would rather pass on. It was a synaptic neuron trim in physical form. Six bags ready to be donated.

In the process, it sparked a new blog. I’ll post it tomorrow.

I just can’t, for the life of me, seem to be able to shut up.

It seems every time I declare a break, I end up cleaning and clearing, only to start writing more.

People have asked me what my plans are. I can never see myself running for a school trustee position. That is way too peopley for me. Too much attention. Zero interest in participating in a political role. I don’t want to lead an organization either that I am currently not entrenched in, as the membership is. Being on the outskirts of that experience pushes me in another direction. My perspective is different. My nervous system has stabilized.

So now what?

So now I write.

Everyone who knows me well always chuckles when I say I am taking a break. They give me two days.

They aren’t completely wrong. I actually haven’t even lasted two days. I have submitted to and accepted my internal machine that seems to have an unlimited energy source. So why fight it?

Trying to damn the flow seems to exhaust me, and when I put pen to paper, I feel happy and energized. In the groove.

I love writing. It’s solitary. It’s a quiet activity that, when shared, is loud. My kind of loud. It is a process that takes the chaotic party happening in my head and funnels it into something speakable.

And so I write.

Not quite sure what to do with everything… yet. Where I want to carve out the river. But I’ll figure it out. I just need to keep writing. That I know.

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Does a single comment violate the Code?

Staff and parents have filed or are considering filing a human rights complaint because of a comment another employee or educator said to them at work or during an IEP meeting.

The story comes out. Followed by some version of: “I can’t believe they said that to me.”

Does a single comment violate the Code?

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Brito v. Affordable Housing Societies and another, 2017 BCHRT 270

[41]           However, not every negative comment that is connected to a protected characteristic will be discriminatory harassment contrary to the Code. It is certainly undesirable for people to treat each other rudely, disrespectfully, or inappropriately. However, it is not the Tribunal’s purpose to adjudicate disputes other than where a person’s protected characteristic has presented as a barrier in their ability to fully, and with dignity, access an area of life protected by the Code. In performing this function, the Tribunal is cognizant that the disputes brought to it arise between human beings, with all the imperfection that entails. Not every failure to be kind or professional requires state intervention. This includes failures with discriminatory overtones – and therefore highlights a distinction between comments that may be “discriminatory” in the everyday sense of that word, and comments that amount to discrimination, within the meaning and scope of human rights legislation.

[43]           In the analysis of whether negative comments rise to a level of harassment that adversely affects a person in their tenancy, the context is critical. Where conduct occurs during a single incident, or does not otherwise amount to a pattern of conduct, the Tribunal will consider all of the circumstances to determine whether it violates the Code: Hadzic v. Pizza Hut Canada  (c.o.b.Pizza Hut), [1999] B.C.H.R.T.D. No. 44 at paras. 32-33; Pardo v. School District No. 43, 2003 BCHRT 71. Those circumstances include “the involved parties, the context in which the comment was made, whether an apology was offered, and whether or not the recipient of the comment was a member of a group historically discriminated against”: Pardoat para. 12.

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One of the cases listed here is an education case.

Pardo v. School District No. 43, 2003 BCHRT 71

[12]           In my view, all the circumstances must be taken into account when considering whether a single comment could constitute a contravention of the Code.  Without suggesting that this is an exhaustive list, some of the relevant factors would be the egregiousness or virulence of the comment, the nature of the relationship between the involved parties, the context in which the comment was made, whether an apology was offered, and whether or not the recipient of the comment was a member of a group historically discriminated against. 

If you want to research whether you think your single comment would reach the level of discriminatory harassment that created a barrier, you can search for other cases on CanLii. Here are my instructions. I found many cases by entering “single comment” in the DOCUMENT TEXT field.

I highly suggest you research other decisions and see if your situation is similar to or different from the decisions you find. It will help you determine if going this path is worth it to you as a way to resolve this. Resolution often can take many paths, and filing an external complaint is just one of your options.

Hate Speech and Harassment

The tribunal went through a LONG analysis of what is hate speech with this very well-known decision that got a lot of media attention. The School Trustee had to pay &750,000.00 for his ongoing explosions of hate speech.

Chilliwack Teachers’ Association v. Neufeld (No. 10), 2026 BCHRT 49

[120]      The analysis of hate speech is driven by the dual harms it is intended to address: (1) the “grave psychological and social” harms experienced by individual members of the targeted group, and (2) the larger social harms caused by speech which “propagates, within social discourse, premises of inferiority that may gradually desensitize the majority and lay the groundwork for later, broad attacks”: Whatcottat paras. 73-74; Wardat para. 62. This second, social, harm is rooted in the recognition that “the end goal of hate speech is to shift the environment from one where harm against vulnerable groups is not tolerated to one where hate speech has created a place where this is either accepted or a blind eye is turned”: Whatcottat para. 131. This purpose-driven perspective must account for the specific context affecting the targeted group and the types of speech that, by drawing on pre-existing fears or stereotypes, is likely to expose that group to hatred or contempt.

[121]      A finding of hate speech is reserved for extreme and egregious examples of delegitimizing expression, whose harms “cannot be prevented by the discernment and critical judgment of the audience”: Wardat para. 61; Whatcottat para. 46. Section 7(1)(b) of the Code does not protect against “hurt feelings, humiliation or offensiveness”: para. 47. It does not capture speech that is derogatory, false, or discrediting, or which ridicules, belittles or affronts the dignity of a group of people, including through the application of stereotype. Importantly for the purposes of this case, it does not capture speech which debates or speaks out “against the rights or characteristics of vulnerable groups”, unless the speech is made in a manner “which is objectively seen to expose them to hatred and its harmful effects”: Whatcottat para. 145.

[122]      Hate speech exposes its targets to detestation and vilification. It includes “a component of looking down on or denying the worth of the other”: Whatcottat para. 43. Speech that exposes a target group to detestation tends “to inspire enmity and extreme ill-will against them, which goes beyond mere disdain or dislike”: Whatcottat para. 41. It seeks to “abuse, denigrate or delegitimize [the group], to render them lawless, dangerous, unworthy, or unacceptable in the eyes of the audience”. Speech vilifying a group accuses “them of disgusting characteristics, inherent deficiencies or immoral propensities which are too vile in nature to be shared by the person who vilifies”: Whatcottat para. 43.

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For those who are wondering if filing a complaint over a single comment will be dismissed in a dismissal application, I highly suggest you speak to a lawyer.

Here is my lawyer referral list. Some are paid, and some are free.

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Dear Parent/Caregiver,

Here is what I would like to tell every new parent of a disabled/neurodivergent child entering the school system. I learned this the hard way. Hoping to pave a path so it’s easier for those who follow.

