A Newmarket trustee is pushing back legally against York Catholic District School Board after it censured her illegally, according to her law firm.
The board of trustees is preparing to respond to a letter from Weir Foulds LP. The law firm wrote on behalf of Newmarket, East Gwillimbury and Georgina trustee Theresa McNichol and said that the board acted illegally when it voted to bar her from attending meetings for the remainder of her elected term, through 2026.
The letter said the motion is “null and void.”
“It would be an abuse of process at this point, for the board and individual trustees to attempt to resuscitate stale allegations that have inflicted immeasurable harm on Trustee McNicol,” the letter said.
The board of trustees voted Sept. 26 to censure McNichol after a third-party report found her comments made regarding former Italian trustees to be discriminatory, an accusation McNichol has rejected. The vote was 5-4, with board members agreeing on discipline but split on barring McNichol for a full three years.
The letter from law firm Weir Fouls argues that no formal complaint was made about a breach of the code of conduct, and subsequent process was not followed, with the complaints being “outside the scope” of the code of conduct. An attempt from vice-chair Maria Iafrate to file a complaint Sept, 2, 2023, the letter argues, was also 14 months after the fact and was done subsequently to the investigation report received in August.
The letter also argues barring McNichol for three years is not included in the Education Act and “is entirely disproportionate and without precedent in its severity.” It also notes that policies regarding equity and workplace harassment cited in the motion are for employees, not trustees.
“For all of these reasons, the board had no jurisdiction to issue any sanctions,” the letter said.
The letter concludes with a note that McNichol should get reimbursed for legal expenses accrued in this dispute.
In response, board chair Frank Alexander said trustees would meet to satisfy the requirements of the Education Act and internal policy for the original resolution.
The board is holding a special meeting Oct. 26 on the issue, with a final decision on the board’s original resolution to come at an Oct. 28 meeting.
