ableism - Speaking Up BC

Facebook Post – On BCEdAccess Blog

Hello Everyone,

It’s time to get loud.

I have a volunteer role outside of my Speaking UP BC blogging and PATH. I am the Chair of BCEdAccess Society. I have been a part of the Facebook group for years. I am sharing a blog I wrote through my role and volunteer work with BCEdAccess. This is the first time I am sharing a blog through my own personal Facebook page. I hummed and hawed over whether this was a good idea or not. To blend the two of them. But I have decided to do it anyways, as the content of the blog, I really want to share.

The purpose of sharing this blog as much as I can is to provide a seed of thought and spark a conversation. A questioning and analysis of how this education system is functioning. Seeing whether you agree with what I wrote or not, is not my purpose. Whatever your view is on the funding issues our school districts are facing, please find people in your life and start a conversation about your thoughts. I’d love it even more if one of those people were your local MLA.

I haven’t really talked about it publicly but I was an EA in the school system for years. I did my training and student placements in hearing and Deaf schools in Ontario, worked in Montreal, and then again here in BC. I know what working education is really like. So, I see the education system from a staffs perspective and I understand it from a parents perspective. I have friends who are teachers and EAs. When I was working in schools and had discussions with staff, there were things that were happening and we wanted to speak out about it and talk to parents. We were crossing our fingers that parents were going to rally together and fight the school. Teachers and EAs cannot speak out about their working conditions publicly or even students learning conditions. The closest they come to being able to do that is when they are on strike. Other than that, they are forced to keep quiet or they will lose their jobs. Even then, there was a legal decision centred around teachers posting flyers educating parents about the educational losses that were happening. Teachers were identifying the harms that the cuts would have on student learning with the statements “Our Children’s Education is Threatened” and this went to a hearing to analyze their freedom of expression issues. Their employers wanted them to shut up. I will link the case below.

People who work in the education system need to be very careful what they say publicly. Even what kind of content they “like” on social media. There is even policy behind this. So on social media, teachers and EAs need to be silent or risk their employment. We are dealing with educators leaving their jobs at exceptionally high numbers. Districts are reporting issues with high absenteeism. Districts are so desperate for adults they are hiring people who have not been trained as teachers or EAs.

The blog from BCEdAccess was posted yesterday, on a holiday, when many people would have plans or be enjoying the long weekend. In less than 12 hours, this blog became the second most viewed blog on our website, close to reaching the numbers of our most viewed blog which took days to reach that number of views. On my personal Speaking Up BC my stats jumped to numbers as if I had posted the blog on my own site. The number of new viewers skyrocketed and what people were mostly viewing was my blog “Why can’t we just sue the government?”, which I will link below.

A lot of stuff is shared in secret. People are sharing my blog amongst their colleagues, friends and family and they are just not sharing this publicly. I want parents to know, that just because you don’t see school staff or trustees in the media ripping the government to pieces doesn’t mean they aren’t advocating behind closed doors. They may have duct tape over their mouths publicly, but I don’t.

We all want a better education system. Budget cuts and the chronic underfunding impacts every single person and worst of all, it impacts our children, which builds the foundation for the rest of their life.

I don’t need people to comment publicly on my work. The feedback I get on whether I have planted a seed of thought, I get through website statistics. I know the ones that have stirred conversation. This blog is one of them. And the work week hasn’t even started yet.

However you view and feel the impacts of the chronic underfunding and the cuts that are coming this year, please talk about it with other people. And if one of them is your MLA, thank you!

Here is the blog posted on the BCEdAccess website

https://bcedaccess.com/…/scarcity-in-education-harmful…

Here is the hearing decision BCTF and the BC Public School Employers

https://www.canlii.org/en/bc/bcla/doc/2004/2004canlii94306/2004canlii94306.html

Here are my blogs

Why Can’t we Just Sue the Government

Budget time

Another new HR decision – Intersecting Identity – Self-Representing Parent – A win!

I have written so many posts that start with New HR decision that it’s starting to sound ridiculous.

So, yes this is another new one. I know we just had a new one a couple of days ago.

I can’t tell you how exciting this is. This is the month of April, only four months into 2025 and we are already at 5 decisions with more to come. This is going to be quite the year!!

Is the Ministry of Education and Child Care paying attention to all of this????

They better wake up!

Here we go.

Decision #5 – This parent is self-representing. They won. The complaint is fully proceeding.

Child (by the Parent) v. School District, 2025 BCHRT 89

This case involves a couple of protected grounds.

[3] The Child identifies as Black and of African race, ancestry and place of origin. The Child has a mild Autism Spectrum Disorder [ ASD ], which the Parent describes as largely diagnosed from his late speech and asymptomatic.

