Subhead:Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board in Ontario is facing legal heat after punishing an elected parent council member for refusing compelled land acknowledgement speech.#
Despite legal action taken against its decision, the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board is doubling down on punishing one of its parent council members for her refusal to participate in an unsolicited land acknowledgment during a school council meeting on April 9.
X-embed:1912520881319932256
“In my view, the board’s imposition of a land acknowledgment during our school council meetings undermines the democratic process and constitutes a form of compelled speech, which I believe contravenes the Charter of Rights and Freedoms,” Catherine Kronas, an Ancaster High Secondary School parent who was re-elected to serve on the council, stated while virtually attending the meeting.
“There is no school board policy mandating its inclusion,” she said.
“In my opinion, the sentiments implied by the land acknowledgment are political in nature, highly controversial and therefore divisive and inappropriate within a government institution and I respectfully request that my objection be noted in the minutes of this meeting,” she concluded.
Despite the peaceful objection to being compelled to engage in such speech and the meeting continuing as normal thereafter, Kronas was suspended on May 22, nearly a full month after the incident. The board alleges that she “caused harm” and breached a Code of Conduct policy.
