She was barred from attending future meetings after the Durham, Ontario area school board drafted a new human rights policy and a board member expressed concern about it.
Trustee Linda Stone’s criticisms include the policy’s use of the term “white supremacist” and how it keeps parents in the dark if their child’s gender changes. I got
The Durham District School Board (DDSB) decided at a February 6 meeting to ban her for violating the board’s code of conduct.
The counterargument against her stretched over 55 pages. document This included tweets from her personal account and comments she made at the conference. She said her comments violated the Code in that they “could harm members of the community” and did not support the board’s “vision and values” where appropriate.
One of the complaints against her from former council member Darlene Forbes was that Stone “tarnished DDSB’s reputation, was contrary to DDSB’s equity and diversity initiatives, and was considered a potentially harmful racist.” We thank the students and staff of DDSB for supporting transphobic perspectives. “
Many of the comments in question were made by Stone over a year ago. Stone resigned in May 2022 over the controversy, but was re-elected in the fall. It culminated in January, leading to a board decision this month.
Stone’s comment
The Board’s draft new human rights guidelines state that “systemic discrimination and racism exist in DDSB, and that discriminatory and racist ideologies, systems, cultures, and white supremacy, sexism, and , heteronormativity, cisnormativity/cisgenderism, cissexism, and the structural dominance of cissexism.
Stone commented at the October 25, 2021 meeting (among comments raised by the Board): I’m worried about the staff, students, parents, and how this term will be received. This term distinguishes white people from everyone else. This term is derogatory. People perceive it as derogatory, even if it is described as non-derogatory. believe me. “
She said she wanted it removed “so people don’t feel small or feel like they’ve done something wrong because of the color of their skin.”
Scott Templeton, the trustee at the time, said the Ontario Human Rights Code uses the term “white supremacy” in a similar sense and is therefore not subject to discussion by the board.
At the November 9, 2021 board meeting, Stone said:
A human rights and equity adviser to the board responded that “cis-normative” assumes cisgender is the norm, and that the term describes “systemic prejudices against trans people.”
At the same conference, Stone addressed the topic of “privacy and confidentiality” in a draft related to student gender identity.
Stone said: And it affects whether students undergo surgery or other procedures. “
“Staff have a responsibility under Ontario’s human rights law to uphold the rights of students within the school environment and to recognize and affirm their gender identity,” the document said. rice field.
On January 24, 2022, Stone said: When someone disagrees with orthodox thinking, holds a different opinion, or simply asks for clarification or definition of terms, like me, their questions and comments are offensive, harmful, and show a lack of understanding. human rights. “
In a complaint two days later, trustee Niki Lundquist called Stone’s speech on free speech an “improper denunciation.”
The document states that the trustee’s freedom of speech is not protected to the same extent as other elected public officials such as members of parliament. and to help them “adapt and transform effectively” to changing challenges.
The Epoch Times asked the commission and the arbitrator who wrote the document to elaborate on how they distinguish between policy comments and ideological statements. The Board has not responded at the time of publication.
Tweet
Since being deactivated, Stone’s Twitter account had a disclaimer in his profile information that read, “Personal tweets, views and opinions are my own.”
Two tweets within the document included the following: “Should biological men participate in women’s sports?” and “How many different pronouns are there? And can they be changed daily? That may make it even more difficult for teachers.”
It included several retweets. One is Retweet of an article written by Ontario teacher Chanel Fahl, who was being investigated by the Ontario Teachers College to say that critical race theory should not be taught in schools. model of the kindness of people”.
the other one is Retweet It’s a term used by people who identify as non-binary or who don’t want to explicitly refer to their anatomy as breasts. The tweet wrote, “Chests are hollow. ‘Chest feeders’ are not only medically inaccurate, they are medically impossible.” “
Stone declined an interview request from the Epoch Times.