This is a timeliness complaint

What is interesting about this case from an analysis point of view is that there were gaps between the discrimination and multiple allegations were beyond the one-year time limit, and yet it was still accepted.

[25] Having found multiple arguable contraventions of the Code , that are both timely and out of time, it is necessary to next consider whether the late-filed allegations form part of a continuing contravention.

[26] I first considered whether the allegations are of a similar character for the purposes of determining the existence of a continuing contravention of the Code . The School District argues the timely allegations are dissimilar because the timely allegations involve different children at different schools. I disagree with the School District. From my review of the allegations in their entirety, I agree with the Child that they involve the School District’s failure to properly respond in series of altercations where white male students harmed the Child for reasons related to his race, colour, ancestry, place of origin and mental disability. At the same time, the allegations are of a similar character because the Child alleges the School District’s repeated responses to all these incidents were unfair to him for reasons related to the personal characteristics identified. In my view, the similar character of these allegations is not affected in any material way because they occurred at different schools and with different white male children.

[27] I have next considered the existence of gaps between allegations. I have determined that there are no significant gaps for the purposes of s. 22(2) of the Code in this case. I disagree with the School District’s approach to this question by looking at the entire timespan for the allegations in question. In my view, it is more appropriate to look at the length of time between allegations to determine whether they occurred in succession. Here, there were gaps of half of year to about nine months between most of the allegations and these are explained by the somewhat randomness of serious incidents happening when the white male students engaged the Child. The only possibly significant gap in my view, occurred between the November 2019 incident and the Spring 2021 incident. However, this gap is easily explained by the fact that during most of 2020 schools were closed due to pandemic restrictions and the Child was not in physical proximity to the students in question.

[28] Overall, I am satisfied the Child’s allegations from the June 2018 incident to the Spring 2021 incident allegations are of a similar nature in succession to the timely October 2021 incidents allegations. As such, the Complaint is a timely continuing contravention of the Code and it is, therefore, unnecessary for me to determine whether it is in the public interest to allow any late filed allegations to proceed.

There are multiple allegations of bullying connected to racism and what I would label as ableism.

Here is an example.

[13] On October 20, 2021, the Child alleges three higher grade white boys followed him into the bathroom and one of the boys intentionally slammed a bathroom stall door into his face. The Child alleges this incident resulted in him chipping his two front teeth. He alleges the School District principal and vice principal were unmoved by the incident and did not want to report it to the police. The Child alleges the vice principal kept blaming him for screaming and shouting and rolling around on the floor as an attempt to magnify his autism behaviour to justify the other boys’ wrongdoing. Once again, the Child alleges the School District protected the white assailants from receiving any blame for the incident. This allegedly included the School District saying that they did not know which boy had caused the harm to the Child. The Child alleges this incident was a good example of the School District’s staff demonstrating their inclination to favour white children in altercations involving him [the October 20, 2021, incident ]

I encourage everyone to read this case in full.

The other human rights case that was connected to discriminatory bullying is this one. I’ll be adding this case now to that page as well.

Way to go, self-represented parent!

Communicating with the School – Friend or Foe?

This can be tricky.

There are certain levels of advocacy. We always tend to start off slow and see how things unfold. Sometimes things resolve organically or with minimal intervention. Other times, things can turn adversarial. Building relationships with people has been an important element to advocating and building community in general. Pulling people in, instead of pushing them away.

However…. there will be times when major incidents can flip things upside down. Or, enough moderate levels of chronic discrimination make maintaining or building that relationship very difficult.

If you are reading my blog, you have probably found me through a Google search or Facebook. Chances are, you have found me because things are not going well. You may already be in the process of an external complaint system or are seriously considering it.

Communication when things get intense in schools is a different world.

Sometimes, school staff will recognize right away that the subject you want to discuss could potentially place them in hot water. They will call you instead of sending you an email.

Or sometimes it’s the opposite. They will send you a triggering email on purpose. Poking you intentionally. Wanting your elevated response to be documented.

Not all of their communication will be adversarial. Sometimes they are genuinely looking to resolve the situation and don’t want to escalate things further and so they want to meet with you in person. Sometimes we are so triggered by past negative experiences with school staff that we are automatically launched into defence or attack mode. We end up making the worst assumptions out of fear responses, from very lovely people. And I speak from experience.

On the other hand, we may truly be dealing with strategic “wolves in sheep clothing” type people. And I also speak from experience. It can be hard to weed through and figure out who wants to help and who is following instructions from the legal team. Friend or foe?

I saw a t-shirt online once and it read “Mr. Rogers didn’t prepare me for the people in my neighbourhood.” I laughed because that resonated!

When navigating the education system, there are rules on the order of who you can communicate with and how you can communicate with them.

