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Governing Ourselves informs members of legal and regulatory matters affecting the profession. This section provides updates on licensing and qualification requirements, notification of Council resolutions and reports from various Council committees, including reports on accreditation and discipline matters.
The College’s Investigation Committee considers all complaints made to the College about its members and reviews all information resulting from investigations. The committee can dismiss a complaint or refer the matter, in whole or in part, to the Discipline or Fitness to Practise committees for a hearing.
The Investigation Committee may also caution or admonish the member in writing or in person, or provide written reminders or advice, or ratify a Memorandum of Agreement reached through the complaint resolution process.
By law, cases under investigation are confidential. For the education of members, the following account, based on facts from real cases, raises important questions about teacher conduct such as what is appropriate and what is not. Details have been altered to respect confidentiality.
In the spring of 2015, the College received a letter of notification from a school board regarding Louis, an elementary school teacher. The letter alleged that, over the course of a few months, Louis made a number of inappropriate comments to students including telling a student that he looked like a terrorist and telling two students that they needed the walk they had taken because they could use the exercise.
Information received from the board also indicated that Louis had made demeaning comments about a student’s country of origin, asking her if she was glad that her parents left their country because there, children were forced into criminal gangs. As a result of his behaviour, the board issued a letter of discipline. Louis was also suspended for five days without pay.
The College’s CEO and Registrar subsequently initiated a complaint against him.
Explaining his behaviour, Louis said that his remark about the student looking like a terrorist was based on the student looking like terrorists he had seen in news programs. He added that he made the comment with no negative tone or look.
He also said that his comments about students needing exercise were intended to be humorous and the students appeared to accept them. He stated he had made these remarks in class for many years and they were never misunderstood.
He also said that he made the country of origin comment in relation to a prominent newspaper article published that day and was hoping to engage the student.
If you were a member of the Investigation Committee, what would you do?
The panel decided not to refer the matter to the Discipline Committee, but it issued an admonishment to Louis. An admonishment is a way to communicate the concerns of the Investigation Committee that is not disciplinary in nature.
In their decision, the panel members expressed their concerns about the frequency of Louis’s remarks over the course of a few months.
The committee noted Louis’s explanations about his statements. However, the panel determined that he needed to be aware of the potential impact of such comments on students in an environment that is required to be safe and welcoming. Given that teachers work with a diverse community of students, the panel was concerned about the insensitivity of the statements as they relate to students’ culture and body shape.
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