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You are going to be entering the school system and advocacy will be required.

How the school system responds to you, as a whole, is not personal. They are not peering into your soul and basing their response on what they see. Even if they really like you, it wont change their response. They will protect themselves no matter what, first.

School districts speak a different language. The language of liability. The language of ableism, racism, and patriarchy. They are assessing you based on risk. How risky of disruption or expensive are you going to be?

There is nothing wrong with you. You haven’t done anything wrong. This is not your fault.

The lens through which they evaluate and come to a conclusion about your child is not your shame to carry. It is theirs.

You are dealing with a colonial system. This is a machine that has been operating for a very long time. The machine thinks it is successful and wants to keep going.

When people gaslight you, try to control you, ignore you, and/or silence you, this is an example of the colonial machine. The machine has different priorities. Stability, predictability, risk-management, union contracts, power and control, etc. If the system were a person, we would describe them as narcissistic using coercive control.

If you are someone who has experienced abuse and trauma, this will be especially triggering.

However you cope with this, it is not your shame to carry.

However you learn to navigate K-12 education, please don’t internalize their behaviour towards you as a reflection of your own value.

How they behave is a reflection of the machine, and it has nothing to do with you.

How the machine grinds and turns the wheels is not a reflection of all who personally works within it. There are fabulous caring people in education. Some people help grease the wheel more than others. Some are completely oblivious to it. Others just think, this is how things work and defend the system. If you are in the school system long enough, you will meet wolves in sheep clothing. Intentional or not.

Being able to identify what is a reflection of the machine, can save your mental health and protect your emotional capacity when you advocate.

This is a chess game. There are rules. Learn to play the chess game and it will help you advance. Get the most of what you can for your child and their education while staying afloat.

There is hope.

You will know when you are not getting what your child is entitled to, where to focus your energy, or when it is time to leave. Knowledge is power.

You belong to a community, whether you have found us yet or not. Your people are out there. There are more people advocating for your child than you may realize. Movement has been occurring. The machine doesn’t want you to recognize those. So, we remind ourselves.

“The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.” – Alice Walker

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More blogs on the school system:

Liability in Education
School Emergencies
Understanding Systemic Change

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This is an Emergency!! Serious School Incidents

Not all education issues are sudden, turn into a panic, flip your life upside down or it’s an emergency that needs to get resolved right now. Some issues are slow and build over time.

This blog is about emergencies. The sudden ones.

If shit hits the fan fast, this is the go-to page.

Some people find my site and contact me because other people are telling them, “You have got to talk to Kim!!” So, if there is a page you want to pass along to another parent in need, here it is.

Emergencies are different territories.

What is the district thinking?

If this is an emergency situation after an incident, you will not be the only one realizing that this is a big deal and it could snowball into something so much worse. Trust me. The district knows too. They are NOT going to want to show it on their face or in their emails that they are aware of how bad this is. At least not until they meet with you. They are going to be curious and wonder:

  • How do you feel?
  • How mad are you?
  • Are you going to be controllable or are you flying off the charts?
  • Do you know your rights?
  • Will you even mention a legal process?
  • Are you going to threaten the media?
  • Will you call the police?
  • Will you be consulting with a lawyer?
  • They will be assessing you – do we think this person has the resources/capacity to make this painful for us?
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They want to get into your head.

Why?

BECAUSE YOUR REACTION WILL TELL THEM EVERYTHING THAT THEY NEED TO DO.

Their goal is to…

  1. Keep you satisfied enough, but not give or do too much.
  2. Keep this internal and as quiet as possible. They want to be able to control it.
  3. Have as little impact on staff as possible. (They have unions to deal with)
  4. Not have any formal complaints be filed. (They want to know how expensive this will get)
  5. If this ends in a settlement, it is very normal to have a settlement agreement include a release and a non-disclosure agreement. (You don’t necessarily have to sign the NDA part.)
    .

Their liability processes have kicked into place. They have notified the School Protection Plan and they are waiting to see if you make a big deal out of this, and if you do, what are you going to do? To read more about how schools operate from a liability framework, read my Liability in Schools page.

They may be straight with you and ask you not to go to the media or file a complaint. They will reassure you that this will be taken care of, and your child will be supported.

They may offer you an external investigation and tell you that this will be investigated. (Their investigation will not be to find the truth and provide you with this information, it will be to reduce their liability.)

You may hear that staff are on a leave.

You will notice that your child is not on their list. They show up buried in #1. Keeping you satisfied. It absolutely kills parents to realize that schools actually aren’t focused on the best interest of your child in these situations; they are focused on themselves. You can use this to get what your child needs.

So, you may find yourself in this horrible situation. You can’t even process what has occurred. You may be at a hospital. You may have MFCD calling you. You could have the police contact you. Your child is traumatized and refusing to go back to school, and you are still in shock trying to process it all. The severity of all of this will differ. The end result is still the same. Trust has been broken and your child is refusing to go back, and you aren’t sure if you can even send them back after this. You have no idea how you are going to manage work when everything has just exploded.

So, what is your action plan in all of this?

I will break this down into themes and then put all of this into a timeline of steps at the end.

Media

I know you are ragging mad right now, but I do encourage you to give yourself 48 hours before calling the media. Some parents have had success in reversing field trip decisions or exposing exclusion. In terms of stories from a “grab the publics attention” kind of stories, those are small potatoes. This emergency situation is so bad, it’s in a different category. A few things to know about the media from experience.

  1. You never know what will take off. If your emergency is shocking, it could spread across the country very fast. You don’t know what will trigger people and all of a sudden you and your child are national news. Think 10 years ahead, will your child want this story in the news about them? (A human rights decision win involving a high school student showed up in over 60 media outlets across Canada and went international)
  2. You never will know exactly what will be written and what parts of your interview the journalist will pull out of your conversation. It will be a surprise, and I always find it very interesting to find out what parts have been selected and what has been left out. You won’t have control over the narrative.
  3. You cannot undo what is written in the media. Once its out there, it can take on a life of its own and you won’t have any control over it. Social media is wild. Years from now, when your child is an adult, they may Google the article and read all the comments, which some are going to be horrific.
    .

You may want to keep this in your back pocket and just know this is a possibility. But please, don’t make this decision when you’re mad. This could be used as leverage. You may feel that society needs to know about this. Finding the right reporter will be important. Please see my IN THE MEDIA page for reporter suggestions. You can also see what kinds of issues parents have taken to the media before. A lot of parents also feel that their issues are newsworthy, only to find out that reporters don’t want to touch the subject. Just because you feel that you can take it the media doesn’t mean the media will want to take it from you. Some subjects they won’t want to touch with a ten-foot pole, and sometimes the current news is just so horrific that it’s bad timing and they don’t think it’s enough of a story. I am aware of a couple of families who were shocked to find out that reporters didn’t want to publish their story.