Here are some examples of types of communication experiences:

They may tell you are not allowed to communicate with your child’s EA. (Which is true. All communication needs to go through the teacher. Some schools are more flexible about this.)
You need to first talk to your child’s teacher before you contact ______. (They have a strict hierarchy of who you talk to first and how to escalate. They also have internal rules on who the district can talk to and they need to follow an order. Be aware that if you email the district about your child’s principal, that principal will be contacted to get their side of the story, before they contact you.)
They may just ignore your email.
They may call you after you have sent an email instead of responding in writing.
They may request a meeting.
They may flat out lie to you.
They may gaslight you.
They may minimize the issues.
They may blame your child for not self-advocating.
They may distract you with irrelevant information about other topics.
They may send someone to befriend you to gather information.
They may want to de-escalate this as quickly as possible hoping the issues don’t blow up into bigger ones. (These are the trauma-informed responses. These are the ones we hope for.)

For people who are in independent schools, you need to be extra careful. Many parents sign code of conduct agreements and if you cross the line they can kick out your kid and blame it on you for breaking the contract. Some will even have in their written contract that you file an external complaint, that is reason to kick out your kid.

It’s easier to see some of the games they play in hindsight. It’s harder to recognize this stuff when you are in it and your emotions are high, and possibly feel like you are in survival mode for your child. It can be hard to trust our own judgement. Sometimes we read into things too deeply thinking we are under attack, when we are not. Sometimes we are, and our gut instincts are spot on.

There is a big difference when you are just advocating internally vs. you are costing the districts thousands of dollars in legal fees or taking up a lot of time of senior administration. It’s just good to keep our eyes wide open and reflect and pay attention to HOW they are communicating. It can be very revealing. It’s not just what they are saying and what they are doing. It’s also what they are NOT saying and what they are NOT doing that can also be revealing.

Also know, lawyers are involved way earlier than we think they are.

They may tell us that what we are doing is “inappropriate”. They may use silence. All of these are flags that we are onto something and have hit a nerve. I offer you all this blog. 5 rules on how to stay untouchable.

Having someone join you in a meeting to take notes can be very helpful. I have left meetings and wondered what on earth has just happened here. They can spin you in circles. It can be a good thing to have a support person and a witness. You will need to bring someone who isn’t a parent in the school district. Otherwise, they will claim confidentiality reasons that they can not attend.

When you email someone, and if you cc: people, those in the cc: line will not respond. If you want a response from someone, you need to stick them in the TO: line.

A great resource to find out who you need to talk to internally, the hierarchy, is in Chapter 7 of the Inclusion BC, Inclusive Education Manual.

I also recommend that you look on your school district’s website. They will likely have a parent’s code of conduct document, and/or a document on how to resolve conflict. You will need to follow that step by step.

Solution Options:

If they only want to talk on the phone, you can follow up with an email of what was discussed and ask them to clarify if you misunderstood anything.
For dealing with silence I offer you this page.
Some parents have resorted to recording phone conversations. There are laws around recording conversations. You will need to research this and stay up to date on any law changes. If they tell you in a meeting that they don’t want to be recorded, you will not be able to record them. If you are an employee wanting to record conversations at work, you are in a whole other area of law that is specific to employment and I HIGHLY recommend you consult with an employment lawyer before you go down this path.
Bring a note-taker or support person with you to meetings.
If you are making allegations against a staff member that they did something, be aware that they have every right to explain, clarify and defend themselves. They will be included in the resolution process. In all formal working structures that I am aware of, each complaint system wants you to try to resolve the issue with the person first.
If internal advocacy through the whole internal process (all the way to the top) doesn’t resolve anything, external options may be your only recourse.

For big incidents, parents/guardians are often looking for an apology. Some get it, some don’t. I wouldn’t hold your breath waiting for one. They are often advised by their lawyers never to admit to anything. Something else I saw online, “I hope you heal from the things no one apologized for”. The need for accountability can drive people through the external complaint systems. Which I don’t think is a bad thing. Filing complaints is a form of advocacy. Our experiences are included in data collection and this can lead to systemic change. School districts need to know they have external eyes on them. Letting them think they are untouchable is dangerous in my eyes.

Communication is the foundation of advocacy.

If this is an area that you need support with, I really encourage you to find an advocacy buddy, support group, request accommodations with the district if this is disability related, and/or connect with other support professionals who can help you navigate. There are non-profits offering this kind of support, but also people who do this kind of work full-time.

The Next Generation of Student Advocates

In the last year or so, we’ve had an increase in student advocacy throughout the BC Human Rights Tribunal Process. These students are doing things that not all adults can even bring themselves to do. Here is some hope for the future.

All of these advocates want to make some noise about their experiences. I encourage you to read their complaints in full. All four were able to experience different layers of success with their decisions.

Let’s take a look!!

