Riddle: Who has the final decision-making power?

Here is the riddle.

School districts are the “clients” in human rights complaints. They are the ones we are filing against. We write out their names as being the respondents on complaint forms. They are the ones who show up to the hearing as the client. The secretary-treasurer will.
Typically, clients hire lawyers. They are the ones who provide “instructions” to their lawyers. Lawyers can give them advice, but the clients are the ones who have the final say – decide to accept settlement offers or not.
The School Protection Program (SPP) is the insurance for the school district for human rights complaints. They cover all costs, legal fees and settlement payments all paid for by insurance. (paragraph 2) Chilliwack Teachers’ Association v. Neufeld (No.9), 2025 BCHRT 310
The SPP appoints the lawyers and pays for the legal fees of the lawyers.
The lawyers send their invoices to the SPP to get paid for their work hours by insurance.
So first part of the riddle, who is really the client? The school district or the one who pays the bills?
BUT the SPP will also not agree to pay for their legal fees if a client they are covering for doesn’t accept a reasonable offer. As written in this decision. “within a couple of days I got a call from the insurance company and they said ‘you turned down a very reasonable settlement offer, we’re not going to cover your expenses anymore, you’re on your own.” (paragraph 6 & 7) Chilliwack Teachers’ Association v. Neufeld (No. 8), 2025 BCHRT 64. So clients cannot just decide to run parents into the ground without legal reason – or the insurance wont cover.
So who has the final decision making power? The school districts will rely on the lawyers for their legal assessment of whether it is a reasonable settlement or not, or whether there is grounds to keep going and spend more legal fees than the settlement offer. (Insert eye roll) ** This is where it doesn’t make sense to me that an insurance company would go along with this. I take it when this happens it must mean their cost-risk assessment of people is wrong. They underestimate people.
Insurance company relies on the lawyers for their assessment. They have read ALL the emails, know all the details of the case.
The insurance company doesn’t attend the mediation meetings. So a risk analysis is done by who?
Who profits on having as many billable hours as possible? Answer: Lawyers
Partner status in a law firm is partly based on your ability to bring in clients and increase billable hours. You also benefit personally when the law firm does well, beyond just your salary.
Who personally profits from how much law firms make from legal fees? Answer: Partners in law firms.

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So, who has the final decision making power?

Who contributes their input into the cost-risk analysis of parents?

School districts? – relying on lawyers for their expertise and law analysis and also relying on the SPP for insurance coverage. Doesn’t sound like they are ones with most sway in this decision making process.

Or is the lawyers with partner status? The ones who personally profit from our human rights complaints?

The answer to this riddle is? To a varying degree, all three parties contribute.

I guess if the district just really wanted to settle and have it be over they could or should be able to pull the client card and say, these are my instructions, we want to settle. The lawyers, in theory, would need to do what they are instructed. There isn’t anyone from SPP that shows up to a mediation meeting.

My money is on the ones with the most sway – the lawyers. The Partners. The senior lawyers on the case. The ones who personally profit from the most billable hours.

Anyone else see the conflict here?

OH, and apparently the only ones keeping track of how much legal fees cost is the insurance company and the law firm. Not the school district and not the Ministry of Education.

Anyone else see the additional conflict here?

January 9, 2026January 29, 2026

Liability in Education

One aspect of education that was really hard for me to swallow and accept is the concept of liability and education operating as a business. They almost broke my heart over this. They make a lot of decisions based on liability. It’s depressing and sad really. Like seriously….the kids aren’t the priority?? (I was so innocent and trusting when my kids started school.)

They don’t make their decisions by prioritizing “doing the right thing”. This is about money. It’s about insurance.

If you ask them for an investigation into an incident. They will NOT try to find the truth and provide this information to you. They will be conducting their investigation it in a way that reduces their liability. They will hide needles in haystacks. Everything is very performative. They make themselves look busy for you, but nothing leads to any substance. They are experts at this. They do this over and over again. They have this down to a well-oiled machine. (Staff – this is for you too regarding your bullying/harassment complaints. Look for the signs!)

If you want to meet with certain people and they deny you that opportunity to do so, they are saying NO to you because it is too risky and they are concerned it might increase their liability. Depends on what you are dealing with, some situations staff really mess up – this isn’t your typical ignore IEP stuff, they will block you from talking to certain people. They don’t want this person to be on a future witness list at the tribunal. As soon as they engage with you through email or conversation, you could potentially make them a witness. They protect certain people.

They will not give you everything you want in your Freedom of Information request. You will need to file OIPC complaints or application for documents through the human rights process. They certainly will not just lay out all of the evidence to you because you asked for it. They will never provide you documentation that could possibly be used against them in the future. If you are just corresponding with them through email and not a complaint system, there is a very high possibility they will just ignore you.