External Investigator

The Superintendent may tell you they are going to have an External Investigator come and they will investigate everything and look into everything. These external investigators are mostly previous senior district administrators. A lot of them are retired Superintendents etc. A lot of people know each other from previous work and organizations. Some people have found them to be very biased.

Let me be clear.

This investigation is fully for them, and has nothing to do with you. This is for liability reasons. They can also use this as a way to get rid of staff they don’t want. If staff are a liability to them, they have launched into “constructive dismissal” techniques to drive them out or used investigation results to fire them. This is also something they can tell the Board of Education and/or the Ministry of Education that makes them look like they are taking care of things.

Doesn’t mean the investigation will be bad for you and not beneficial, but they are NOT going to investigate and then invite you into a meeting and tell you EVERYTHING that has occurred.

Here are some things you will hear.

  1. They will not be able to tell you anything about the staff, and they will state the reason is for privacy reasons. They won’t tell you what information they found out. They may tell you the staff are on a leave, but beyond that, the information will be VERY little.
  2. They will use this as a way to soothe you. This is the pacifier they will use in hopes you calm down.
  3. They will offer you an interview. (They want to know ALLLL the details, and everything you know and feel. They don’t want any surprises.) This isn’t necessarily bad. Just know that everything you are telling the investigator, you might as well be sitting in front of the Superintendent and their lawyers. But, the good thing about telling them what your child is experiencing is that they can’t claim HINDSIGHT. If they know your child is struggling, they have the responsibility to figure out how to remove the barriers. Meaningful Inquiry.
  4. This process also buys them time and delays the end result. They will tell you they can’t do anything until the investigation is over. The delay they hope will give you time to calm down and you will not be in fight mode. It also gives them time to think and have conversations with people about what on earth they are going to do. They are hoping you will expect less as time goes on.
    .

Something you may want to ask:

  1. When you are done with the investigation, will you consider if new administrator procedures or policy needs to develop to prevent this from happening to someone else?
  2. Will there be training for staff?
  3. Will you be reporting staff to the TRB?
  4. Will you be putting a Letter of Direction in the school employees’ file?
    .

Demand Letter or Filing Complaints

Now this is something you may want to think about.

In addition to the demand letter option, you can always look into filing a lot of complaints, depending on what has happened. To review your options, please see my Overview of the Complaint System. They don’t want you filing complaints. So you can use it.

Think about what you want for your kid. What barriers will they need to get back into school?

  • A new school?
  • A different teacher? Different EA?
  • Moved to a different classroom?
  • More EA supports/accommodations?
  • A plan for bully prevention – a safety person? To keep their cell phone on them?
  • A reintegration plan?
  • Counselling?
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NOW IS YOUR TIME TO ADVOCATE!!

They need to make things right by your child. They will never be able to undo what happened. They can’t just wave their arms around and the shock and trauma is gone. However, they should absolutely not be putting up any barriers to get your child back into school. The statement, “we don’t do that here” should not be coming out of their mouth.

They need to do everything in their power to remove the barriers, or deal with formal complaints.

You can use the complaints as a motivating factor. You may not want to file right away, as if they don’t remove the barriers you will have more to write in your complaint. You have one year to file a human rights complaint. There isn’t a time limit from the Teacher’s Regulation Branch (TRB). You can file a TRB complaint on teachers, Principals, and even the Superintendent. You may want to see how things unfold in the next few months before you file you anything.

You could send a demand letter, outlining everything you want. With a settlement amount. Just know, that you will be signing a release to not file any future complaints and they will want you to sign some version of a non-disclosure agreement/confidentiality agreement. For them this will close and end the issue.

The demand letter could be the fastest route to get you what you want. You may need settlement money to get your child counselling or other professional supports ASAP. You may want specific commitments and promises from the district in a written contract. Human rights complaints, even with fast-tracking, can take a couple of months to get into a mediation meeting.

Demand letters are an option. I know several parents who have been successful. Both public and independent schools. You can have a lawyer send a demand letter, or you can send one yourself.

*** Keep in mind no matter what the incident, it will need to be connected to a protected ground for the human rights complaint.

Contacting a Lawyer

I know meeting with a lawyer sounds like a big deal. It is. I will NEVER forget the moment I walked into a lawyer’s office for a consultation. The office looked like something out of a movie. I was offered 5 different types of water. I didn’t even know 5 types of water existed. Geez, as long as it doesn’t come from the toilet, I am good! There is just something about meeting with a lawyer and talking about your kids’ school that just makes you want to sob and wonder WTF is going on here. What planet am I on???

The money you spend on a lawyer could be sooo worth it in the long run. You are getting legal advice. There aren’t any missing blind spots. They can write up your demand letter or human rights complaint for you. They may think of things or be aware of things that you haven’t even thought about.

They can do the labour that parents find keeps them afloat. You can focus on your kid and the lawyer can deal with the school.

I have a lawyer on the list that I refer out to. I have never met this person. I have never talked to this person in any form of communication. There are no benefits coming to me at all when I make this referral. I have heard such positive feedback from parents that this is the law firm I pass along to everyone who wants a specialized education lawyer referral. There aren’t many who specialize in this field, and he is one of them. Here it is:


Vancouver Law Firm | Kesari Law Corporation

For a list of free legal consultation services, here is my list. Some parents have found pro bono lawyers who are willing to help.

Contacting the Ministry of Education

For public schools – the Ministry typically doesn’t respond to individual issues, but when you have issues that involve a group of children, then they respond. Action happens. They just won’t tell you about it. If nothing else, you leave a paper trail and documentation.

For independent schools – they have an independent investigator at the Ministry of Education. If your emergency reveals issues at the school that harm other kids as well, you may be able to trigger an investigation. If nothing else, you leave a paper trail and documentation.

I encourage people to tell the Ministry and you can notify the Superintendent that you are doing that. They aren’t going to like it. So, you can use that in your favor as well, if you like. Sometimes school districts need a little nudge. Or it can bring you some peace knowing that other people are aware.

Appealing a Decision

Both public and independent schools have appeal processes.

For public schools its called Section 11 under the School Act.

For independent schools, they will have their own process you will need to ask about. However persuasive they may be that they don’t have one, they need to have one, they should have one. The Ministry of Education will tell you to go that route.

Contacting the Board of Education

Each Trustee is responsible for a zone in your district. They are elected as a method of accountability and oversight for the district. Contacting them and letting them know what is going on is something you may want to consider. It will make the district administration sit up straighter when they know the Board is aware.

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ok, so we have now arrived at the timeline.

An emergency happens. Everything explodes. Now what?

