Ontario mom suspended from school board council after objection to land acknowledgement

Catherine Kronas, a parent with a student enrolled at Ancaster High Secondary School, was informed on May 22, 2025, that her participation on the school council was being “paused” due to allegations that she caused harm and violated a Code of Conduct Policy.

She has since been barred from attending council meetings.

The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF), which is now representing Kronas, issued a legal warning to the board and called the suspension an unlawful act of censorship.

Kronas was re-elected to the school council in October 2024. At an April 9, 2025 meeting, she requested that her dissenting view on land acknowledgements be noted in the official minutes. Her remarks caused no disruption and were limited to her request that her position be recorded.

“I was taken aback by the Board’s decision to suspend me from the School Council after delivering a respectful objection,” Kronas said in a statement. “Especially given assurances made at a previous council meeting and outlined in the Council bylaws that open dialogue and diverse perspectives are welcomed.”

“By barring me from the next meeting, the Council sends a troubling message to all parents: that even respectful disagreement may be met, not with dialogue, but with disciplinary action,” she continued. “I am grateful to the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms for assisting me in this matter.”

In a legal warning letter to the board, JCCF constitutional lawyer Hatim Kheir stated that Kronas’ remarks “were a reasonable and measured expression of a viewpoint held by many Canadians.”

“The Board’s decision to suspend her from the Council, which she has a right to sit on as an elected parent member, is an act of censorship that offends the right to freedom of expression,” Kheir said.

The Justice Centre is calling for Kronas to be reinstated immediately and allowed to fulfill her elected duties without further retaliation.