The Huron-Superior Catholic District School Board will formally allow non-Catholic high school students to run for student trustee positions.
The move comes after an Ontario Superior Court ruled against the York Catholic District School Board after it prohibited a non-Catholic teen from running for student trustee.
“The board is aware of this case and the court's decision. As a result, we are in the process of amending our policy and procedural guidelines so that they are consistent with the court ruling. These changes will be in place for the upcoming student trustee election to take place before the end of April,” wrote Danny Viotto, H-SCDSB director of education in an email to SooToday.
While adult trustees are elected by taxpayers to vote on a host of educational matters, student trustees are elected by their peers to be the voices of a school board’s student body.
In each school year H-SCDSB has two seats for student trustees who can put forward students’ questions, concerns, provide feedback to board members and give updates on student activities at St. Mary’s College.
In 2021, York Catholic District School Board student Dasha Kandaharian, an Orthodox Christian, launched a lawsuit against the board over its policy that stated its student trustees must be Catholic.
Lawyers argued that the policy violated her Charter rights.
Toronto Catholic District School Board trustees voted in favour of changing its policy regarding non-Catholics running for student trustee positions in March.
“This has never come up as a concern in our board in the past to my knowledge. There is no regulation in place that a student must be Catholic to run for any student council position in our board. It was only an expectation for the student trustee board position,” Viotto wrote.
The board’s policy committee was made aware of the change to procedural guidelines this past Thursday.
“We have many students who come to us from many different religions. They are all warmly welcome in our board,” Viotto wrote.