Ontario Teacher Files Defamation Lawsuit Against School Board for Calling Her ‘Transphobic’

Ontario Teacher Files Defamation Lawsuit Against School Board for Calling Her ‘Transphobic’
Students cross the street on their way to school in Mississauga, Ontario, on April 1, 2021. Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press
Andrew Chen
Updated:

A retired teacher is filing a defamation lawsuit against Waterloo Region District School Board (WRDSB) and its board chair for calling her “transphobic” and ordering her to stay home from school after she raised questions about the age-appropriateness of sexual content in children’s books in an elementary school library earlier this year.

Carolyn Burjoski, who worked as a WRDSB teacher for 20 years, announced her legal action in a video on May 4, saying that the incident exposed “a serious problem” that school boards are “using language and human rights legislations as weapons to silence anyone who questions their policies.”