Steps to Take

*** Advocacy in emergency situations can be similar to slow-burn situations because we still need to be focusing on our child’s disability-related needs and removing barriers. Children have a right to feel physically and psychologically safe at school. Duty to accommodate still applies.

The first step is going to feel awful, but it is an absolute must to consider.

  1. First and foremost, take care of your kid. (This isn’t the awful part.) Their needs are the priority right now. Have the conversations with the hospital staff, police, MFCD, or anyone else that you need to be having. AND HERE IS THE YUCKY PART. While you are doing this, think documentation. You are going to need evidence that your child felt as horrible as they did. You will want to take pictures of their injuries at their worst. Not day 5 of healing. You may want to take videos of what is transpiring. It may feel like you shouldn’t have your detective hat on while you are trying to take care of your kid, then give the task to someone else who is with you. The more evidence you have, documentation for ALLLL of the processes and interactions with the school, the stronger of a position you will be in to advocate for your kid, for barriers to be removed, and for a possible settlement for them. If you show up to the school and your 7-year-old is in handcuffs. You need to record them screaming.
  2. Reach out for help. Consider contacting a lawyer and ask for an urgent consultation. You need someone, a support person, to just process your own emotions and be able to think about what you need to be doing. Getting a counsellor may be very helpful, AND you will be documenting your own harm, as you may also want to file a human rights complaint on your own behalf. #3 is also at the same time as #2.
  3. Go to the top, immediately. Typically, there is a chain of command you have to climb in order to get to the next person. In these emergency situations. Screw it. Send an email to the Superintendent and Secretary-Treasurer, and ask for communication/meeting as soon as possible. You can cc: the Director of Learning, the District Learning Support person, your child’s principal. Whomever you want. Give them a timeline of 2 days to respond. 24 hours if you want to in some cases. If you don’t get a response, go to the School Board, and the Ministry. The Superintendent will want to speak to the staff with the most direct knowledge of what happened first, before they speak to you. Let them know that this is extremely urgent and time-sensitive. There is a chance that they have already heard about the incident, and they are expecting an email.
  4. When you meet with them, they will be thinking about all the points I mentioned above. How mad are you? Do you know your rights? They will then need to go back and discuss and get back to you. They will be reassuring you that they will take care of this and ask that you don’t do anything yet until you meet again. They will want to keep this internal, controllable and as quiet as possible. You want them to know that what happened is serious and you are not a doormat, without necessarily saying that. You need them to do what they can to support your child. But you don’t want to come off as uncontrollable or unhinged. You still need them. Collaborating with them in the best interest of your child will help you all move on as soon as possible. But if you don’t make a fuss or ask for things, they aren’t going to offer it.
  5. Over the next chunk of time, email them back and express requests as your child needs them as they transition back into school. Be as persistent and consistent as you need to be to get your kids needs met. You have your power of the possibility of formal complaints; they have their own power as they control your child’s education. As much as your instincts are telling you to gut them like a fish, you are so mad, if there is a win-win here for everyone, I would suggest you try to find it. Get your kid what they need and move on in your life. If you are going to sign a settlement, make sure you are happy with it, because once it’s signed, it’s a done deal. There are no do-overs. If they aren’t giving your kid what they need, you have complaint options that will force them to deal with this. (unless you have already signed a release) Some administrators don’t have a lot of experience in this, and they have no idea the lengths a parent will go to for their child, and so many people are propelled forward wanting to make sure there are safeguards in place for other children to not experience something like this either. Sometimes things are just so bad, that parents feel compelled to file complaints and make this public; otherwise, it feels like we are complicit. This is a personal decision and completely dependent on your family and the context of the situation. Do what you need to do for your own peace, either way.
  6. You will want to be fully aware of gathering documentation. My blogs on documentation are here on my blog list.
  7. Also, be aware that depending on what happens, you may be able to file a human rights complaint under Family Status for you as well. For more info on this, here is my Family Status page.
    .

Your Employment

Depending on the level and context of the emergency, some people have been able to take sick days, or some people have taken a leave of absence. When your child refuses to go back to school, all of a sudden, you are left scrambling.

Your employer has the duty to accommodate you too, under Family Status. You need to officially request accommodations from your work. Just don’t quit. If you have concerns about your employment, it may be worth it for you to consult a lawyer. (See referral above).

Sustain your Advocacy

This isn’t going to be easy, and it will probably push you past your comfort zone and up to the limits of your capacity.

In amongst all of the chaos, if you don’t think of yourself and your own needs, you will not be doing anyone, including your child, any favours.

You will need your own support. Ask for help.

Here is my school advocacy help directory list.

Finally, I wish you all the best. I’d love to say that school emergencies are rare and far and few between. I have had enough parents contact me over this topic, both public and independent, that I realized there was a need for this page. If you are someone who is aware of another parent in need, please do share.

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Getting Documents!

Alright, we have seen how the Ministry can “inadvertently” not disclose documents. (wink wink). Yeah right!

Lawyers not disclosing documents and withholding evidence they shouldn’t be, isn’t a new issue AT ALL! They can pull some sneaky shit. This is one area they like to take advantage of, and sometimes it takes a legal process to pry out the evidence. People who engage in litigation for their employment, deal with this issue more than they should. It’s bad, and I don’t want to normalize it. I am just not shocked at all that they had disclosure issues.

Improper conduct complaints have been filed at the BC Human Rights Tribunal (BC HRT) around this issue and I have read decisions when respondents have had to pay costs ($$$) if it discovered during the process of a hearing that documents were not disclosed.

Parents can file a Freedom of Information (FOI) request for documents to their school district requesting information about their child and personal information about themselves as well. If you want an example of how to write this, and have some added information about this process that is good to know, I have a Freedom of Information page. If you look on your district’s website they should have information about it. Know that they will view this as an adversarial move. Just be aware. They don’t like them.

I can tell you right now, you are NOT going to get all the evidence you want through your FOI request alone. It is going to take some time and detective work.

Because schools have risk-management and liability as the captain of their ship for decision making, they are NOT going to just roll over and give you all the evidence you need to be successful against them in a legal process.

You still may get some pretty interesting things in your FOI response package. I have. Some of it has been VERY interesting. They accidently sent copies of emails they sent to their lawyers during one FOI request. Another FOI request gave me an email from the external investigator trying to soothe the staff, saying she had experience with difficult parents. That gave me a good chuckle. Never thought I would be labelled a difficult parent for not wanting innocent children to be hurt. But the GOLD NUGGET evidence I had to get was through the Application process during my human rights complaint.

Let me tell you all about this little adventure.

