Kitchener, Ont., family sues Catholic school board alleging discrimination against 4-year-old boy

A Kitchener, Ont., mother is suing the Waterloo Catholic District School Board (WCDSB), alleging staff and administrators failed to properly care for her four-year-old son and discriminated against him because of his race. 

Grace, whose last name is being withheld to protect the identity of her child, filed the civil suit on June 16, nearly four months after it was publicly revealed police were called to John Sweeney Elementary School to de-escalate an incident involving her child. The child, who was in kindergarten at the time of the incident, is also listed as a plaintiff in the civil suit, with Grace as his litigation guardian. 

The lawsuit seeks $1 million in damages, costs of the legal proceeding and any further relief that may be suggested by the courts. A copy of the lawsuit was obtained by CBC News.

"They victimized my son, they criminalized him, they adultified him … they didn't accept him into their white space," Grace told CBC News.

"They never allowed my child to be a child. They discriminated against him because of his race and his colour. Hopefully they didn't take the child out of him completely."

The lawsuit, filed at the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Kitchener, claims the school board also failed to ensure staff had an understanding of anti-Black racism and could respond to Black students with cultural sensitivity.

It alleges the school board failed to accommodate the child's behavioural needs, implemented learning changes without consent and ignored the family's personal recommendations to help him.

The WCDSB told CBC News it is unable to comment any further on the matter as it will potentially go before the courts. 

None of the allegations in the civil suit or in comments by the mother of the child have been proven in court.

Soon after the four-year-old was enrolled at John Sweeney Elementary School in September 2021, the school accused the child of being "disruptive and destructive," court documents claim.

Grace told CBC News her child's behaviour was "appropriate" for his age. 

"He was just a normal four-year-old," she said.

The civil suit claims the school went ahead with a safety plan for the child, without family approval. The plan isolated the child from his peers and requested he be assessed by an occupational therapist and get a medical assessment. 

Despite her disapproval of the plan, Grace reached out to a child psychologist who said her son was too young to have any "meaningful" results on an assessment.