WATERLOO, ON: The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms announces that cross-examinations are scheduled for Wednesday, March 25, in a judicial review challenging the Waterloo Region District School Board’s (WRDSB) imposition of mandatory land acknowledgements at school council meetings.
Lawyers funded by the Justice Centre are representing Dr. Geoffrey Horsman, a biochemistry professor, school council member, and father of three, who is challenging the Board’s policy requiring land acknowledgements while prohibiting any discussion or debate about the practice.
Dr. Horsman’s concerns began when the Kitchener Waterloo Collegiate and Vocational School Council started opening meetings with land acknowledgements despite never having voted on or debated the issue. In the spring of 2025, he requested that the matter be added to a future agenda, but the Council Chair declined and directed him to the school principal.
On May 9, 2025, a school official informed Dr. Horsman that the Board requires land acknowledgements at all school council meetings and that the topic could not be debated. Further correspondence from the Board’s System Administrator of Equity and Inclusive Education, Mr. Vinay Tiwari, confirmed that land acknowledgements were mandatory and that school councils were barred from questioning or discussing the practice.
Dr. Horsman’s legal challenge argues that mandating land acknowledgements compels him to sit through a statement that contradicts his belief in the inherent dignity and equality of all people, engaging his Charter-protected freedom of conscience, which protects the right to hold and maintain one’s deeply held beliefs without coercion.
This concern is reflected in correspondence included with his reply affidavit. In an email exchange with the school board, Dr. Horsman challenged a striking claim made by a school official, who stated in part: “I do not believe we can just choose to stop having Territorial Acknowledgements. We cannot enter into any discussion that risks violating any of our members’ Human Rights and our School Council has to respect the Ontario Human Rights Code at all times.” Dr. Horsman disagreed, responding: “My sense is that most people are not committed to either side of the debate, but acquiesce… out of fear, conformity, or compliance.”
Constitutional lawyer Hatim Kheir said, “School councils exist to give a voice to parents. It is unconstitutional for the Board to mandate ideological recitations and prohibit any debate to the contrary.”
