Filing complaints with regulatory bodies is a way to keep people safe and reduce the risk of harm to others. I want to remind people it’s not just teachers that can have complaints filed against them. But any certificate holder. That means teachers, principals, district staff, and the Superintendent. But not the Secretary-Treasurer. They are not certificate holders.
The Professional Conduct Branch in the Ministry of Education and Child Care (Teacher’s Regulation Branch) has recently released two new decisions.
I am focusing on this one because it involves a principal.
This person thought it would be a good idea to duct tape a child to their chair to “help the Student focus on their work.”
I deeply look forward to the day when educators stop associating sitting still with learning and focus.
If this blog were a construction road sign it would say “tough but necessary conversations ahead”.
Exclusion has been brought into the front and centre of society. The media coverage has been wonderful. Thank you so much for all of the brave families who have come forward and shared their stories. We need it. A big thank you to all of the families sharing their stories with Ombudsperson. A necessary and important step in the process.
There are uncomfortable conversations that lie ahead when figuring out how to evolve the education system. We have mixed success.
There will always be that one person, or multiple people, who stands up and says something that makes our hearts sink. When you think of it, this is actually what we fought for. Embrace it. It’s going to get dirty and messy and uncomfortable, but all of this is extremely necessary in order to get where we want to get. Equity. We all need to talk about disability. The tough conversations need to happen and we need to grow as a society. Ableist beliefs are going to surface. It’s not going to be pretty.
Currently, the buzz and rumblings in the education profession is that segregation is a topic that people want to talk about. They question inclusion. They don’t think it’s really working, and we need to re-think separate classrooms. This is actually not anything new. It’s been a conversation that has been happening for a while, it’s never really left us, only whispered in the background. No one was saying it out loud, only now they are. I can understand why those working in the system doubt inclusion because, let’s be honest, our system is failing, for many people, for a very long list of reasons. They witness this failing every single day. Some people are experiencing great success. I wish we heard more of those stories. But many people are struggling immensely and experiencing great harm. Hence the exclusion investigation.
These types of hard conversations are inevitable. Human systems, specifically social issues, swing like pendulums all the time. Conservatives to Liberals back to Conservatives to back to Liberals. Human rights will increase, decrease, increase, decrease. You get the picture. Every country/society experiences the pendulum swing. It is continuous and it will never stop. Some are moving at a faster or slower rate than others. But we all swing. Humanity never stands still. We are always moving. What is that line about change? The only constant is change…something like that.
Stopping the swing would be like standing in front of Niagra Falls with a teacup, trying to stop the water from flowing. BUT, we do get a say and can advocate for how far we swing, and what it’s going to look like when that swing lands.
Re-making very old traditional systems to bend like blades of grass is going to be work. Not going to lie, this is going to require a SHIT SHIT SHIT ton of self-care, community care, and emotional regulation on our part. But it needs to happen. We need the hard parts to happen in order to arrive at where we want to arrive because it is going to take all of us. It needs to be a community effort. Sometimes things need to get really messy before they get better.
We do not want to go backwards in time. We want to move forward.
There is a group theorist who views teams that go through cycles like this, which came from my early university classes over 20 years ago. This visual has never left my mind, though his name has and I have been trying to find it with no success.
The group theory is that we all process change as a society like this.
Teams develop moving up and advancing but we cycle back and hit topics again and again but never in the same way. Never in the same spot.
This is 2025, not the 1980’s. Where would you place inclusive education on the line?
If people think that inclusion isn’t for all kids and some kids benefit from alternative learning spaces and this concept should be expanded to manage exclusion, then what forward-thinking or inclusion-thinking design are we going to create?
Because….
And yes, this is for all of you in the back.
We do not want to go back in time.
Segregated classrooms were accused of literally warehousing people. Making sure students were physically alive at the end of the day. Schools are not mini prisons. Or at least they shouldn’t be. In fairness, EA’s who currently work in the system, have said that even with “inclusion” they still feel like they are babysitting and the students they are supporting aren’t learning anything without explicit pull-out instruction. In the study done by Fraser and Shields (2010) they report that students mainstreamed in classrooms have been “treated as ghosts (virtually ignored), guests (respected but not integrated) or pets (cosseted and pampered) (p. 10).
In 2025, what COULD inclusive education evolve to look like?
Separate classrooms do bring up knee-jerk reaction fear in me. I wonder if people will use this as a loophole to not try as hard. To not invest in professional development. Will we go back to specialist teachers and not insist on disability education for all new and incoming teachers? Some communities need specialist teachers. The Deaf community is an excellent example. If Deaf schools didn’t exist they would lose their language and culture. We can never let that happen. Dyslexic advocates have been screaming for pull-out education time for remediation. It’s never all or nothing for everyone.