Advocate #1

Vick v. Board of Education of School District No. 41 (Burnaby), 2024 BCHRT 104

[4] Ms. Vick alleges having a learning disability and other mental disabilities. She is a former student at the School District. Ms. Vick was a minor during the period when the allegations in question occurred and at the time she filed this complaint.

[5] Ms. Vick alleges generally that multiple teachers at the School District were hostile towards her for being unable to complete course work on time because of her learning disabilities and mental illnesses. She says this occurred despite the teachers knowing about her disabilities.

[15] In the August 8, 2022, complaint amendment, Ms. Vick confirmed she wanted to name the School District as the respondent in the April 6, 2022, complaint

33] Ms. Vick is seeking justice for the School District’s alleged failure to accommodate her mental disabilities. She believes her case is unique and novel in that it involves a School District service provider failing to properly accommodate her disabilities.

[31] ….Ms. Vick demonstrated her maturity regarding the existence of the Code and the Tribunal process when she filed her first complaint with the Tribunal in September 2021 and this complaint on April 6, 2022, while still a minor on both occasions.

Two complaints she has filed. Good for her. As a way to enhance her justice seeking, here is a list of her allegations against the Burnaby School District from her complaint filed in 2022.

[7] On January 1, 2018, Ms. Vick alleges a teacher sent a rude email to her mother in response to her mother’s request that Ms. Vick be accommodated for her disabilities [the January 1, 2018, Allegation].

[8] On July 1, 2019, Ms. Vick alleges a summer schoolteacher refused to provider her with any accommodations while her support teacher was on a break. She says the teacher also stood beside her desk, pressuring her to finish a test [the July 1, 2019, Allegation]

[9] On November 1, 2019, Ms. Vick alleges that she asked a teacher for an extension of time to finish an assignment, but permission was not granted until her support teacher later asked on her behalf. Later the same day, Mr. Vick alleges she was told to leave the class during a manic episode, despite not acting aggressively [the November 1, 2019, Allegation No. 1]

[10] On November 1, 2019, Ms. Vick alleges a teacher made fun of one of her disabilities by asking if she was manic in a joking and sarcastic way [the November 1, 2019, Allegation No. 2]

[11] On June 1, 2021, Ms. Vick alleges a teacher who was aware of her disabilities acted in a hostile manner when she was unable to finish her homework on time following a “mixed episode”. Ms. Vick says the teacher later told her in an email that it was not discrimination to refuse an accommodation. Finally, Ms. Vick alleges the teacher later dismissed the class 40 minutes early preventing her from doing a mandatory presentation, which resulted in her failing the class [the June 1, 2021, Allegation].

[12] On September 9, 2021, Ms. Vick filed a complaint against the Ministry of Education alleging it neglected to make reasonable adjustments in how it provided education to those with mental illnesses, including herself, which would reduce the negative effects of mental illness on education outcomes. Ms. Vick alleges teachers’ lack the training related to teaching students with mental disabilities. She also alleges teachers failed to identify children with disabilities needing to be referred for an assessment of their diagnosis. Finally, teachers failed children with mental disabilities as they did not know the options for accommodating their disabilities.

Advocate #2

Child K (by Ehmke) and another v. Queen of All Saints School and another

Here are the allegations:

(37) Child K has a chronic health condition which impacts her ability to do certain tasks in a classroom, including writing. Mrs. Ehmke alleges that, throughout grade 2, her teacher failed to provide necessary classroom accommodations to meet Child K’s disability-related needs. She says that she asked the School to provide Child K with an Individualized Education Plan [IEP], but the School took the position that Child K was not entitled to one because her needs were being met through classroom adaptations. Towards the end of the school year, Mrs. Ehmke asked the School to apply for a Ministry of Education funding designation for Child K. The School declined to pursue a designation at that time. It said that it would address the issue in the fall of 2018, when the applications to the Ministry were due.

(38) Mrs. Ehmke says that, throughout the year, Child K’s school-related anxiety was escalating because her disability-related needs were not being met. On April 24, 2018, Child K stopped attending School because of that anxiety. She never returned. The following year, Child K enrolled in a public school, where she received a Ministry designation and an IEP.

This was an anonymization decision. The child and the parent were fighting to be named and name the school. The tribunal took caution and decided to name the parent and the school, and said that when she is an adult she can decide if she wants to change her name on this decision. It is noted in the decision,

[11] In consenting to anonymize and limit publication of Child K’s name, Mrs. Ehmke is clear that her purpose is to preserve Child K’s right to choose, when she is old enough, whether to make her identity in this complaint process public to people outside their school and faith communities. Mrs. Ehmke describes Child K as a person who is “activist-minded” and is used to advocating for herself in connection with her disabilities. She says that it is not helpful for Child K to keep her disabilities invisible, and that most people within their school and faith communities are already aware of the circumstances giving rise to this complaint. These submissions are important to understand Mrs. Ehmke’s position about whether to extend anonymization orders and publication bans to other people involved in the complaint.

