The Ontario Courtroom of Enchantment has dominated a former instructor can proceed with a defamation lawsuit towards the Waterloo Area District Faculty Board.
Carolyn Burjoski says feedback made by the board chair on the time about her after a January 2022 assembly when she was a delegation have been out of line and damage her popularity.
Burjoski, a former English as a second language instructor, was faraway from the assembly in 2022 after she expressed issues concerning the content material in some elementary college books.
Burjoski gave two examples of books she objected to. The primary had an asexual protagonist, the second had a transgender protagonist.
In the course of the assembly, then chair Scott Piatkowski warned Burjoski he felt her feedback might violate the province’s human rights code. He later ended her presentation, saying the code contains gender id and gender expression as protected grounds.
After the assembly, Piatkowski spoke to native media concerning the delegation and court docket paperwork present he stated Burjoski’s feedback violated the human rights code.
In a single interview, Piatkowski was requested whether or not ending Burjoski’s delegation was the appropriate transfer and he responded: “We’ve a duty as a faculty board to not enable hate into our board conferences, and I am fairly happy that this was the appropriate resolution,” the court docket paperwork present.
$1.75M defamation lawsuit filed
In Might 2022, Burjoski filed a $1.75 million defamation lawsuit towards the varsity board and Piatkowski. The case has been working its manner by means of the court docket since then.
Following her delegation to the board, Burjoski says she was placed on house project, which prevented her from working the ultimate weeks earlier than retirement with “dignity and respect.”
Burjoski’s assertion of declare alleges that within the days following the assembly, she grew to become the centre of an “worldwide information story” the place she was unfairly described as transphobic and discriminatory.
“All of this was the results of [the chair’s] and WRDSB’s conduct and their false and malicious statements,” the assertion of declare says. Burjoski additionally says within the assertion that she later suffered a nervous breakdown.
None of Burjoski’s allegations have been confirmed in court docket.
Case to go to trial
This newest growth within the case was heard on Sept. 11 and a call was launched this week by the Ontario Courtroom of Enchantment.
The choice additionally famous the varsity board eliminated the video of the assembly from YouTube, so individuals have been unable to observe what occurred and listen to Burjoski’s feedback themselves.
As effectively, the court docket awarded Burjoski $15,000 in prices.
In a press release after the choice was launched on Tuesday, Burjoski says she’s “deeply grateful” the court docket “acknowledged the benefit of my case and my proper to defend my popularity.”
In an e mail to , the varsity board stated that “as this matter is presently earlier than the courts, it will not be applicable for us to offer remark.”
The case will subsequent go to trial in Ontario Superior Courtroom.
