Call it vindictiveness or yet more proof of their lack of accountability but the Waterloo Region District School Board (WRDSB) seems prepared to try any legal means available to them to cancel teacher Carolyn Burjoski for a second time.
The WRDSB and its former chairman, NDPer Scott Piatkowski, have doubled down by appealing the Nov. 22 ruling from Justice James Ramsay of the Ontario Superior Court in which he dismisses their attempts to put an end to Burjoski’s $1.7-million defamation suit against the board.
In response to the board’s anti-SLAPP motion, Ramsay said in the ruling from Nov. 22 that the now retired teacher’s claims have merit and she has a right to free speech.
“What happened here should not happen in a democratic society,” Ramsay wrote. “The chairman of the board (Piatkowski) acted with malice, or at least, with a reckless disregard for the truth.”
Ramsay was referring to Burjoski’s January 2022 presentation – during which she highlighted two highly sexualized books in the board’s elementary school libraries.
Piatkowski shut her down after four minutes and expelled her from the meeting.
She was put on home assignment the next day and threatened to keep quiet if she wanted to keep her retirement benefits.
This was while Piatkowski did the rounds of Kitchener-Waterloo’s friendly media alleging she was “transphobic” and had used “hate speech” contrary to the Human Rights Code at the January 2022 meeting.
Ramsay said in his ruling that Burjoski did not not breach the Human Rights Code or question the right of trans persons to exist.
You’d think that would give the board and Piatkowski pause to reflect on their actions but they appear to have no contrition whatsoever, choosing to use money that is not their own to run out the clock hoping she’ll run out of money.
In her YouTube posting Tuesday, Burjoski said Ramsay’s decision was a “ringing endorsement of free speech” and that she did not engage in “hate speech.”
She said the board is appealing a ruling that clearly defended “the fundamental principles of free expression and open debate in Canada.”
Burjoski, noting the legal battle has been “draining”, said her legal fees have now totalled more than $90,000.
The appeal defense will cost $25,000, she said, while the defamation action will cost $60,000.
She said support from her GoFundMe efforts have so far made her fight possible.
One can only imagine how much the WRDSB has wasted and taken out of classroom needs to fight a teacher they so clearly wronged, in my view.
Considering they are using a pricey downtown Toronto law firm, the bills have to be even higher. But it’s not their money and they appear not to care one bit about what they spend.
Burjoski said the fight must continue because it is all about ensuring educators, parents and citizens have a right to voice concerns “without fear of retribution.”
She said they must make sure voices, especially those that seek to protect children, are not shut down “by those in power.”
