Ousted Greater Victoria school trustees take B.C. to court over firing

Nine Greater Victoria school trustees fired by the British Columbia government earlier this year have filed a court petition to get their jobs back.

Education Minister Lisa Beare dismissed the entire elected board of School District No. 61 in January over its refusal to allow police officers in schools, except in certain circumstances, a decision Beare says she remains confident in.

The district previously had a police liaison program, but the ousted board resolved to end it in May 2023, basing the decision on reports that some students and teachers — particularly those who are Indigenous or people of colour — did not feel safe with officers in schools.

Their petition filed with the B.C. Supreme Court asks a judge to throw out the order that dismissed the board and installed a lone trustee to oversee the district until municipal elections in fall 2026.

The petition says the minister acted with the “improper purpose” of forcing the board to implement a school liaison officer program.

Beare says in a statement that she’s confident in her decision after giving the previous board multiple opportunities to work collaboratively with the community to address its needs.

She says she was pleased to hear the district submitted an updated safety plan for ministry review on Tuesday, and she is confident it takes into consideration community voices and “Indigenous voices that were previously ignored.”

Objections to the end of the previous school liaison officer program by local First Nations leaders had informed the Education Ministry’s decision to order the previous board to come up with a new safety plan last year.

Songhees Nation Chief Ron Sam expressed “immense gratitude for Minister Beare and her entire team” in a statement at the time the board was fired.

Beare’s statement on Wednesday says she has been receiving positive feedback about trustee Sherri Bell, a former president of Camosun College and superintendent of schools in Victoria, and the “improved conduct, culture, and collaboration at the board level.”

“Since the beginning, I’ve said that kids need to be at the centre of every decision we make.”

School District 61 administers about 20,000 students in 28 elementary schools, 10 middle schools, and seven secondary schools in the municipalities of Esquimalt, Oak Bay, Victoria, View Royal and a portion of Saanich and Highlands.

The allegations in the former trustees’ petition have not yet been tested in court.

The document claims the education minister did not have the jurisdiction to impose the liaison program directly or indirectly through a “procedurally unfair process” that ended with the board’s firing.

“The termination order was made on grounds that were without notice to the board and without providing the board with any opportunity to respond to them,” it says.

The minister acted in bad faith by forcing the board to reinstate a school liaison officer program “without being seen to do so,” it claims.

The petition says the board had followed an initial order to create a safety plan for the district, which did not require it to include a liaison officer program.

Beare then appointed a special adviser to help revise the plan. The order did not include a mandate for a police program, but the adviser “refused to continue working with the board” on a draft plan that did not include one, the petition says.

It says the board subsequently provided Beare with three versions of a revised safety plan, two of which did not include a school liaison officer program. The third did, having been prepared by the special adviser the minister had appointed.

The board had indicated that it recommended the first of the plans, the petition says, but “the second or third were acceptable, if the minster preferred.”

Beare fired the board about three weeks later.

“The minister, put in the position of having to openly reveal her intentions by selecting one of the three revised safety plans for approval, said nothing substantive about any of the alternatives, and instead embarked on a swift and secret governance review of the board,” says the petition dated March 31.

“Based on a myriad of vague allegations which were never put to the board for response, the minister obtained the support of cabinet to terminate the board.”

The petition says the ousted board had been open to adopting a type of police liaison program as long as there was “empirical evidence of its benefits,” and if it were structured in a way that gave the board “ultimate oversight” over it.

There was no written agreement or memorandum of understanding between the district and police under the previous iteration of the school liaison program, it says.

The board “had no oversight or input into the delivery of the program or the goals and activities of police liaison officers,” it says, and resolved to end it in May 2023.

The following summer, the petition says Beare’s predecessor raised concerns about an alleged increase in gang activity in schools and later ordered the board to work with local police forces to produce a safety plan by November 2024, sparking the months-long dispute that ended with the board’s termination.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 2, 2025.

Brenna Owen, The Canadian Press