Everything in life is on a spectrum. Everything. Sexuality, personality traits, mental health, gender, humour, height, weight, cognition processing, neurodivergent thinking, disability, etc, etc, etc, We are all a natural part of human variation. No one is a mistake. You just literally need to find yourself where you fit on the multiple spectrums that all combined to make up who you are, and I guarantee you, there is a group of really cool people waiting for you.
We cannot have a system that is binary in thinking and design. It’s either this or that.
Humanity doesn’t work like that. We don’t. It’s very interesting to me that we are a species that cannot be compartmentalized and yet this is how our brain works. We need to compartmentalize everything in order to mentally understand things. How ironic is that? Our brains are wired to root for the underdog and absolutely need fairness, yet life is never fair. It leaves us in a constant state of continuous dissatisfaction that propels us forward to have our needs met.
Having systems that force people into binary groups, will not work.
So here come some really bumpy conversations.
If you are reading this blog and you are not a part of the disability community and think you are immune to the discussion of accessibility, oh phew this topic doesn’t impact me, I can promise you, that you are not.
The reality is, that you and your children are one car accident or one medical emergency away from needing an accessible inclusive equitable society.
So, let’s get cracking folks!
Fraser, F.G., & Shields, C.M (2010). Leader’s roles in disrupting dominant discourses and promoting inclusion. In. A.L. Edmunds & R. B Macmillian (Eds.). Leadership for inclusion: A practical guide (pp.7-18) Rotterdame: Sense Publishers.
I have added this case to my list under the human rights cases tab. I have picked out some paragraphs, but I really encourage you all to read the full case to get the context of what happened to this child and family. The respondents applied for a dismissal and the human rights tribunal decided the complaint should continue.
There are a few paragraphs in this decision that got my noodle thinking, but for this blog, I want to focus on this paragraph below. Paragraph #52.
[52] From the materials before me, I am satisfied that the School District was actively and intensively involved in attempting to accommodate Student Y’s disabilities from the time that Student Y was in grade one up until the time that she was excluded from school in grade three. However, the question before me on this application is whether the School District is reasonably certain to prove that it “could not have done anything else reasonable or practical to avoid the negative impact on the individual”: Moore at para. 49 [Emphasis mine]. In my view, there is a lack of information in the materials before me that would allow me to conclude that the School District is reasonably certain to do so.
The author of this decision decided to emphasize the words anything else. It wasn’t me that bolded that in the paragraph.
So, this is my guess.
When the human rights tribunal emphasizes ANYTHING ELSE are they eluding to an alternative learning space?
A lot of districts have alternative learning programs for students who need alternative learning spaces. There has been a recent uproar over the closing of a learning centre in the Surrey district with parents and students very upset over its closing with media coverage and rallies. The school districts report funding issues. There was also another family who was in the media, and their son was in a life skills program, and he was excluded due to lack of resources. Without systemic financial planning from the Ministry of Education to keep these alternative programs running, they end up closing and students are still being excluded.
In the face of complete exclusion for some students from schools, will school districts be required to provide alternative learning spaces as their ANYTHING ELSE or face human rights complaints? The school districts already have the power to choose the education program for the student and choose classroom placement. This is from the Supreme Court decision Eaton v. Brant County Board of Education, 1997 CanLII 366 (SCC), [1997] 1 SCR 241 (Notable paragraphs are: 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81)
What does the tribunal mean by ANYTHING ELSE? They have already acknowledged the school district was “actively and intensively involved in attempting to accommodate Student Y’s disability”.
We are at the brink of having Ombudsperson and possibly the Human Rights Tribunal (if this case goes to a hearing), set forth some expectations around the topic of exclusion.
After you read this case, what is your guess? What do you think anything else means?
To answer that question, we need to look at their role and how they have approached educational matters in the past.
If you are a parent who has received a decision letter, you will have it explained in that decision these statements:
“The role of our office is to impartially assess complaints of administrative unfairness brought against public agencies under our jurisdiction. Our assessment process examines whether the agency’s actions appear consistent with the applicable legislation, the agency’s relevant policy guidelines, and the broader principles of administrative unfairness.”
“My focus is assessing your complaint was on whether the District appears to have followed a reasonable process…”
“While I understand you think the District made the wrong decision, disagreement with a decision does not mean the decision is unreasonable.”
When we look at their previous decisions around education, again they don’t look at whether the decision itself is reasonable but the process.
As you can see here in this case (School’s Out) they focused on not whether the school made the right decision in doing what they did, but that they didn’t inform the parents there is an appeals process. Again, focusing on administrative process. To read more decisions in education you can see them here.
We can also look to their Fair Schools Report from 1995, on how they examine the process of what Fair Schools should look like.
Will they create a similar document, but around exclusion?
Will school districts around the province be told they need to create exclusion policies?
