The Waterloo Region District School Board is facing a constitutional fight after a local parent and school council member launched a court challenge over the board’s decision to require land acknowledgements at every meeting and block any discussion about them.The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms has filed the application on behalf of Geoffrey Horsman, a biochemistry professor, father of three, and member of the Kitchener Waterloo Collegiate and Vocational School Council. Horsman says the board has imposed an ideological statement on parents without consent, debate or legal authority.Horsman first objected when his school council began opening meetings with land acknowledgements, despite never voting on the practice. When he tried to have the topic added to the agenda in spring 2025, the council chair refused and sent him to the principal. On May 9, he was told the school board mandates the acknowledgements and forbids any debate..The board later doubled down. In an October 29, 2025 email, Vinay Tiwari, the board’s system administrator of equity and inclusive education, insisted the acknowledgements would remain mandatory and warned that questioning equity initiatives “risks undermining the dignity of members of our community.”The judicial review argues the board has violated the Charter in multiple ways. Horsman says forcing him to sit through a statement that contradicts his beliefs breaches his freedom of conscience under section 2(a). He also says banning any discussion silences his freedom of expression under section 2(b). In addition, the application argues the board has no statutory authority under the Education Act or its regulations to dictate ideological recitations to school councils.“School councils exist to give a voice to parents,” said constitutional lawyer Hatim Kheir. “It is unconstitutional for the board to mandate ideological recitations and prohibit any debate to the contrary.”Horsman said parents have effectively become a captive audience. “The most egregious part is that parents are forbidden from even discussing the appropriateness of such statements at school councils — one of the few official communication channels available for parent input,” he said.
