Waterloo regional school board to hear from community after teacher expelled for stand on LGBTQ+ books
CBC
Elected trustees of the Waterloo Region District School Board will hear from at least half a dozen community members Monday night who plan to speak on the value of LGBTQ+ books in local schools.
The meeting comes a week after a teacher making a delegation to the same group of trustees was told to end her presentation early. There were concerns the teacher's remarks were violating the Ontario Human Rights Code, which provides protections based on gender identity or gender expression.
Carolyn Burjoski's presentation on Jan. 17 was about the school board's library review process.
The board is looking into how new books are introduced and old books are pulled from local schools.
Burjoski said a case could be made that there were books in the public school library system that could be considered misleading.
She also said she felt some of the books now available to students are inappropriate for young readers and gave two examples:
During her presentation, Burjoski was stopped by Waterloo Region District School Board chair Scott Piatkowski, and eventually trustees voted 5-4 to end the teacher's delegation before she finished.
"Stopping the delegate, expelling them from the meeting is something that I never expected or hoped to do as chair, and I hope I don't have to do again," said Piatkowski in an interview with CBC Kitchener-Waterloo. "I warned them, I asked them to change direction, they continued down the path that they were headed and ultimately I ruled that they shouldn't continue.
"I am happy to stand by my ruling and be judged accordingly."
While school board meetings are now virtual, streamed online and posted to YouTube, the school board removed the video, saying in a statement "the board was concerned about potential violations to the [Ontario Human Rights] Code and to the harm that could affect our students, staff and communities in Waterloo Region."
In that statement, the school board also expressed "deep regret for any harm caused to the transgender community."
CBC Kitchener-Waterloo has contacted Burjoski for comment. Her reply was a video segment of her presentation to the board on Jan. 17 that was later removed from YouTube.
In a video statement posted to YouTube on Jan. 21, Burjoski said that when her presentation was ended by the trustees, she was "ejected" from the meeting, and the next morning, the school district's human resources department told her not to report to her regular duties.
"I was immediately 'assigned to home,' pending a formal investigation and banned from contacting my colleagues and students," said Burjoski in her video statement.
In a week where President Donald Trump says the U.S. doesn’t need cars made in Canada, the Dodge Charger Sixpack — made in Windsor, Ont. — is in the running to win car of the year at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit this morning.
An Ontario man has reached a settlement agreement with Boeing almost seven years after six of his family members died in a plane crash.
Severe weather has lead to several highway closures across northern Ontario Wednesday morning.
Several Durham police officers diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) say they believe the service isolated them from the day they went on mental health leave and has not provided them any meaningful support.
The City of Toronto’s 2026 budget offers relief many homeowners were looking for in its property tax increase, but it also lays bare the massive amount of infrastructure work hanging over the city in the coming years which, in some cases, may be deferred.
The University of Guelph says it is offering assistance to help students stranded in Iran after a petition was started asking for more to be done by the school.
There may be some relief in sight this flu season — though it may not feel like it right now.
Students will be back in class on Wednesday morning at Robert Service School in Dawson City.
The Canadian Armed Forces would need to buy 72 Gripen fighter jets and six GlobalEye surveillance aircraft for Swedish manufacturer Saab to deliver on its pledge of creating 12,600 jobs in Canada, CBC News has learned.
When news broke of U.S. forces attacking and seizing Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro earlier this month, Barry Blacklock’s phone began buzzing.
Quebec is projected to surpass 600 drug overdose deaths for a second consecutive year and experts are repeating calls for the province to do more to curb this trend.
Warning: Images included in this story may be disturbing for some readers.
Police are turning to the public for help identifying a man they say is being sought in connection with the alleged sexual assault Sunday of a 15-year-old girl in the city's west end.