Results | Oct 25, 2024

LOLG Successful in Dismissal of Appeal from School Board Code of Conduct Decision

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On October 23, 2024, the Court of Appeal for Ontario released its decision in Del Grande v Toronto Catholic District School Board. The Court upheld the Board’s sanction of Mr. Del Grande for violating its Code of Conduct with ‘degrading’ and ‘flippant’ rhetoric about gender identity and gender expression which ‘ignored the inherent dignity and worth of LGBTQ+ individuals’. 

The decision gives important direction about the ability of school boards to control their process including the right to reconsider prior decisions, the scope and purpose of the Education Act as it relates to the promotion of a ‘positive, accepting and inclusive school climate’, standard of review, application of re-litigation doctrines to board decisions and the balance to be struck between freedom of speech and protecting ‘young LGBTQ+ persons from demeaning and hateful rhetoric in schools, boards, and post-secondary institutions’. Read the decision here.