I submitted an FOI request. What I got back was a lot of documents. They printed them off and shipped them to my house. Around 500 pages. Interesting. Other packages came digitally, so I don’t know why I got paper copies of this one. Other parents have received paper packages sent to their house as well.

I was chunking up the topics and going through everything. Then I put everything back into order. It was then that I realized pages were missing. It would go from 168 and the next page would be 172. ummm. hello. what?

Then there was this one document in particular, a very important email that I was never provided, that was sent to the staff in the school about my child. It was not in the FOI package. BUT. I had an email from the staff member who told me they would be sending this email out, so I knew it had to exist.

When you file an Office of Information Privacy Commissioner (OIPC) complaint, you have to go back to the school district and say, hey, I notice that __________ is missing. Can you recheck your files please and send it to me. When they don’t. Then you can file a complaint. Which I did. By the way, you can file a compliant too if you find the redactions questionable. AND they do push on that. So if they think they can hide stuff and get away with it, they absolutely will. You need be a detective. You need to read everything and look and see if people are talking about meetings, or communicating with people, or sending emails about things that you don’t have notes or copies of. (Also note, the school district will take all the extensions they are allowed to take. They will respond to you late, and make you come to them in hopes you lose it. To exhaust you.)

Now, a complaint with OIPC about missing documents mean you are filing due to an “inadequate search”. Basically, OIPC says, school district can you look more, and the school says, okay fine we did and we couldn’t find it. Then OIPC will come back to you say, they looked and couldn’t find it. OIPC is satisfied. File closed. …..eek…okay then…..

OIPC doesn’t have much teeth with this topic. But I still recommend parents file an OIPC complaint. More work for the district and it forces them to lie to the OIPC. If you ever find out that they weren’t honest, you can go back to the OIPC and re-open the file. If OIPC concludes they were up to no good, you could take that and give it to the Board of Education. Say, hey, your school district is not ethical.

So my file was closed. I did not give up.

I waited….

We reached document disclosure time. The respondents did not provide the email in their disclosure package. I asked them for it. They said they didn’t have it. I told them I was filing an application anyways, which I did. Years of being told they didn’t have it. I never believed them. The form to file an application for documents is Form 7.1 GA 9- tick off the box to order the other party to disclose documents.

Sent in the application and lo and behold. Guess what. (insert eye roll). Along comes the email saying that they found it in someone’s email inbox. BULLSHIT! They couldn’t find that before???? This was an email that was sent YEARS ago. The district’s inbox doesn’t hold that much. I know that because I worked for them. They would have had to dig this up in their delete folder along with everything else they dug up. LIARS. If this email wasn’t disclosed they would have had a very strong defense that my child’s teacher wasn’t aware of their disability which would have been a game changer in their favour. So, this was a huge win for me.

Now about document disclosure in general. Which occurs after an unresolved mediation meeting. If they want to settle with you, you wont reach this stage. The document disclosure the lawyers gave me was friggen ridiculous. They basically try to overwhelm you with many pages of absolutely nothing. I wrote a report on a related issue I was advocating with a group of parents on, and it was 50 pages. They gave me that same report 12 times just connected to different people’s email as an attachment to make their disclosure bulk up. 600 pages of my own writing. Geez, thanks! Their document disclosure wasn’t anything I already had, and they resent me stuff I sent them back to me.

I had to FIGHT for every little piece of evidence that I got. And then when I was getting stuff through the MULITPLE applications I was sending. They were redacting stuff. I didn’t even know if they were allowed to do that or not. So I asked my case manager. They said I could ask to have it removed. So I did. And they were still sending me stuff not fully unredacted. So I had to ask again. I am telling you. Prying evidence out of them will take nothing but sheer persistence. But if they are fighting this hard to keep it, you know it is GOLD. And oh boy!!! Was it ever. Like fall of your chair kind of evidence. I can’t believe staff were putting this stuff in writing. I can tell you the district has since tightened up what they document. For parents who are now struggling with the district not willing to document anything. Sorry folks. I think I had something to do with that. The district learned their lesson.

Another thing I want to tell you about documents. If they keep resending you document packages and shuffling things around with new dates and new subject headings. You can file an improper conduct for that. Keep a list of all of the shady stuff they are doing to try and exhaust you. Wait until you have a bunch of good stuff and then nail them. The form to write an Improper Conduct application is the same as the 7.1 form just tick off the box GA12 – Order another party to pay costs because of their improper conduct.

Lawyers should not be taking advantage of the fact that you are self-representing. But some lawyers will do that. You can also file a complaint against them personally with the Law Society. Here is the Code of Conduct for Lawyers in BC.

Ok, so long story short.

  1. Be pleasantly persistent. Be a cheetah. It is going to take time. Cheetah’s are very very patient. File the complaints you need to file. If you lose your shit in the meantime, they will use it against you and you will go absolutely no where. They can file an improper conduct complaint on you too. Which they would love to do to get the case dismissed. You need to be extremely civil. Here are 5 rules on how to be untouchable. You want them to be the ones you can nail in an improper conduct complaint, if necessary.
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  2. They will not give you everything you need. You are going to need to be a detective. Wait for the right time. File your complaints. You are going to need to hunt for documents very strategically. Unfortunately if often takes the teeth of a legal process to force this evidence out of them.
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  3. If they start playing funky-monkey games with you. Don’t lose your shit. You have options to complain that they are not going to like.
    .

And that my friends is the tale of getting documents.

Hopefully you can use this information to help you all in your search.

Stay strong out there!

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Disability – Related Adverse Impact (Dismissal Application)

School Employee Files Human Rights Complaint

This is an employment case, and the employee is in the school setting. I have only ever written on two other staff employee cases. I don’t focus on this at all, but every once in a while, a case will come along that is very helpful for others to know about. The legal test for employment and human rights can be very specific.

Here are the two other cases:

School Employee
Education Assistant – Employment Human Rights Complaint
A HR Decision for School Employees

This case will now be added in that section as the third one.

Dismissal Application – School Employee

This is a short dismissal application decision. It’s a pretty simple one, and for that reason, this is a great one to highlight some key points.

Misiak v. Board of Education of School District No. 36 (Surrey), 2026 BCHRT 98

[17]           At a hearing, Mr. Misiak would have to establish that he has a disability, that the District treated him adversely, and that the adverse treatment was connected to his physical disability: Moore v. BC (Education),  2012 SCC 61at para. 33. Mr. Misiak is not required to prove the complaint at this time but need only point to some evidence capable of taking the complaint “out of the realm of conjecture”: Berezoutskaiaat para. 24. The threshold to move the complaint forward to a hearing is low.

[18]           The District says there is no evidence that Mr. Misiak has suffered a disability related adverse impact and his compliant has not been taken out of the realm of conjecture. I agree.