[12] I anonymize and order a ban on publication of Child K’s name in connection with this complaint, unless or until Child K identifies herself as a party to this complaint after she is 19 years old, in which case the publication ban will cease.

It takes a lot of bravery to break through the stigma attached to anxiety and be a role model to others. Both child and Mom have paved a path by this decision.

Advocate #3

Student (by Parent) v. School District, 2023 BCHRT 237

[2] I commend the Student for her participation in this difficult process. She gave evidence that was helpful, straightforward, and credible, and which I have relied on to decide this case. I also thank the Parent and representatives of the District for their hard work and sensitivity in presenting their respective cases.

[114] Finally – a note for the Student. It was apparent to me in this hearing that there are many caring adults invested in the Student’s wellbeing and development. She is an impressive young person with a sophisticated understanding of herself and her needs, and a Parent who is proactively equipping her with the tools she will need to continue her success into adulthood. I congratulate her on all that she has achieved, and wish her the best with what is to come.

Testifying can be intimidating and stressful for adults. She chose to speak up and talk about her experience. By doing so, this decision was written. This decision brought meaningful inquiry into the duty to accommodate and other advancements in The Code.

Advocate #4

Bigam by MacDonald v. Board of Education of School District No. 23 (Central Okanagan) and others, 2024 BCHRT 288

Given that the tribunal is always overly cautious about protecting the identity of minors, I assume that the teenager wanted to be named.

If that is true then ALL 3 advocates wanted to be named in their complaints.

Here are the allegations made by Advocate #3.

[1] Faith Bigam, who has been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis [MS], was in Grade 11 when a teacher allegedly prevented her from presenting during a school assembly at which she had been slated to speak [assembly incident]. In her complaint, she alleges that the teacher (Kathryn Lafontaine), the school principal (Kathy Weninger), and the school district discriminated against her based on mental and physical disability in the area of services contrary to s. 8 of the Human Rights Code by preventing her from speaking and by mishandling the assembly incident after it occurred. She says that because of these events, she was unable to return to school and ultimately lost out on important social and educational opportunities.

[7] According to Ms. Bigam, she was concerned that she would be bullied at George Elliot should the students there find out that she had MS. Ms. Bigam says that in Grade 11 she missed a lot of school due to health issues, which made it difficult to maintain her friendships. She says that she found it anxiety provoking to go to school. Despite these concerns, however, and with the encouragement of one of her teachers, Leslie Plummer, Ms. Bigam decided in early March 2019 to talk to the school about MS and living with MS. Ms. Bigam says: “I finally realized that it was important to me to talk about MS and to spread awareness about it in a positive way at school…” Ms. Bigam “thought it would be beneficial to the school, and to me and others like me.”

Another child and parent paving the path by exposing their complaint to the public.

**********

Learning to advocate for yourself and feeling the confidence and bravery to stand up for yourself does not come easy. Especially when you grow up in an ableist society and you are given these micro messages all day long that your rights are less than.

I can’t say how impressed I am that these four are speaking up for themselves and using their experience as examples for others to learn from and advance the human rights code. Just by having these decisions published for the public to witness and learn from is worthy advocacy. An interesting trend, they are determined to name themselves and the school districts. Is that due to anger? Justice seeking? There is so much stigma about mental health and disability and these four are pushing the boundaries on what can be talked about and not remain hidden. I wish all four of these students all the best and many many many thanks!

A Lighthouse to Those at Sea

My wish is to be a lighthouse keeper.
To be steady, strong, and free.
No matter what the weather is outside
I will always remain and be.

There are many adventurers out there
Sailing the uncharted seas
Many of whom I will never meet
But each of us holds a key

We are all pushing the boundaries
Unwilling to accept oppression
We cannot just bow our heads
And be satisfied with the concession

For the people that we fight for
Deserve a fair chance at life
They experience so much struggle
Exposed to too much strife

I keep the lighthouse burning
Steady, strong, and free
And on calm clear nights, I look out
And what oh what do I see

I see so many other lighthouses
And their keepers lighting the way
We turn the darkness into light
By refusing to go away

No matter the weather outside
Steady, strong as can be
Aligned with our integrity
We will always, always be free

“It depends…”

People want to know what navigating the human rights tribunal system is going to be like for them. If it is going to be a lot work, or how many hours they will they need to have available for them to do it.

It all depends.

It depends on what your goals are.

Do you want a settlement for your child with specific remedies for them? For example, more EA support, a new school district policy, and/or settlement money. Currently, with the complaint process, the settlement meeting option is coming before anything else. Document disclosure, applications, case conferences, etc. Those all come after if the settlement meeting didn’t bring the parties together on an agreement.

