The Self-Represented Child in School Discipline under Ontario’s Education Act

In Ontario, students facing school discipline are not parties to their own suspension and expulsion proceedings. As in other areas of law, children in education law are treated as not having sufficient capacity to advance their own interests and must rely on adults to do so on their behalf. This barrier to direct participation in proceedings that affect them runs contrary to children’s participation rights under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and to general principles of fairness. For children who are responsible for their own education the inability to independently challenge school authorities with respect to school discipline undermines their education and their dignity. School discipline processes should be designed to respect children as individual rights holders.