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He had an injury to his elbow from 2018 that limited what he could do with his left arm.

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[20]           The materials show WorkSafeBC advised that Mr. Misiak was limited in performing repetitive motion with his left arm, and forceful or sustained gripping with his left hand. The undisputed evidence of the District is that Mr. Misiak was placed in a job that does not require repetitive motions with his left arm or any forceful or sustained gripping. Mr. Misiak has not identified any accommodation that was recommended by WorkSafeBC, or that he requested, that was not implemented.

[19]           ……..The District provided detailed evidence of the recommendations made by WorkSafeBC and how they implemented each recommendation. While Mr. Misiak says in his response that his WorkSafeBC claim was denied and he was not accommodated, the evidence before me shows the District implemented all of the recommendations made by WorkSafeBC.

[22]           Mr. Misiak’s submissions are general complaints about the conduct of members of the health and safety committee at meetings, and the quality of air filters in schools. It is unclear on the materials what equipment Mr. Misiak is saying he had to supply for himself. He says the District took a long time to purchase and install new drill presses for the school’s woodworking program but has not pointed to how this is related to any physical disability he has. Similarly, Mr. Misiak alleges someone stood in front of him during a health and safety meeting and he was unable to respond to questions. Mr. Misiak has not provided any information that links his experience at a meeting to any disability. The District points out that there is no evidence to support Mr. Misiak’s allegation that he was not paid for his work.

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Four points to highlight

* The test to move a complaint past the dismissal stage is LOW….but you still have requirements you must meet.

** You will need to be able to identify your disability-related adverse impact. Not just any adverse impact. It has to pass the discrimination test.

*** You need to point to some kind of evidence that supports what you are claiming.

**** You can have unfair, horrible stuff happen to you, but it doesn’t mean that it is discrimination. There is not going to be legal remedies for all of the negative experiences you have in your life, or for all of the horrible things that people are going to do to you.

You will save yourself a lot of unnecessary pain and deprive the lawyers of their billable hours by understanding what complaint systems can create change and what those systems need from you in order to be successful. There are limitations in all of them, and they are all connected to different legislation. There are also complaint avenues or resolution avenues as an employee that I do not mention in this blog or on my website, as I primarily focus on parents advocating on behalf of their children. Information on complaint system options.

Parents & caregivers, we too have to focus on our kids’ disability-related needs, and how the harm they experience is connected to those needs, to be able to pass the discrimination test. We too, have an education case from the tribunal that has been very clear that not all negative experiences are discrimination.

Discrimination Test

3 questions.

  1. Does your child have a disability?
  2. Did they experience harm?
  3. Was the harm connected to their disability?
    .

X by Y v. Board of Education of School District No. Z, 2024 BCHRT 72

[110] ….I accept that these incidents which X relayed to Y were upsetting to X. I appreciate that the interactions may have fed into X’s general feelings of unease at school, but the fact alone that these events may have happened is not enough, in itself, to establish that X’s disability factored into them. Not all negative experiences are discrimination. Even accepting that these incidents occurred, I did not hear evidence that could establish, on a balance of probabilities, that X’s disability was a factor in the conduct of the adults involved in these interactions.

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The Tribunal Take on Witness Testimony

I find reading human rights decisions FASCINATING!!!

In this decision:

Castro Mosquera v. North Horizon Immigration Consulting Inc., 2026 BCHRT 61

The tribunal member goes into detail about how a tribunal member will interpret witness testimony!

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[15]           For all witness testimony, I start from the presumption that the witness is telling the truth: Hardychuk v. Johnstone, 2012 BCSC 1359 at para. 10. When making findings of fact, I determine which evidence is most plausible based on a balance of probabilities: Mr. S v. Cannae Holdings, 2018 BCHRT 47 at para. 12. When assessing which evidence is most plausible, I consider the credibility and reliability of the witness. I consider factors including the firmness of the witnesses’ memory, whether their evidence changed during cross-examination, whether the evidence seemed unreasonable, impossible, or unlikely, and whether they had a motive to lie: Bradshaw v. Stenner, 2010 BCSC 1398, aff’d 2012 BCCA 296, leave to appeal refused, [2012] S.C.C.A. No. 392 (Q.L.) at para. 186. I also consider whether supporting or contradictory evidence exists, and whether a witness’ evidence is internally and externally consistent: Harder v. Tupas-Singh and another, 2022 BCHRT 50 at para. 6. Overall, I consider whether each witness’s evidence was in “harmony with the preponderance of the probabilities which a practical and informed person would readily recognize as reasonable in that place and in those conditions”: Faryna v. Chorny, 1951 CanLII 252 (BCCA) at para. 11.

[16]           I can accept all, some, or none of a witness’ testimony, and I may attach different weight to different parts of a witness’ testimony: Meldrum v. Astro Ventures., 2013 BCHRT 144 at para. 4; Campbell v. Vancouver Police Board (No. 4), 2019 BCHRT 275 at para. 18.

[17]           Overall, I am satisfied the witnesses testified truthfully to the best of their ability. There were several instances where Ms. Mosquera and Ms. Benkhalti gave conflicting evidence on significant issues. For the most part, I find that the conflicting evidence was the result of the misunderstanding between Ms. Mosquera and Ms. Benkhalti and not because their evidence was not credible or reliable. Further, memories surrounding certain events or conversations had understandably faded and some of the differences between the evidence of Ms. Mosquera and Ms. Benkhalti can be attributed to subjective interpretations and perceptions of the same incident.

*******

This person was self-represented and they wont their case. Even though the discrimination was due to a misunderstanding and it was not intended.

It’s a great reminder that discrimination is not about intent. You will not need to PROVE that they INTENDED to discriminate, just that they did.

Human Rights Code Section 2

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2  Discrimination in contravention of this Code does not require an intention to contravene this Code.

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[8]               For the reasons that follow, I find that North Horizon discriminated – albeit unintentionally – against Ms. Mosquera based on her sex and family status. I also find that North Horizon did not retaliate against her contrary to s. 43 of the Code.

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She is getting over $45,000 in compensation. Click the link above to read the order and read that case in full.

Here is the discrimination test, and the justification test.

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Reducing EA Support Hours = Discrimination

R.B. v. Keewatin-Patricia District School Board, 2013 HRTO 1436

This case is about the school district reducing a student’s Education Assistant (EA) support hours who was doing well with the EA support. The student originally had a full-time EA, and the district cut the time in half. The reduction in support hours led to an increase in “behaviour” that further led to exclusion.

The communication between the parent and the school was difficult, and they were banned from the school. The tribunal found that the district did not do enough to de-escalate the conflict.

The Human Rights Tribunal in Ontario found the school district discriminated. This case is what SOOOOOO many parents experience. It’s a long decision but a worthy one. I feel that many parents can print off this case and connect with what they are experiencing.

