Articles

In April, 2014, the Ontario Human Rights Commission released its Policy on preventing discrimination because of gender identity and gender expression, providing guidance with respect to recent amendments to the Human Rights Code. In this article, the authors provide an outline of the Policy, particularly with respect to the legal responsibilities owed by organizations to prevent, identify and address discrimination based on gender identity and expression.

The interpretation and application of the confidentiality provisions regarding the Ontario Student Record in the Education Act continue to arise in various proceedings and forums, as these two cases demonstrate.

An overview of the recent OBA Education Law and Labour & Employment Law Sections' program, 'Collective Bargaining Update: Trends and Key Issues on the Horizon'.

In Order M0-3031, regarding the York Region District School Board (School Board), the IPC ruled that certain records of School Board trustees were not in the custody or under the control of the School Board and therefore were not governed by access to information provisions of the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.

The Ontario Divisional Court ruled in Erazo et al. v. Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board that, pursuant to the Education Act, certain students of Catholic public schools are entitled to an exemption from some religious activities, such as mass and religious retreats.

The government has re-introduced the Public Sector and MPP Accountability and Transparency Act.

Arbitrator George Surdykowski has rendered a significant award in which he concludes that the Memorandum of Understanding between the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association and the Ontario Government formed part of a school board’s 2012-14 collective agreements with OECTA. This award addresses an outstanding issue about the status of the collective agreements imposed on school boards by the Government for the 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 school years.

Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation comes into force on July 1, 2014, and may significantly affect the way school boards are able to communicate with parents, employees, suppliers and stakeholders.

Bill 135: Ensuring Asthma Friendly Schools aims to expand the prevention, monitoring and training obligations for Ontario school boards with a view to protecting the safety of students with asthma. The debate around Bill 135 suggests that similar obligations could eventually be imposed to cover other chronic medical conditions faced by Ontario students.