If you want to have a conversation with them to figure out what on earth happened at school that lead to XYZ. You will not be provided with any information that could harm them later in a tribunal or court. They protect their staff. No government service or private company will ever just provide you the evidence you need to nail them. If you are getting evidence it is because you are prying it out of their cold hands.

We place so much incredible trust in these people. Our children are in their care 5 days a week. This is their present childhood and their future. We want to think that they have their best interest at heart. Teachers are not walking around with a liability lens, but the school administration absolutely are. And so is everyone above them.

This is what drives parents and caregivers up the wall. School admin will be vague, they will lie, they divert and cast blame on your child and you. This is why getting accountability is a fight. But certainly not impossible.

Upper management are constantly assessing you through a cost-risk lens. They have a team of lawyers who are a phone call and email away.

If you are stirring up shit all the way to the top, if they are concerned about you, they have probably already engaged their lawyers. Lawyers are involved way earlier than you will ever expect. And you are getting gaslit and manipulated for a reason. None of this stuff is by accident. They don’t just whoopsie lie to you.

The good news is. And there is good news.

Teach them what your currency is. Give my kids the supports they need and I wont be a risk to you. When they do give your kid the supports they need, they are not doing this because it makes them feel good. Well….maybe some people. But for the higher ups who don’t see your child every day and wouldn’t be able to pick them out of a line up. They are doing this because it is part of their job to reduce the schools liability. They are always considering their damage period. It even states that in the School Act, 95(3)(b) that school staff may need to pay the legal costs if someone sues the school board (human rights complaint) and the school employee has been seriously careless or reckless in how they brought this on. If what they did obviously brought on the legal fees, like a hearing, they could be forced to pay. No employee wants to be in that position to pay for hundreds of thousands of dollars for a hearing. They will shut their mouths. They will hide evidence. No one wants to lose their house. Cost-risk analysis.

We need to be clear. Give my kids their supports and I will be less of a risk.

Don’t give me what my kid needs, and I will become very costly. Both financially, and a drain on the capacity of your staff.

We need to learn to speak their language without being obvious about it.

They don’t really believe the words you use. The threats you make. It just rolls off their back. They get threaten by parents ALLLLLL the time. What RARELY happens, is action. It takes a lot for parents to file complaints. And when they do, you jump into another category in their minds. If you could send them subliminal messages to pick up, you would want to tell them, “I AM EXPENSIVE”. They aren’t listening to your words as much as they are paying attention to YOUR BEHAVOIUR. That! They believe.

You don’t need to kill a fly with a house. You don’t want to seem so ridged that you are not workable. If they think you have gone to far to the dark side (so irate) unable to return and have any collaboration with, their goal will be based on liability of course, and you will be way too expensive. They will do everything in their power to just try to get you to leave.

It’s a fine line we walk.

Using human rights language is a red flag to them. It lets them know, don’t fuck with me. I know my shit. Start off slowly with key words. (Disability-related needs, equitable education, accommodation request). Add due dates for email responses. Escalate to the next level if they don’t respond in time. Communicate to them that you are professional, you will be able to sustain their poking and little games they play, and that you are not going anywhere. Show them by your behaviour and quality emails that you know your advocacy stuff. This is their language. Engage the cost-risk analysis. Being persistent and consistent alerts them.

To school administration, your child is a customer accessing their service. This is a business. Your child is potentially a risk and so are you. Employees have duties to perform and they don’t want risky shit-disturbing-employees either. Employees have a fiduciary duty to their employer. Staff – you do not want to be on the radar of the district. When you are seen as a risky employee they will engage in constructive dismissal techniques. They want to show you who is in charge. They will move you. They will change what grades you are teaching. Constantly. Once all of their liability concerns are addressed, then they seek to fulfill their duty towards the service they need to provide. An education. Within their constraints for all stakeholders, including their duties towards staff, work safe, insurance, the general public, etc.

People talk about advocacy feeling like it is a full-time job, and that this is work. It is work. It does feel like a separate profession with its own skill set. This is not just some social hobby playtime thing that parents do when we are bored or have extra time on our hands. We make time. This is serious shit. We need to learn. We need to grow. We need to get good at this stuff. For people who are new to education advocacy, this blog is probably going to feel pretty yucky to some people. I am so sorry for that. I wish I could protect you, but not talking about the truth is really not going to help you. You’ll just come out of school meetings all confused and probably blame yourself thinking you have done something wrong. No matter how they feel about you, they will not be able to be in a position where they will be allowed to make emotional decisions. It’s not you. It’s not personal. It doesn’t matter who you are. They just want to know if they can control you. It’s about liability. It’s about money and protecting their senior staff first, then shit rolls downhill in education. This is business. Period. And it takes a coordinated effort and a roll out plan. The Ministry isn’t even tracking money being spend on human rights complaints. This is all under their radar.