Human rights decisions in other provinces are not binding, BUT they are persuasive. So if the district tries to minimize the importance of the decision because it’s in Ontario, don’t believe them. They are just trying to do what they always do. Reduce, minimize, deny, deny. This case is from 2013. This is not “new” that parents advocacy cannot be used against them to justify the school district denying accommodations. Challenging communication does not release them of their legal duty to accommodate children with the disabilities to the point of undue hardship.

Here is another example, as I have outlined in Part 5 – Duty to Facilitate in the Duty to Accommodate series.

L.B. v. Toronto District School Board, 2015 HRTO 1622

[77]        

(c)      School boards have an obligation under the Education Act to provide appropriate special education placements, programs and services to their exceptional students. Parental conduct or lack of parental authority cannot be used as a justification for not meeting an exceptional student’s needs; and

(d)      I agree with the decision in R.B. v. Keewatin-Patricia District School Board, (R.B./Keewatin) 2013 HRTO 1436, an HRTO decision cited by both parties in this case, at para 265, that a parent’s “fierce advocacy” for his or her child must not and cannot prevent a school board from accommodating the child’s needs to the point of undue hardship.

Okay lets get back to the 2013 case R.B v. Keewatin-Patricia District School Board. There is a lot of history with this case and other decisions around it. But for this blog, lets focus on this decision.

The Human Rights Tribunal ordered:

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[281]      The Tribunal orders the following;

a.   Payment by the respondent in the amount of $35,000.00 as monetary compensation for the injury to the applicant’s dignity, feelings and self-respect;

b.   R.B. will return to school in the 2013/2014 school year with a full-time shared EA in the classroom, speech/language support for 30 minutes per week and an appropriate behaviour management plan that has been agreed to by S.F. in consultation with R.B.’s treating specialists.

c.   S.F. is entitled to fully participate in the IPRC review meeting for the 2013/2014 school year and the development of R.B.’s IEP for this year;

d.   The trespass notice and communication ban issued in December 2011 is lifted.

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This is what the complaint alleges in terms of the discrimination test.

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[218]     The applicant’s assertion that he was denied meaningful access to an education can be summarized as follows:

a.   Failure to provide EA support and learning strategies;

b.   Failure to provide appropriate behavioural strategies and to assess R.B.’s academic and behavioural regression in a timely way;

c.   Failure to provide appropriate educational programming during the withdrawal and exclusion.

[219]     In addition, the applicant argues he was reprised against in the following ways:

a.   The reduction of EA support in Grade 2 because of the advocacy of S.F.;

b.   R.B.’s exclusion from school on October 22, 2012;

c.   The communication ban.

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Here are some noteworthy paragraphs to highlight some areas of the decision to read more. There were some other details of the complaint that I haven’t pulled in there. It would just be too long. But this case is something that A LOT of families experience. I truly encourage you to take the time you need to read the case in full.

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[33]        On June 23, 2011, the Vice-Principal advised S.F. that there would be a half-time EA assigned to R.B.’s classroom the next school year at Open Roads Public School (“Open Roads”). Open Roads is a school that amalgamated Riverview and another school. The Vice-Principal advised S.F. that a reduction in Ministry of Education funding had significantly reduced the school’s EA support. She further advised that the school team was confident R.B. would do very well with half-time EA support because of his growth in independence and maturity and the progress he had made in Grade 1.

[98]        On October 22, 2012, R.B. was excluded from school by the school Principal for inappropriate behaviour including swearing, using profanity, spitting, yelling, cutting a child’s sweater, stomping on a child’s leg, throwing material and being non-compliant with his teacher, educational assistant, Vice-Principal and Principal. The Notice of Exclusion stated R.B.’s return to school was conditional upon the completion of a psychological assessment by the respondent’s school psychologist, Dr. Michael Stambrook, and the respondent being confident R.B.’s return would not compromise the physical and mental well-being of R.B. and his classmates.

[99]        During the exclusion, R.B. was provided with instruction from an itinerant teacher three hours per week in the public library. S.F. supplemented this instruction. S.F. developed a good rapport with the itinerant teacher and R.B. made significant academic gains under her instruction. For example, when he was excluded, R.B. was reading at level 2. By February 2013, he was reading at level 7.

[113]     The respondent alleges S.F. made unfounded allegations that R.B. was bullied in Grade 2...

[118]     Based on the respondent’s own evidence, I cannot find that S.F. made unfounded allegations of bullying in R.B.’s Grade 2 school year.

[119]     The respondent asserts that S.F. falsely accused the school of segregating R.B. in Grade 2.

[124]     Based on this evidence, I cannot conclude that S.F. made unfounded allegations of segregation in R.B.’s Grade 2 school year.

[130]     The respondent argues S.F. interfered with the accommodation process when she did not advise the Grade 2 teacher that R.B. was no longer taking medication in response to her inquiries in the fall of 2011, at a time when his behaviour was escalating. The evidence from Dr. Warkentin was R.B. was off medication by the end of October 2011.

[137]     For these reasons I cannot find that S.F.’s failure to disclose the fact that R.B. was no longer taking medication in the fall of 2011 interfered with the school’s ability to accommodate R.B.

[143]     I find that S.F.’s spouse made the statement to the Principal “if you want threatening, I’ll show you fucking threatening”. This statement was a verbal threat. There is no evidence before me that S.F.’s spouse physically threatened the Principal. Although the Principal testified he lunged towards her, the Vice-Principal testified he stepped towards her. Neither witness testified that he made any physical threat. The Principal left the room and the police were called.

[144]     The fact that S.F.’s spouse made this comment cannot be attributed as misconduct on S.F.’s part. Further, there is no connection between the comment and the accommodation process for R.B

[154]     Based on the above evidence, I cannot conclude that S.F.’s conduct prevented the school from accommodating R.B. in Grade 2. Even accepting that her conduct made her relationship with the school staff extremely difficult, there is no evidence that this difficult relationship prevented the school from meeting R.B.’s educational needs in Grade 2. Put simply, there is no evidence to establish a connection between S.F.’s conduct and the accommodation process for R.B.

[248]     During the period of the exclusion, R.B. was provided with instruction from an itinerant teacher for three hours per week in the public library.

Conclusion:

[255]     The applicant has established that he was denied a meaningful education when his EA support was cut in half in Grade 2, when he did not have an appropriate behaviour management plan from Grade 2 onwards, when he was excluded from school in October 2012 without appropriate educational instruction, and when the communication ban denied S.F. the opportunity to meet with R.B.’s teachers and EAs in order to ensure that his needs were met.

