We are pleased to provide the archived video of our event in honour of the 25th Anniversary of the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in Eaton v Brant County Board of Education.
The YouTube link to the complete recording of the event is here.
Legal Panel
Our legal speakers were the Honourable Louise Arbour, author of the Court of Appeal decision; the legal team that argued the decision, being Justice Anne Molloy, Superior Court of Justice; the Honourable Stephen Goudge, retired Court of Appeal Justice; and Janet Budgell, Vice President, General Counsel and Compliance of Legal Aid Ontario. Our speakers shared the profound impact of this decision on the legal and education communities and on them personally.
Education Panel
We also heard from educators and families involved in inclusive education, making it work on the ground. Panel members were parent and IAO Board member Sonia Spreafico; Jacqui Specht, Director, Canadian Centre for Inclusive Education; Karen Congram, Head, Special Education Services, Stratford District Secondary School, Avon Maitland District School Board; and Karen Sheydwasser, Education Assistant at Dr. Margaret-Ann Arbour School, in Edmonton.
Resource Materials
Here are some additional materials on the Eaton decision and its impact on the law and the legal community:
- Excerpts from a journal article written by David Lepofsky analyzing the Eaton decision.
- An “appeal” of the Supreme Court of Canada decision to the “Women’s Court of Canada,” authored by the late Dianne Pothier, a visually impaired professor of law.
We are also providing the following materials related to special education and inclusive education:
- “A Relic of the Past: Identification, Placement and Review Committees in Ontario’s Education System,” by Luke Reid, Gillian Parekh and Robert Lattanzio.
- Advocacy modules aimed at students with disabilities and parents advocating for inclusion in education. ARCH, in partnership with Inclusive Education Canada, has developed these modules.
During the event, we talked about the Supreme Court of Canada’s 2012 decision in Moore v British Columbia (Education), 2012 SCC 61, which applies a human rights analysis to disability-related accommodations within the education context.
The Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario used the framework set out in the Moore case in a decision called R.B. v. Keewatin-Patricia District School Board, 2013 HRTO 1436.
To learn more about Emily Eaton’s story, you can purchase this book
