Articles 2025

The article summarizes an interview with Diana Cooke, Director, Children and Youth Unit at the Ontario Ombudsman.

The Government of Ontario recently proposed significant changes for the education sector in Bill 98, the Better Schools and Student Outcomes Act, 2023. This article reviews some of the most significant proposed amendments to the Education Act and other statutes.

While federal bills generally do not impact the operations of provincially regulated school boards, Bill C-27 will require a higher degree of protection for the personal information of minors. This article outlines some of the considerations for school boards if this Bill becomes law.

A recent decision of the Ontario Divisional Court found that it was unconstitutional for a Catholic school board to require that its student trustees be Catholic.

Teachers must behave professionally and respect boundaries in their relationships with students; however, a failure to do so is not necessarily just cause for dismissal. Before dismissal, the school board may be expected to provide guidance on the boundary between being a “caring adult” and inappropriate conduct.

This detailed case summary reviews the Ontario Court of Appeal's decision in Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario v. York Region District School Board. In this groundbreaking decision, the Court of Appeal held that section 8 of the Charter applies to the actions of principals conducting workplace investigations. Further, the Court found that the Board’s investigation violated the teachers’ reasonable expectation of privacy and constituted an unreasonable search under section 8.

Teachers may be disciplined for conduct before they registered with the Ontario College of Teachers if it impacts their suitability as a teacher.

This article discusses two recent arbitration awards considering the appropriate discipline for an educator when a child in their care wanders off school property unsupervised.

The Right to Read inquiry of the Ontario Human Rights Commission found that Ontario's public education system is failing students with reading disabilities, among others, by not using an evidence-based approach to teach children how to read. This article summarizes a number of the important recommendations of the Right to Read report.

A labour arbitrator recently upheld Toronto District School Board's COVID-19 vaccination policy, finding that it did not infringe the Charter and was a reasonable exercise of management rights in response to the pandemic.