HAMILTON, ON: The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms announces that a legal warning letter has been sent to the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board after it suspended a parent from her role on the School Council for respectfully objecting to land acknowledgements.
Catherine Kronas, a concerned parent with a child enrolled at Ancaster High Secondary School, was re-elected to serve on School Council in October 2024.
During a Council meeting on April 9, 2025, Ms. Kronas asked that her respectful objection to land acknowledgements be noted in the minutes. No disruption occurred; her comments were limited to requesting that her dissenting viewpoint be recorded.
On May 22, 2025, however, the School Board informed Ms. Kronas that her involvement on the Council was being “paused” based on allegations that she had caused harm and had violated a Code of Conduct Policy. She has not been permitted to attend the next scheduled meeting.
Ms. Kronas was unsettled by the Board’s decision, saying, “I was taken aback by the Board’s decision to suspend me from the School Council after delivering a respectful objection, especially given assurances made at a previous council meeting and outlined in the Council bylaws that open dialogue and diverse perspectives are welcomed.”
“By barring me from the next meeting, the Council sends a troubling message to all parents: that even respectful disagreement may be met not with dialogue, but with disciplinary action. I am grateful to the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms for assisting me in this matter,” she remarked.
Constitutional lawyer Hatim Kheir said Ms. Kronas’ comments “were a reasonable and measured expression of a viewpoint held by many Canadians.”
“The Board’s decision to suspend her from the Council, which she has a right to sit on as an elected parent member, is an act of censorship that offends the right to freedom of expression,” he explained.
Mr. Kheir is calling for Ms. Kronas to be immediately reinstated to the Council and to be allowed to fulfill her elected role without further retaliation for expressing her views.
To view a brief video summary of this matter, click here.
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