Show them that you can be expensive. Speak their cost-risk analysis language.

Rights-based advocacy is your key. Learn it. Know it. Breathe it.

Decreasing their liability is their priority. Then comes everything else.

This message will self destruct in 5 seconds.

EDIT TO ADD: Jan 29, 2026

School Protection Program

A human rights decision was posted today referencing the School Protection Program (SPP)

[2] The School Protection Program [SPP] is an insurance program that provides school districts protection against liability imposed by law for damages to third parties, and all costs and expenses incurred in defense of such claims. The SPP engaged Mr. Neufeld’s previous legal counsel to defend Mr. Neufeld in response to the complaint. On February 26, 2024, Mr. Neufeld’s previous legal counsel withdrew their representation of Mr. Neufeld. Mr. Neufeld was provided with access to his previous legal counsel’s file [Legal File] and he proceeded to publish or permit to be published the contents of that file online.

https://www.canlii.org/…/2025bchrt310/2025bchrt310.html

(Interesting decision – and what the SPP was wanting to hide from the public is also very interesting…. https://www.canlii.org/…/2025/2025bchrt64/2025bchrt64.html

So, naturally, it did push me to do some research. When I tell people that lawyers are involved WAY earlier than they suspect, here is the confirmation of that.

See page 10

Schools need to notify SPP immediately of any chance of a potential claim could occur.

Including:

“An allegation of discrimination is made or a claim is threatened for emotional distress, shock, or mental suffering;”

“Advise SPP immediately if legal documents are served (i.e. a Notice of Civil Claim) or if any correspondence is received from the Human Rights Tribunal (i.e. a Human Rights Complaint)”

“There is any indication that a claim may be made. For example, a demand for compensation is received, there is an indication that a person has retained a lawyer, or a legal action is threatened;”

They are instructed to report immediately and “Steps should be taken to secure and preserve any evidence, equipment or machinery involved in the incident. Call SPP.”

Here is the administrators handbook:

https://3cd219fb-e7d2-4f78-a55e-4dec88dd68e5.filesusr.com…

December 15, 2025August 11, 2026

Mediation through the BC Human Rights Tribunal

“Without Prejudice”

At any time, a settlement can occur during the human rights process. The BC HRT website also states that you can request a mediation meeting at any time. Even if you have already had one.

Some people file a human rights complaint and then, soon after, send a demand letter. Even before their complaint has been accepted. Sometimes, if you tell the school that you filed a human rights complaint, they try and make things right. They offer support in exchange for a withdrawal. Which, hey, if your kid gets what they need, success! If the supports leave in the future, file another complaint. Or ride it out. The complaint is going to last a long time, and your child can benefit from that. They may provide support to limit the damage period. They know they will have to be prepared to provide evidence that they are providing reasonable accommodations.

At any time, you can send a settlement offer through email, titled “Without prejudice” at the top. Doesn’t matter where you are in the process. You can search on the internet for examples of settlement offers, but really, it doesn’t need to be anything fancy. There are many pages on the BC Human Rights Tribunal Website to read about settlement.

At the beginning of your complaint process, once it’s been accepted, the tribunal will automatically set up a mediation meeting with a mediator. If both parties have legal representation, they are encouraged to do it on their own. But mediation meetings do sometimes fail, and settlement can still occur after.

Here is a tip **** take a look to see who is attending the mediation. If it is the secretary-treasurer, then that is a good sign they are taking it seriously. They have the authority to agree to settlement amounts. If it’s your kids’ principal only that shows up, that may not be a good sign. They may be using the mediation meeting to gather information without any intention of settling with you. Or maybe they want to provide you the emotional opportunity to resolve your issues and offer a settlement later, hoping you will be less mad and accept less. It’s all strategy. But take a look at who is at the table. If it’s not senior administration; there may be something else here at play, not settlement.

Sometimes settlements happen a couple of weeks before a hearing. At the last case conference before the hearing, the tribunal will encourage both parties to try again with a mediator and organize the mediation meeting.

Some people settle days before a hearing. Settlement can even occur during a hearing. Quite a sizeable chunk of people settle after a hearing, after everyone’s cards have been shown.

During the mediation meeting, they are going to want to push you and see where your final line is. They will keep pushing you until you absolutely refuse to budge. That’s when they know they have gone far enough. There is risk when they do this, as they never know when you will snap and suddenly refuse to mediate at all and want your hearing.

