Former teacher can proceed with $1.75M defamation suit against Waterloo Region District School Board

The Ontario Court of Appeal has ruled a former teacher can proceed with a defamation lawsuit against the Waterloo Region District School Board.

Carolyn Burjoski says comments made by the board chair at the time about her after a January 2022 meeting when she was a delegation were out of line and hurt her reputation.

Burjoski, a former English as a second language teacher, was removed from the meeting in 2022 after she expressed concerns about the content in some elementary school books.

Burjoski gave two examples of books she objected to. The first had an asexual protagonist, the second had a transgender protagonist. 

During the meeting, then chair Scott Piatkowski warned Burjoski he felt her comments could violate the province's human rights code. He later ended her presentation, saying the code includes gender identity and gender expression as protected grounds. 

After the meeting, Piatkowski spoke to local media about the delegation and court documents show he said Burjoski's comments violated the human rights code.

In one interview, Piatkowski was asked whether ending Burjoski's delegation was the right move and he responded: "We have a responsibility as a school board to not allow hate into our board meetings, and I'm quite satisfied that this was the right decision," the court documents show.

$1.75M defamation lawsuit filed

In May 2022, Burjoski filed a $1.75 million defamation lawsuit against the school board and Piatkowski. The case has been working its way through the court since then.

Following her delegation to the board, Burjoski says she was put on home assignment, which prevented her from working the final weeks before retirement with "dignity and respect."

Burjoski's statement of claim alleges that in the days following the meeting, she became the centre of an "international news story" where she was unfairly described as transphobic and discriminatory.

"All of this was the result of [the chair's] and WRDSB's conduct and their false and malicious statements," the statement of claim says. Burjoski also says in the statement that she later suffered a nervous breakdown. 

None of Burjoski's allegations have been proven in court. 

Case to go to trial

This latest development in the case was heard on Sept. 11 and a decision was released this week by the Ontario Court of Appeal. 

The decision also noted the school board removed the video of the meeting from YouTube, so people were unable to watch what happened and hear Burjoski's comments themselves.

As well, the court awarded Burjoski $15,000 in costs.

In a statement after the decision was released on Tuesday, Burjoski says she's "deeply grateful" the court "recognized the merit of my case and my right to defend my reputation."

In an email to CBC News, the school board said that "as this matter is currently before the courts, it would not be appropriate for us to provide comment."

The case will next go to trial in Ontario Superior Court.