Free Speech Defended Over School Transgenderism

"What happened here should not happen in a democratic society. The Human Rights Code does not prohibit public discussion of issues related to transgenderism or minors and transgenderism. It does not prohibit public discussion of anything." 

"They [school board] accused her of breaching the Human Rights Code, questioning the right of trans persons to exist and engaging in speech that included hate. She did not do any of those things."

"The chairman of the board acted with malice or at least, with a reckless disregard for the truth. He had made an embarrassingly erroneous and arbitrary decision to silence a legitimate expression of opinion and he was widely criticized for it. It is not a stretch to infer that, realizing that, he tried to justify himself with the public by assassinating the plaintiff's character."

"I find it regrettable that the defendant who is trying to shut down debate is an arm of the government. Regard for the historical and present plight of the transgendered ... does not negate section 2(b) of the Charter."

Ontario Superior Court Justice James Ramsay

Epoch Times

 

The Waterloo Region District School Board sought to have former teacher Carolyn Burjoski's defamation lawsuit against the board and its former chair, Scott Piatkowski, thrown out. Justice James Ramsay was rather less than impressed with their argument which led him to rule for Ms. Burjoski who was summarily ousted from a board meeting on January 17, 2022 for her insistence on her right and personal obligation to speak to an issue the board had no interest in hearing, but was of great societal moment.

During the board meeting she initiated a discussion of school library  publications, available to children from kindergarten to Grade 6. She just began pursuing her point that much of the printed material now in school libraries made it appear simple and "cool" to medically transition to another gender, when the board chair Piatkowski cut her presentation off. The event caused quite a stir, not only locally, but there were interested reports on the incident in the international press.

This seasoned and concerned teacher was by no means the first individual to voice similar concerns. Concerns which have become controversial, opposed by most advocates of transgender rights. Leading figures in the transgender movement itself have expressed concern that gender-dysphoric young people on occasion are too aggressively ushered toward medical transition.

The board chair, Piatkowski, explained his position, that Burjoski's comments were transphobic, and "questioned the right to exist" of trans people. He therefore had no choice but to expel the teacher from the meeting. Burjoski, he said was "disrespectful" toward transgender people and "not promoting healthy debate" at the meeting. The recording of the meeting which was a normal public session of elected officials, was taken down and the board persuaded YouTube to remove another copy of the video.

 

Carolyn Burjoski, who had over twenty years of experience as an English-as-a-second-language teacher, specializing in teaching immigrant children, was then served with a "stay-at-home order", and informed she was not to communicate with colleagues or students. An episode in her long career that propelled her into voluntary early retirement after having been hospitalized for extreme anxiety.

She then launched a defamation lawsuit which Justice Ramsay responded to by dismissing the bid, ordering the board to pay Burjoski $30,000 in costs. Her claims had merit and her lawsuit should be permitted to proceed, since the comments made against her were "defamatory". When the board decided to conduct a system-wide removal of books it considered "harmful" comprised of old children's literary classics, she had commented against the move.

The "affirmation" approach to children identifying as transgender now in wide use, has raised concerns elsewhere as well. Two psychologists in the transgender medical community, one a trans woman, had pointed out sloppy and dangerous assessments of young people presenting as trans, deploring the overly hasty resort to hormone treatment. Burjoski has filed a separate legal challenge of the decision to stop her presentation and now awaits a verdict in that effort.

Retired teacher Carolyn Burjoski launched a defamation lawsuit against the Waterloo Region District School Board and former chair Scott Piatkowski. Last week, a Kitchener, Ont., judge ruled the case can carry on after lawyers for the school board and Piatkowski put forward a motion to have the case dismissed. (Carolyn Burjoski/YouTube)

"It is a significant victory and vindication, not just for me, but for everyone who dares to voice their valid concerns publicly."

"I hope this decision sends a strong message to school boards that the weaponization of human rights codes against concerned citizens is an undemocratic abuse of the code."

(Now-retired) teacher Carolyn Burjoski