At some point during the process, not even necessarily during a mediation meeting, parents are sometimes approached by the respondents and asked, what do you feel your child needs in order to be successful? They look at offering them another opportunity to come back to school with more support. This may be appealing to you and mitigate the harm your child has already experienced.

Settlement Amount

If you are fighting for a monetary settlement amount, the amount you are fighting for is for your kid. This is money that will be held in trust until they are 19. You and/or they can access this money for them. For speech therapy, or counselling, etc. If they want something, and if you agree, they can request portions of it for something they want/need. If you can get your kid back into school with the support they need to be successful, this is also a benefit to them. Getting them the support they need can be way more valuable than any dollar amount you could end up with for them.

If you are seeking compensation from your loss of work, or counselling appointments you have had to pay for, you need to file your own complaint and have your own mediation meeting. Which you can now do. File under Family Status. To read more about this, here is the adding yourself to your child’s complaint page.

Here is a blog on settlement amounts. How much can you ask for? You will need to come prepared.

In the blog on settlement amounts, you will see how to read case law and apply it to your case. The most recent and up-to-date compensation from the tribunal was $5,000 for 46 days, and that was for 1 high school class out of the 8 classes. The lawyers are going to be analyzing how your case may be similar or different to this case and where you are along the line of what is legally reasonable. This case was a marked improvement from the older cases. In settlements, you can ask for more than what the tribunal will award, but if you are really outside of the lane of what the lawyers will find reasonable, you are going to need to fight for it. Which is possible; just be ready to put some serious time into this and you will need to be making a lof of applications and making this really expensive for them to wait you out. They are performing a cost-risk assessment on you. It’s an insurance payout decision. The School Protection Plan will be the one paying your settlement amount, not the district. To read more on this topic, I offer two pages. Liability in Education & School Protection Program – School Districts – Lawyers: The Three Musketeers.

If you want to fight for a higher amount than what the lawyers feel is legally reasonable, you may need to get really expensive and cost them more. Which won’t be hard; lawyers are very expensive. That will mean filing a bunch of applications and keeping them really busy during document disclosure. Which will most likely be very legitimate, as it is unlikely they will give you the documents you will need. You are going to need to become a detective and figure out what is missing and start making applications. (Form 7.1) You could apply to have your child’s name anonymized, but name the school district. For more information on missing documents, read Improper Conduct – Hiding Disclosure. Document disclosure could last a while. You will have, and they will have, an ongoing obligation to disclose. You’ll also most likely need to be hearing ready. They may be more interested in a settlement right before a hearing. It will all depend in how they assess their cost-risk with you.

I just encourage parents to be open to various ways of obtaining a benefit for their child and other children. Policies can come out of settlements, changes in practice, etc. For most parents, the whole point of filing a human rights complaint is for their child, and they don’t want whatever they have experienced to happen to someone else. You can be creative. BUT, I highly suggest you consider getting something of a monetary amount. Even a couple of thousand dollars can go towards counselling, which may be very helpful. Some of the creative resolutions won’t be held up by a court if they don’t fulfill their commitment, but a monetary amount will be.

There have been cases where they have tried to wiggle out of the creative mediation agreements, or given the bare minimum, but still legally fit the terms of the agreement. That’s why I say, if you get at least some monetary amount, you have something.

If you want a hearing instead of a settlement, I get it. I certainly won’t be the person to try and talk you out of it.

As always, I encourage you to seek legal advice when going through a settlement and having a lawyer review your settlement agreement.

The tribunal will provide a mediator. They are not there for YOU, only. They are trying to bring the parties together and will use their own bag of tricks to make that happen. They’ll be pressuring both sides to meet in the middle. I do want you to go into these with your eyes wide open. Not everyone has had a positive experience with the mediators. They say they are trauma-informed. That is not everyone’s experience.

Settlement talks don’t need to end just because you ran out of time for your mediation meeting day. You can keep the conversation going. Quite often they do continue. It all depends. A lawyers assessment of your case may give you the confidence to know how hard to push.

The BC HRT Website has a lot of pages and links on settlement and mediation topics.

Please do your research. Some parents hire a lawyer for this step of their process. You can also bring a support person with you who is not a lawyer, just for emotional support so you aren’t doing this alone.

Non-Disclosure Agreements

This is a topic that will come up that you will need to think about. The school district’s lawyers are going to want you to sign one and a release. The point of a settlement is for the matter to be closed for both parties. However, I highly suggest you think long and hard about this.

Here is a blog with a link to a video produced by lawyers on the topic of NDAs. Please research this topic. Once you sign it, there is no going back.