If you want to take your case to a hearing, now we are talking about a whole other level. You are going to need to self-educate yourself more.

Everyone’s experience isn’t exactly the same and their cases aren’t exactly the same. Some parents are absolutely LIVID and that anger propels them forward into action. Some people are sad about how everything has unfolded, and they just want this to be over and move on. Some people need certain things to happen in order for them to move on. I find it also depends if you are in a public school or a private school. If you have a lawyer or if you are self-representing. It depends if your child is still in the school or if you have already pulled them out. It also depends very much on the complexity of your case, and how much learning you are going to need to do. Some people fear retaliation, while others see this process as protecting their child from retaliation. It also depends on who you are as a person and how much experience you have navigating systems. Some people have already been self-representing themselves in family court and so they already know how to regulate their emotions and go through the system. Their confidence levels are higher. Some people have support systems and are already part of advocacy groups, and/or they have other forms of emotional support in place. It all depends on so many factors. Some people navigating the tribunal system have had experiences of closure and peace, feeling heard. Others have felt it didn’t bring what they were looking for and it was a waste of time. For some people it feels like a big deal to file a human rights complaint, other people don’t think anything of it, just do it, and carry on in their day. It all depends.

There are a few common themes in people who file human rights complaints, that I have seen so far.

They want change. They never want another child to experience what their child did. They want to change the education system.
They want accountability. Having these people get away with what they did, they cannot accept. Part of this, I have noticed, is that people fear that they will just keep doing what they are doing and so this does come back to point #1, and not wanting another child to have the same experience.
They want to be seen and heard. Having their child pushed off to the side, discarded as unimportant, just eats them away. Many of these parents have been receiving nothing but the silent treatment and filing a human rights complaint is a way of saying, HELLO!

Sometimes people want to know everything before they start something. Others feel it’s better to not know everything and just do it. Deal with things as they come up. For example, some people want to go to business school to learn how to start a business and some people just do it. It’s very interesting how people approach things.

What I do want to say is that you can’t depend on your experience being like someone else’s. It really can be so different depending on so many factors.

It’s impossible to predict the future. I don’t know what this experience is going to be like for you. One thing that I think is true for everyone, is that you will learn more bout yourself by navigating this system. You’ll find out where your boundary lines are, and what triggers you and moves you forward. Or, what you are willing to live with. I think there is potential for it to be an interesting journey, nonetheless. Advocacy always is.

FOI and Human Rights Costs, Systemic Bullying.

Hey Parent(s)/Guardians,

Are you curious as to how much the school district was willing to spend on fighting you in the human rights tribunal system?

You can submit an FOI and find out.

This is a case where the parents of a Deaf child won a human rights complaint. When they were done they submitted an FOI request (Freedom of Information), and they found out that the school district spent $681,917.00 on legal fees to oppose them.

They won $150,000.00

Here is the newspaper article.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/carter-churchill-nlesd-human-rights-complaint-payments-1.6852768

“Todd and Kimberly Churchill filed an access-to-information request with the school board following their win at the province’s human rights tribunal in March. They discovered the district had spent $681,917 on legal fees to oppose the family’s complaints dating back to 2017, when Carter was in kindergarten.”

“In the end, the human rights commission ruled the district violated Carter’s human rights by not offering him an education in American Sign Language and ordered the school board to pay an additional $150,000 to the Churchill family.“

“I think it’s completely disgusting, because the Department of Education will say there’s no money for teachers, no money for supports, no money for children with exceptionalities,” said Todd Churchill. “But yet there’s money, almost three-quarters of a million dollars … to defend the discrimination of a five-year-old deaf child in a wheelchair.”

I have written blogs before about how much money is being spent on human rights complaints. I have done a couple of FOI requests with the Ministry of Finance to get access to the information.

The Ministry of Education doesn’t even track this kind of information. They are being told how much the district’s legal fees are, but how much of that is human rights complaints against families, they don’t know. Or won’t tell.

Read here. The Financial Cost of Human Rights Complaints in Education

I have also started tracking lawyers’ fees in general, mostly focusing on the school districts in the Lower Mainland. You can obtain all of the information from their SOFI reports that they have to publicly post on their district website.

