Simon's Megalomaniacal Legal Resources

Appeal-Judicial Review - Reasons - Political Forum

. Carolyn Burjoski v. Waterloo Region District School Board

In Carolyn Burjoski v. Waterloo Region District School Board (Div Court, 2023) the Divisional Court considers a JR against a school board decision to stop a "presentation to a Committee of the Whole Meeting", partly on Charter grounds.

Here the focus was on the adequacy of reasons and the political nature of the forum:

31. There is no duty to give formal reasons in a context where the decision was made by elected representatives pursuant to a democratic process. A school board’s reasoning may be deduced from the debate, deliberations and the statements of policy that give rise to the decision in question (see: Law Society of British Columbia v. Trinity Western University, 2018 SCC 32, [2018] 2 S.C.R. 293). Accordingly, given that the decision was reached through a democratic process by elected trustees, it was not necessary for the WRDSB to give detailed formal reasons for the decision. In any event, the Chair made known to Burjoski the reasons for his ruling. In my view, the explanation when taken in context was adequate.