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Disruptions caused by protest has school board trustees wondering how to hold public meetings

Members of the public must have access to meetings, but the priority is that meetings are not held in secret, not that the public has physical access to meetings, says the president of the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association.

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Trustees at Ottawa’s largest school board are contemplating how to hold public meetings after police were called in to disperse a raucous crowd during a special meeting to discuss mandatory masking in schools.

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About 150 people attended Tuesday’s meeting at the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board headquarters. It ended without a vote after those who supported masking were heckled and jeered, with those opposed to the measure chanting “freedom” and “shame.”  Some parents also came forward to express objections to masking.

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Trustees took two recesses and police were eventually called to clear the boardroom. The meeting continued online on Thursday “in the interest of safety,” the board said. The motion to reintroduce masking failed after six trustees voted in favour and six opposed it.

Trustee Lyra Evans, who was voted board chair in early November, said school boards had legal obligations to hear public submissions, but also obligations to keep staff safe.

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Any decision about how to run future meetings will require reconciling these obligations, Evans said. School boards must be able to go on fact-finding missions and listen to members of the community, but they also have to be able to debate issues and make decisions.

“There were a lot of people who made doing these things difficult,” Evans said.

Trustee Lyra Evans, Ottawa-Carleton District School Board chair, says boards have legal obligations to hear public submissions, but also obligations to keep staff safe.
Trustee Lyra Evans, Ottawa-Carleton District School Board chair, says boards have legal obligations to hear public submissions, but also obligations to keep staff safe. Photo by Julie Oliver /Postmedia

The school board hired a private security firm for Tuesday’s meeting, but that firm does not have a hands-on policy and could not remove those who disrupted the meeting, Evans added.

Newly elected trustee Dr. Nili Kaplan-Myrth said she had received 500 emails opposition to masking. More than 80 were harassing or suggested violence.

Kaplan-Myrth said she felt threatened on Tuesday. “If we have zero tolerance for schoolyard bullies, why are we allowing bullies into the board? I don’t think this bodes well for any kind of civil discourse if the people who are the most loud and aggressive show up all the time.”

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Cathy Abraham, president of the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association, said raucous meetings had happened before. During this fall’s municipal elections, she heard from candidates who felt threatened.

“We are absolutely in a different environment now,” Abraham said. “But it’s not unprecedented. Just look at meetings when their are school closings.”

Members of the public must have access to meetings, but the priority is that meetings are not held in secret, not that the public has physical access to meetings, Abraham said.

Other school boards have taken actions ranging from hiring security firms to requiring the public to watch proceedings in another room via video, or holding meetings online, as school boards have done throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

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“We really want people to see the work we’re doing. We’re proud of it. But you can’t work if you’re feeling threatened,” Abraham said.

“No one should feel threatened for doing the work they have been elected to do.”

Amir Attaran, a University of Ottawa professor in the Faculty of Law and the School of Epidemiology, Public Health and Community Medicine urged the school board to consider applying for an injunction against disruptive protesters, as was done to silence truck horns during the convoy protest last winter.
Amir Attaran, a University of Ottawa professor in the Faculty of Law and the School of Epidemiology, Public Health and Community Medicine urged the school board to consider applying for an injunction against disruptive protesters, as was done to silence truck horns during the convoy protest last winter. Photo by Jean Levac /Postmedia News

What happened to the school board Tuesday was what happened to downtown Ottawa during the “Freedom Convoy” protests, said Amir Attaran, a University of Ottawa professor in the Faculty of Law and the School of Epidemiology, Public Health and Community Medicine.

The school board must behave differently with those who have taken this approach to democracy, said Attaran, who urged the board to consider applying for an injunction against disruptive protesters, as lawyer Paul Champ did to silence truck horns during the convoy protest.

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The injunction worked with the convoy and it could work in this case if it was known that protesters could be arrested for contempt of court, Attaran said. An injunction could prevent people from protesting inside the school board building, but they could protest outside.

“Our city has learned nothing. The city has to be the least intelligent place for civic discourse right now,” Attaran said.

Evans is concerned about the perceived “success” of disruption tactics.

“The antics on Tuesday happened, and they got what they wanted,” Evans said. “There is going to be the perception that these sorts of antics will get you what you want.”

Evans said there were no proposals yet for changes to how meetings were run. In a statement, an OCDSB spokesperson said board practice was to hold in-person meetings.

“With every meeting, we review the agenda and consider the nature and and level of public interest and what supports need to be in place to manage effectively,” the spokesperson said. “We will continue this practice with the opportunity to learn from our experience this week.”

The motion to reintroduce mandatory masking in Ottawa-Carleton District School Board schools failed on a 6-6 tie vote by trustees.
The motion to reintroduce mandatory masking in Ottawa-Carleton District School Board schools failed on a 6-6 tie vote by trustees. Photo by ERROL MCGIHON /Postmedia

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