With regards to the delivery of education services by school boards to students
with disabilities, the Education Act states that boards are obligated to:
provide or enter into an agreement with another board to provide in
accordance with the regulations special education programs and
special education services for its exceptional pupils;^22
Adjudicators have subsequently continued to recognize the division of
responsibilities between a school board and the Ministry of Education.^23
Nonetheless, the Ministry may be held accountable within the realm of its
responsibilities although this will be highly dependent on the nature and facts of
each case, as “the Ministry does have a role in how a Board exercises its
responsibilities even in relation to particular students.”^24 The individual facts and
the manner within which a claim is framed will dictate whether any liability can be
found against the Ministry of Education.^25
The Education Act provides a number of avenues for redress in certain
contexts.^26 There may be numerous possible recourses that fall beyond the
Education Act. Although the appropriateness, effectiveness and strategic value of
any course of action requires an assessment specific to each case and the
issues raised in each set of facts, the following may be possible avenues to
consider: an application to the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (HRTO) (as will
be discussed below), a constitutional challenge pursuant to the Canadian Charter
of Rights and Freedoms,^27 a complaint to the Ontario College of Teachers,^28 and
(^22) Education Act, supra note 3, s 170(1), para 7. See also Special Education Programs and
Services, 23 RRO 1990, Reg 306.
See e.g. JY by his next friend RY v Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic District School Board, 2013
HRTO 806; EP v Ottawa Catholic School Board, 2011 HRTO 657; Schafer v Toronto District
School Board, 2010 HRTO 403; and see Sagharian v Ontario (Education), 2007 Canlii 6933
(ONSC). 24
25 Davidson v Lambton Kent District School Board, 2008 HRTO 294^ at^ para 34.^
See Sigrist and Carson v London District Catholic School Board, 2008 HRTO 14 at paras 15-
- 26
27 See e.g. Education Act, supra note 3, ss 57, 265(1)(m), 309, 311.7.^
Part I of the Constitution Act, 1982, being Schedule B to the Canada Act 1982 (UK), 1982, c11
[ 28 Charter].
See online: Ontario College of Teachers http://www.oct.ca/public/complaints-and-discipline.