2022-2023 School Year	*I didn’t include cents
SD	Legal Fees	SOFI Link
Vancouver	799, 700	https://media.vsb.bc.ca/media/Default/medialib/2022-2023-statement-of-financial-information.69747169697.pdf
Burnaby	206,471	https://burnabyschools.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/SOFI-2023-webcopy.pdf
Surrey	76,628	https://media.surreyschools.ca/media/Default/medialib/2022-2023-sofi-statement-of-financial-information.bafc72163618.pdf
Coquitlam	118,861	https://www.sd43.bc.ca/District/Departments/Finance/Financial%20Statements/2022-23%20Statement%20of%20Financial%20Information.pdf
Richmond	50,025	https://sd38.bc.ca/sites/default/files/2024-01/SOFI%202023_Redacted.pdf
Delta	43,830	https://www.deltasd.bc.ca/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/SD37-SOFI-2022-2023.pdf
North Van	142,542	https://www.sd44.ca/Board/BudgetFinancialInformation/Documents/Statement%20of%20Financial%20Information%20-%20June%2030%2c%202023%20signed%20for%20web.pdf
Victoria	58,715	https://www.sd61.bc.ca/wp-content/uploads/sites/91/2023/11/2022-2023-Statement-of-Financial-Information-redacted.pdf
2023-2024 School Year
SD	Legal Fees
Vancouver	3,204,911	https://media.vsb.bc.ca/media/Default/medialib/open-finance-and-personnel-agenda-2024-nov-13.4b231d77311.pdf
Burnaby	386,871	https://burnabyschools.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/SOFI-2024-webcopy.pdf
Surrey	94,477	https://media.surreyschools.ca/media/Default/medialib/2023-2024-sofi-statement-of-financial-information.e9dc73180780.pdf
Coquitlam	256,354	https://www.sd43.bc.ca/District/Departments/Finance/Financial%20Statements/2023-24%20Statement%20of%20Financial%20Information.pdf
Richmond	32,885	https://sd38.bc.ca/sites/default/files/2024-12/Final%20SOFI%202324_Redacted.pdf
Delta	53,802	https://district.public.deltasd.bc.ca/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/12/SD37-SOFI-2023-2024.pdf
North Van	313,220	https://www.sd44.ca/Board/BudgetFinancialInformation/Documents/Statement%20of%20Financial%20Information%20-%20June%2030%2c%202024%20-%20for%20web.pdf
Victoria	57,521	https://www.sd61.bc.ca/wp-content/uploads/sites/91/2024/11/2023-2024-Statement-of-Financial-Information_Redacted.pdf

(**Human rights cases can take years, so when high numbers are back to back, that looks interesting to me. Not all legal fees are human rights complaints against families.)

I bet the school district in N. L never saw Kim and Todd Churchill coming.

“The family said the school was “dismissive” of their concerns and repeatedly said he was receiving a quality education, despite being in an environment where he could not communicate. They were afraid for his well-being, they said, and he was socially isolated because he was unable to communicate with his peers and teachers.“

Sound familiar?

It’s quite ironic to me that school districts tout all these anti-bullying messages and messages of kindness and yet, this is the kind of stuff that they are famous for across the country.

So for anyone interested, FOI away!! You can always do an FOI to the Ministry of Finance at the same time, and see what you get. If they refuse to give it to you, you can file a complaint with OIPC and see what the OIPC thinks about that.

Evidence of Harm. Effective Advocacy in Education.

Why is collecting evidence of harm so important?

Part of an effective way to advocate for your child is going to be your ability to communicate with the school.

The information that you tell them is going to impact that effectiveness and also trigger certain human rights obligations.

The Duty to Accommodate is established under section 8 of the Human Rights Code of BC.

In order for you to convince the tribunal that your child has experienced discrimination, the first part of the test will be to prove the 3-part discrimination test.

This is from the website of the BC Human Rights Tribunal

Test for Discrimination

“Moore v. BC (Education), 2012 SCC 61. To prove discrimination, a complainant has to prove that:

they have a characteristic protected by the Human Rights Code [Code];
they experienced an adverse impact with respect to an area protected by the Code; and
the protected characteristic was a factor in the adverse impact.

Once a complainant proves these three things, the respondent can defend itself by proving its conduct was justified. If the respondent proves its conduct was justified, then there is no discrimination. If the respondent’s conduct is not justified, discrimination will be found to occur (para. 33).”

In the context of disability, you will need to prove that they have a physical/mental disability that the school was aware of, that they experienced harm, and that this harm was connected to their disability.

We already have it written in a decision that not all negative experiences are discrimination. Their disability must be a FACTOR in the conduct.

X by Y v. Board of Education of School District No. Z, 2024 BCHRT 72
110] ….I accept that these incidents which X relayed to Y were upsetting to X. I appreciate that the interactions may have fed into X’s general feelings of unease at school, but the fact alone that these events may have happened is not enough, in itself, to establish that X’s disability factored into them. Not all negative experiences are discrimination. Even accepting that these incidents occurred, I did not hear evidence that could establish, on a balance of probabilities, that X’s disability was a factor in the conduct of the adults involved in these interactions.

So….. what does this mean as parents?

We need to document the harm.