[256]     When a student is excluded from school, he is denied an education. No one would suggest that providing a student three hours of instruction per week in a public library, regardless of the effectiveness of that instruction, is an appropriate education. Dr. Stambrook agreed.

ORDER

[281]      The Tribunal orders the following;

a.   Payment by the respondent in the amount of $35,000.00 as monetary compensation for the injury to the applicant’s dignity, feelings and self-respect;

b.   R.B. will return to school in the 2013/2014 school year with a full-time shared EA in the classroom, speech/language support for 30 minutes per week and an appropriate behaviour management plan that has been agreed to by S.F. in consultation with R.B.’s treating specialists.

c.   S.F. is entitled to fully participate in the IPRC review meeting for the 2013/2014 school year and the development of R.B.’s IEP for this year;

d.   The trespass notice and communication ban issued in December 2011 is lifted.

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Another case that was accepted by the BC Human Rights Tribunal when a student was denied an EA for one of their classes, was mentioned in this anonymization decision:

This decision is an anonymization decision, but in the first paragraph it summarizes what the crux of the complaint is about.

The Student (by the parent) v. The School District, 2025 BCHRT 17

[1] In April 2022, the Parent made a complaint against the School District on the Student’s behalf. The complaint alleges that the School District discriminated against the Student regarding its services based on the Student’s mental disability. Specifically, the complaint alleges that the School District failed to accommodate the Student by not providing him with an Education Assistant in one of his classes.

REDUCING EA HOURS THAT LED TO HARM AND A DENIAL OF ACCESSING EDUCATION CAN BE A DISCRIMINATION CLAIM

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Strong Advocacy = Written Authority

School staff have a lot of discretion and power in decision-making related to our children. Not just to their learning but to their socialization. This is given to them by the School Act, other collective agreements, and even human rights decisions uphold their expertise.

At the same time, many of them lack knowledge in education law to fulfil their duties lawfully, and they can easily overstep and make mistakes. This gap in knowledge and a call for more legal training for educators is even written about in education law textbooks. (Education Law in Canada: A Guide for Teachers and Administrators, 2nd Edition. Edited by David C. Young). This book even lacks sufficient knowledge on the Duty to Accommodate, which they admit. This book for 2025, the written content entered was capped at February 2024.

We know that the Human Rights Code supersedes teacher classroom autonomy, but many educators don’t. For some, it is quite the wake-up call when they find this out. Accommodations are required. They don’t get to decide not to provide them because of how they want to run their classroom.

Many of them don’t know the legal obligations around IEPs. They aren’t just words on a page. Many of them are not aware that they can have a Teachers Regulation Branch complaint filed against them if they don’t follow them.

Chances are, if you have read all of my blogs, you will know more about your child’s rights than they will. Which is really a failing for all involved. I don’t think it is fair for teachers to truly not understand what their legal responsibilities are, either. I would feel nervous in that role.

But first, before we dive in: What is written authority?

Written authority is law, policy or some kind of document. Something that is written and acts on behalf of other people, that has power, and people will use it as a decision-making tool. If school staff deny our requests, we always want to ask them something along the lines of: What is the written authority that supports your decision? Basically, says who? Where does it come from? People just can’t just make stuff up.

Staff may feel very confident when making statements. You would swear by their confidence that they are true. Not necessarily. And not that they are intentionally trying to mislead you. Although some people may flat-out lie to you. As I have experienced both.

When they tell us information, especially when it is related to a decision, always ask where that information comes from.

If they tell you that teachers are allowed to _______________________.

Then we can ask them to show us where the written authority is that states they are allowed to do that.

Basically, administrators are very good at spinning stories and making things look very professional. They may legitimately believe what they are saying. We want to cautiously accept what they are saying to us, and always question what they are telling us. We don’t accept vague assertions. How you want to frame your inquiry is up to you. Maybe as a sense of curiosity, and wanting to understand your rights. But you have every right to understand fully where they are coming from, and which written authority they are basing their information on. Sometimes they are correct in what they are telling us, but we also know that the Human Rights Code supersedes policy.

The topic of trust is a layered topic when it comes to education for families with kids with disabilities. We have been hurt over and over again. We know the district operates from a liability lens and they have many obligations connected to staff and the public that go beyond the best interest of our child. We want to believe that they know what they are talking about. But sometimes… honestly…. they just don’t. Or they don’t understand the whole picture.

So what is that zone of trust that we need to enter? Where we can bring ourselves to trust them enought to drop our kids off every day, but also not believe everything they say and be vigilant enough to not assume they are doing everything they can or should for our child?

Ask where that information comes from.

Because you have a lot of written authorities on your side too.

The strongest form of advocacy includes the following: strong documentation, evidence, and written authorities (using law, policy, and other documents created by the school). Follow official internal complaint/advocacy channels. When necessary, file external complaints.

Info to know!

Evidence of Harm
How to Gather Evidence
Email Writing for Schools

Depending on the issue that you are navigating, ground your advocacy in:

  1. Human Rights Law – Duty to Accommodate
  2. School Act & Section 11
  3. Teachers Standards
  4. Students rights
  5. Parents rights
  6. Ministry Policy and Orders
  7. School Board Policy & Administrative Procedures – will be posted on your district’s website
  8. Accessibility Legislation – your district will have its accessibility committee posted on the district website.
  9. Administrative Procedural Fairness (Ombudsperson BC)
    .

Instead of us just taking their word for it, we can ask them to explain

For example: You are telling me they have full autonomy to make discipline decisions. How is the teacher’s discipline decision in line with the Teachers Standard #1?

Or

How has the school’s approach to my child’s IEP development been in line with #4 & #5?

If they have to go in front of the tribunal at the BC Human Rights Tribunal, they will need to provide evidence that they are providing your child with reasonable accommodations. So why not show you this now?

No one anywhere in any profession can just operate in a way or say things that are not grounded in truth, ethics, evidence, or in line with laws and policies. Not nurses, pharmacists, counsellors, car mechanics, engineers, dentists, etc, etc, etc.

We don’t want fluffy conversations that they think they can just float past us and we just accept these without understanding what they are talking about. We don’t accept vague beliefs or opinions. If they are using words that you don’t understand, stop them and ask them to explain. If they state something, we want to know, where is this coming from? Show me.

As you advocate, you will get better and better. You will learn more and more. Your child is getting an education. So are you.

They aren’t breaking you. They are building you. You can take this pile of shit that you are dealing with and turn it into fertilizer.

This stuff isn’t easy. Take it inch by inch. We don’t move mountains in a day. Scream into a pillow and then get to work.

Ask for help!

Here is the school advocacy help directory. These people know their stuff, and they can help you. You don’t need to do this alone. For those who would like to consult with a lawyer, I recommend Kesari Law Corp.