Currently, the administrative process around exclusion is a mess. Ombudsperson will be engaging in a year-long investigation into the “fairness around exclusion”.
Law often takes the best interest of the child approach. From an administrative fairness perspective, what should the legislation, policy or administrative process be for children dealing with exclusion and what is fair?
Ombudsperson BC focuses on this perspective in their announcement stating “Children have limited options to address unfairness in their education and school environments.”
From the child’s point of view, what is fair to them?
This still leaves parents out of the picture. Parents are struggling to work and pay their bills while their children are not allowed to attend school, even if the temporary exclusion is considered to be in the best interest of the child by the school. The School Act gives school districts the final decision around exclusion. Is this where family status complaints with the BC Human Rights Tribunal could fill in the gap?
Ombudsperson will not be examining whether exclusion is newly discriminatory. Each complaint system is a silo with their own legislation that guides them. They are not connected to the Human Rights Code.
Something important to highlight from the Ombudsperson Act S.23 outlines what could happen after the investigation is complete.
23 (1)If, after completing an investigation, the Ombudsperson is of the opinion that (a)a decision, recommendation, act or omission that was the subject matter of the investigation was (i)contrary to law, (ii)unjust, oppressive or improperly discriminatory, (iii)made, done or omitted under a statutory provision or other rule of law or practice that is unjust, oppressive or improperly discriminatory, (iv)based wholly or partly on a mistake of law or fact or on irrelevant grounds or consideration, (v)related to the application of arbitrary, unreasonable or unfair procedures, or (vi)otherwise wrong, (b)in doing or omitting an act or in making or acting on a decision or recommendation, an authority (i)did so for an improper purpose, (ii)failed to give adequate and appropriate reasons in relation to the nature of the matter, or (iii)was negligent or acted improperly, or (c)there was unreasonable delay in dealing with the subject matter of the investigation,
the Ombudsperson must report that opinion and the reasons for it to the authority and may make the recommendation the Ombudsperson considers appropriate.
(2)Without restricting subsection (1), the Ombudsperson may recommend that (a)a matter be referred to the appropriate authority for further consideration, (b)an act be remedied, (c)an omission or delay be rectified, (d)a decision or recommendation be cancelled or changed, (e)reasons be given, (f)a practice, procedure or course of conduct be altered, (g)an enactment or other rule of law be reconsidered, or (h)any other steps be taken.
They make recommendations. They can’t force the Ministry of Education and Child Care to do anything. BUT! It would make the Ministry look horrible if they ignored the Ombudsperson BC. AND, given that there has been so much media attention (which is absolutely wonderful), then hopefully the Ministry will be accepting of their recommendation.
All this to say…the analysis by the Ombudsperson BC is going to be VERY interesting. The public report will raise awareness of this issue in a way that we have never seen before. The media has been very interested in covering this topic, which is fabulous. We need to muddle through this topic and see where we land. The points of impact on this topic touch everyone and multiple groups of people who access and work in education. I am very pleased that Ombudsperson is shining a light on this issue, and will be looking at exclusion. It will be very interesting to see the results of their analysis and recommendations for “fairness”.
When it comes to exclusion, what is “fair?”
Ombudsperson states:
“By examining this issue we can make recommendations to support the ministry and school districts in meeting their inclusive education commitments and obligations to all students.”
It will take them a year to investigate.
I will be on the edge of my seat waiting for this to come out!
Due to parents filing external complaints to the Ombudsperson BC department, they have decided to launch an investigation to see if these exclusions are fair.
Today makes me think of Judith.
Judith Heumann, the late disability activist has said “Change never happens at the pace we think it should. It happens over years of people joining together, strategizing, sharing and pulling all the levers they possibly can. Gradually, excruciating slowly, things start to happen, and then suddenly, seemingly out of the blue, something will tip.”
Today it tipped.
THIS is why filing external complaints is so important.
We are all grains of sand that make up a beach. Every complaint matters. It becomes data. Change will never happen if we just suck it up, swallow the circumstances that we are in, and never speak up.
We can never SHUT UP! EVER!
File
File
File
Our lived experience needs to spread far and wide.
Everything we do matters. All of it. Nothing is ever wasted. It builds over time. We will never truly know the full extent of the impact that we have on people and how think and may see things differently. We need to keep going.
To all of the parents who have filed over this topic in the past YEARS, you have all been building blocks to make this happen. ALL of you.
The Burnaby Now has recently posted articles about human rights complaints that are connected to Burnaby.
I am curious to know how the people who filed these complaints feel about that.
Do they like their story being shared? Do they feel that these articles are elevating their advocacy? Or do they wish Burnaby Now never wrote them?
