Chilliwack Board of Education to consider changes to public participation at board meetings

CHILLIWACK — The Chilliwack Board of Education is set to consider changes to how the public interacts with the school board at its virtual online meeting today.

According to an update to Bylaw 5 prepared by SD33 Secretary-Treasurer Simone Sangster, the proposed modification changes the methods by which the board receives comments and questions during the public participation period, and encourages the community to submit written questions and/or comments either through email or at the public meeting. Sangster wrote that the school district values public participation, but it is not required through the School Act.

Sangster’s report recommends a change from oral questions to written questions to enable participation by those who are not at the meeting. According to edits of the existing bylaw, the public may submit questions and comments for the school board in writing through email at [email protected] with the subject line of “Public Participation Question” or during the meeting through the form available at the board meeting.

According to the proposed bylaw changes from Sangster, questions and/or comments should be submitted by no later than 30 minutes before the start of the meeting for public participation, and no later than the start of the final public participation. Board meetings will have two public participation periods. Questions and/or comments will be asked in order of submission. The board chair (Willow Reichelt) will have discretion to call questions out of order. The writer of any question and/or comment ruled out of order will be contacted and the item will be brought to the next in-camera board meeting.Chilliwack school board meetings have been a source of contentious debates both inside and outside of the district office. Following rancorous exchanges during the public participation portion of meetings, as well as from people who were videotaping the board from inside the district chambers, the school board began to require photo ID and phone numbers from people who wished to watch meetings earlier this year. They were also required to fill out a brief two-item form affirming the following: “I acknowledge that this is a Public Board Meeting that is livestreamed and recorded for public viewing; I acknowledge that no other video/audio recordings are permitted with the exception of authorized media.”

There have been protests outside the school district office during school board meetings, including a recent one in October where a pro-SOGI contingent clashed with anti-SOGI protesters. Several Chilliwack RCMP officers were present during the boisterous rally to help maintain the peace.

When a former SD33 employee, Lynda di Armani, tried to speak at a June 2023 meeting of the Chilliwack school board, her remarks were repeatedly shut down by the board chair and vice-chair. Four months later, the Calgary-based Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF) announced on October 18 that a lawsuit had been filed against the Chilliwack School District after its board chair and vice-chair allegedly censored and ultimately ended di Armani’s public remarks. JCCF says the lawsuit was filed on October 6, 2023 in the Supreme Court of British Columbia, with a court file number of CHI-S-S-40035.

According to the JCCF, Lynda di Armani drew attention to a video that shows the board’s chair, Willow Reichelt, and vice-chair, Carin Bondar, repeatedly interrupting her and muting her microphone as she stood at the podium during a public meeting. Armani’s remarks begin at the 24-minute mark of the school board meeting.

On June 13, 2023, Ms. di Armani, a former SD33 employee of 10 years and grandmother of two children enrolled in the BC school system, attended the meeting of the school board to express her concerns about a potential conflict of interest involving an elected board member, according to the JCCF. The JCCF says she began her remarks by saying that trustee Teri Westerby had brought forward a motion that the board support pride month in June and raise a pole to fly the pride flag. As di Armani began to point out that Westerby was also the director of marketing for the Chilliwack Pride Society, she was interrupted by the chair, Willow Reichelt, in conjunction with vice-chair Carin Bondar claiming that di Armani’s remarks were “discriminatory” to a board member.

Before the public participation period began in the video, Reichelt reminded the public not to be disparaging or discriminatory in their remarks and not to mention any individuals by name.

According to the JCCF, chair Reichelt also told Ms. di Armani that trustee’s names are not to be used during meetings and that there could be no conflict of interest because there was “no pecuniary interest.” Chair Reichelt further stated, “When you are talking about a human right, there is no conflict of interest,” the JCCF said.

Over the course of the next two minutes, JCCF says di Armani was interrupted four times and had her microphone cut off. At times, the audio for the entire meeting was muted, and there is simply silence on the public record. A full-length video of the proceedings, including the muted segments, is available on the District’s YouTube Channel.

According to the court filing, di Armani says she was advised by chair Reichelt that she could speak to her own feelings about pride, but if she called out a trustee by name she would have to take a seat. After being silenced repeatedly, di Armani argues that Bondar told her, “Basic human rights include reflection of human rights [sic].”

In addition to this alleged violation of her own charter-protected freedom of expression, JCCF says Armani also objects to the school board’s policy of not allowing members of the public to make their own recordings of these public meetings. As she entered the meeting, she was required to sign an undertaking stating she would not record anything. With the school board controlling the only recording of the meeting, and choosing to mute the recording, di Armani alleges that the school board is violating the charter-protected right of other people to hear, listen and consider alternative viewpoints.

The board was created by British Columbia’s School Act, which requires the Board to hold public meetings and to create bylaws to regulate those meetings. While the chair is authorized to cut off the remarks of speakers who don’t comply with their bylaw, the chair is not allowed to silence people simply because the chair disagrees with what someone is saying, JCCF argues.

Di Armani seeks a court declaration that the board exceeded its authority and infringed on her charter rights. JCCF says she is also asking for court orders that would prevent the board from acting in a similar censorious manner in the future, and that would allow members of the public to make their own recordings of these public meetings.

“Elected officials exercising government power must respect Canadians’ Charter freedoms,” states Marty Moore, counsel for di Armani. “The Chilliwack School Board’s actions in this case show complete disregard for the freedom of expression, not only of my client, but also of the listening public, who have a right to hear the views of others at Board meetings. Unfortunately, this kind of censorship is a regular occurrence at Chilliwack School Board meetings. We will be seeking court orders to put an end to these violations of Charter rights and freedoms.”

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by Mike Vanden Bosch, Fraser Valley Today