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Sep 28, 2023

Trustee Mike Ramsay’s legal challenge over school board suspension set for this week

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WATERLOO REGION — A hearing has been set for Tuesday for trustee Mike Ramsay's case against the region's public school board.

Ramsay is challenging the Waterloo Region District School Board's decision to suspend him for three months last year over an alleged breach of its code of conduct.

He will appear at the virtual hearing on Tuesday at the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, Hamilton divisional court.

"My counsel will be asking the court to strike out the board's decision and for the court to make formal declarations that my right to free expression was violated," he said in a statement sent to the Record. "And, that the board's decision was unreasonable and unfair."

Ramsay is not seeking any financial damages.

He is represented by Hatim Kheir, a lawyer with the Calgary-based Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, a legal advocacy organization that is paying for Ramsay's legal fees. It is the same organization representing Carolyn Burjoski in her case against the board on Monday, though the two cases are separate, and she is being represented by different counsel.

The board's decision to end Burjoski's presentation at a Jan. 17, 2022 board meeting will play a central role in Kheir's argument in Ramsay's case.

Burjoski, a retired teacher of English as a second language, says she was "ejected" from a board of trustees meeting on Jan. 17 "for criticizing the age-appropriateness of sexual content in children's books in elementary school libraries."

Ramsay attended the meeting in his role as a trustee.

"Trustee Ramsay challenged the decision, he had the board put it to a vote, and he was outvoted. But it was a decision he was critical of, and he criticized it after the fact over social media by directing people to certain articles," Kheir said.

A complaint was then filed against Ramsay claiming he had violated the board's code of conduct through his social media use. A formal review was conducted by an integrity commissioner, and the board voted and found him in breach of the code, leading to a suspension for three months.

He was banned from attending all trustee committee-of-the-whole meetings, confidential meetings and from receiving confidential materials until Sept. 30, 2022.

"Our argument is that the effect of this was to essentially punish him for having a disagreeing viewpoint and to prevent him from performing his role as a democratically elected official representing the people who chose to vote for him in the election," said Kheir.

He said the suspension was unfair, unreasonable and infringed on his rights of free expression.

None of Ramsay's allegations have been proven in court.

On Tuesday, Kheir will deliver his arguments, the lawyers for the board will deliver theirs, and then Kheir will get an opportunity to respond.

The court can provide a decision on the day of, or it can reserve a decision for a later date.

Tuesday's hearing will be open to the public.

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