Having courts and tribunal systems be open and transparent to the public is an important feature of our justice system. Court is always open. As a member of the public you can just walk in and watch everything unfold. In special circumstances, lawyers can argue to have a closed courtroom. Having an open court system is a way for us to learn about how our justice system works and how decisions are made. It boosts public confidence and supports the legitimacy of the system.
If you are a parent filing a complaint on behalf of your child, your name, your child’s name and the school district’s name will be anonymized. If you want to name yourself, or the school district you will need to make an application. One parent did just that and won. You can also apply to have just your school districts named. You can file an anonymization application as soon as your complaint is accepted.
However, if you are a parent filing a family status complaint they may anonymize your name if information about your child is disclosed, or they may not. There is a risk of this hitting the local newspaper. For some people, that would thrill them and the attention they have been wanting. Other people, may feel that their information being shared is a violation. One parent advocated for a consent resolution so that the details of what happened were posted publicly after a settlement. Bravo! That was a genius idea.
Dismissal decisions are not the only decisions being shared. Anything that would benefit the public to be aware of or that advances the Code gets posted. That is timeliness, complaint amendments, improper conduct applications, etc. Not all decisions get posted. Many of them do not. You will not know in advance if the decision is going to get posted or not until the day they tell you it will be posted the next day. You’ll get the decision in the morning and then shortly after it will be on their website.
If anonymization is important to you, this is a conversation I would suggest you have with your case manager. The sooner the better.
Also, know that having a closed hearing is also something you can apply for. Otherwise, your hearing will be posted on their public hearing list, and members of the public can sign up and listen in. This is how people learn about the process and prepare for their own cases.
Most parents I have talked to would love to broadcast their case to as many people as possible. They have reached the point where they want to scream from the tallest mountain. They want everyone to know what happened. But, if this isn’t the case for you, the public attention that could come from a human rights complaint may be something that you consider and discuss with your case manager as soon as your complaint gets accepted.
BC CAISE (BC Council of Administrators in Inclusive Education) in their “A Guide to Meaningful Consultation” manual on page 8 defines it as:
“Meaningful consultation is an ongoing, collaborative effort involving students, families/caregivers, and educational staff, focused on open dialogue and joint decision-making for educational matters. This inclusive process works towards ensuring all voices are heard and decisions are well-informed and clearly communicated. All parties work together towards a balanced outcome, emphasizing recurring dialogue rather than consultation being a single event.”
“When done well, meaningful consultation ensures families/caregivers feel that the school team listens to them and that their experience, knowledge and ideas have been considered.”
“Meaningful consultation encourages open dialogue; it does not mean all parties will agree.”
“When a mutual agreement is not possible, the school team will provide a rationale for their decision-making with regard to the educational programming of the child and ensure ongoing consultation and follow-up.”
If this rationale is not being provided and they refuse to provide it when you ask, you can use this manual and file an Ombudsperson complaint.
I also want to acknowledge that the consultation process can trigger a lot of emotions in us. In order to keep advocating and keep the dialogue going, there are certain rules we parents need to know to navigate this system.
What is an indication of social change for you? There are TONS of them all around us. Pick one. What is it?
For me? One of the many things I see is that more people from marginalized communities are willing to be noticed. To not blend in… as much. People are more willing to be transparent about themselves and use their own lives as a way to advocate. In small ways and big ways. More people are willing to take up space and be seen and heard. Many have taken up blogging and writing books. The internet for disabled individuals has had a huge impact on our ability to connect with other people who are like us. Technology allows us to express ourselves like never before. Sharing our stories is changing the temperature of the water. By connecting with other people we are forming social groups that are often leading to coordinated advocacy projects.
It’s so interesting to me that when you are on the outside of “typical” societal expectations, or you don’t measure up to the ideal measuring stick, just your existence alone is defiance and a daily protest. If you are trying to live your best life, then you are a change-maker. Attempts to fully participate in society is advocacy.
Being transparent and noticeable can be work. You never know how someone is going to respond to you and you need to be ready at a moment’s notice. That kind of constant vigilance can be tiring. You are also more under surveillance, as all eyes are on you. You are representing a community of people, whether you asked to take on that role or not. You are also more vulnerable to discrimination and you need to be ready for that.
On the plus side, it can be nothing short of pure freedom. To be a caged bird, released.
Masking and blending in with the wallpaper is work too. Feeling trapped is not fun emotional work either. That too can be tiring. It’s really just a question of what kind of work and on what scale do you want to be doing? The work of being noticed or the work of masking? For a lot of people, there is no option to hide. Sometimes not having a choice is simpler. You are forced to dive in. This is your reality and now it’s time to run with it. For those with maskable invisible disabilities, I think it’s very natural to sway from side to side and this decision-making is fluid even within a single 20-minute social interaction.
Whatever decision you make about your willingness to be noticed, and on what scale you decide to share yourself with the rest of us, I wish you all the best in living your best life, whatever that is. Happy New Year!