Here is my blog Documenting the Harm specifically on how to do that.

We need to be able to communicate to the school and connect the dots for them, that what they are doing is creating harm.

As parents, we need to communicate to the school that our child is struggling and this struggle is connected to their disability. This will trigger MEANINGFUL INQUIRY. They must investigate and come up with solutions to try and decrease the impact of harm.

Meaningful Inquiry

[99] Next, in B v. School District, 2019 BCHRT 170, the evidence supported that the school district provided the child with the recommended supports and accommodations. The Tribunal found that it was “only with hindsight” that it was possible to say that the child could have benefited from more support: para. 81. It dismissed the complaint in part because there was insufficient evidence to demonstrate that the school district reasonably ought to have known that the child required more: para. 98. In contrast here, I have found that the District had sufficient information to trigger some kind of inquiry or response beyond asking the Student how she was doing and, assuming the counsellor did this, advising of available supports.

[100] In short, I agree with the District that the Parent and Student were obliged to bring forward information relating to accommodation. The Parent did that, when she communicated that the Student had anxiety and trichotillomania and that school was taking a significant toll on her physical and mental health. That information should have been enough to prompt a meaningful inquiry by the school to identify what was triggering the Student’s symptoms and what supports or accommodations may be appropriate to ensure she was able to meaningfully and equitably access her education. The failure to take that step was, in my view, not reasonable. As a result, the disability-related impacts on the Student, arising from conditions in her Language 10 class between April 24 and June 27, 2019, have not been justified and violate s. 8 of the Human Rights Code.

We don’t need to necessarily say overtly, that we are considering filing a human rights complaint. We can communicate in a way that shows them we are taking these issues seriously and one way of doing that is to provide them with evidence of the harm.

It may be through pictures of what has happened or video, but it can also just simply be statements the child has made at home about school or drawings they have done or things they have written down. Feel free to quote your child. Emailing this to the school does create an evidence trail so that if things are not resolved and you do decide to file a human rights complaint, all of these emails will form part of your document disclosure and you can bring them to your settlement meeting.

The respondents (the lawyers defending the school district) are going to make arguments that the school’s actions are justified and that reasonable accommodations were provided.

However, if your child is still experiencing harm, how can they argue that reasonable accommodations were provided? That’s why we need evidence of the harm.

The school district also has the final decision-making power with your child’s education. Parents have a duty to facilitate. Even if we don’t agree with their decision we must not become a barrier to their decision or if in the future we file a human rights complaint, it may be dismissed. Here is the case that created the duty to facilitate.

A and B obo Infant A v. School District C (No. 5), 2018 BCHRT 25

[248] The School District is not the only party with obligations in the accommodation process. Rather, the parents were obliged, as the Child’s representatives, to work towards facilitating an appropriate accommodation: Central Okanagan School District No. 23 v. Renaud, 1992 CanLII 81 (SCC), [1992] 2 SCR 970. If the School District initiated a reasonable proposal that would, if implemented, accommodate the Child, then the Parents were obliged to facilitate that proposal. Failure to do so is fatal to their complaint of discrimination.

So, if their decision is creating harm, we are going to need evidence of that to show that what they decided isn’t working.

I know this piece of collecting evidence can be really hard for parents. They don’t feel that they “should” have to do this. They feel that this is being too aggressive and they don’t want to upset people at their child’s school. I get it. No one wants to feel that they are in an adversarial relationship with their child’s school. Jumping the shark can be really hard.

When you advocate you can still be pleasantly persistent and communication doesn’t need to be adversarial. However, I haven’t known of any effective advocacy when parents put being viewed as “nice” as their priority, over effective communication.

Here is the Inclusive Education Manual created by Incluison BC for helpful information on how to communicate with your child’s school. Here is Family Support Institute’s Toolkit Resources on education advocacy. And I would also just want to add, that if things get intense…which sometimes they do. Please read my blog on 5 Rules on How to be Untouchable

Document

Communicate

Repeat

And if that doesn’t work….

You have external complaint systems

External Resolution Options in Education

But still, like air, I’ll rise…

History is full of challenges and unfairness. It is also full of legends, advocates, activists, heroes, and system disruptors. Relentless fighters for the good.

Let us start off this week by soaking in the words of the poem I Rise by Maya Angelou. This is a video that I have watched many many times.

With so much happening right now, we need each other now even more. We need community. We need collaboration. We need friends. We need support. And so, like air, I’ll rise. We’ll rise.

I Rise

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may tread me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I’ll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
‘Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I’ll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don’t you take it awful hard
‘Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines
Diggin’ in my own back yard.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I’ve got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history’s shame
I rise
Up from a past that’s rooted in pain
I rise
I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.

Mayo Angelou

Exclusion and the Bumpy Conversations Ahead

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.

Tag: ableism