Rights panel will not hear appeal from fired transgender teacher
A transgender man removed from the St. Albert Catholic school district’s substitute teacher roster has lost his latest bid to have a human rights tribunal hear his discrimination complaint.
In a written decision Friday, the Alberta Court of Appeal upheld earlier decisions by an Alberta Human Rights Commission tribunal and the Court of Queen’s Bench that a tribunal can’t hear Jan Buterman’s complaint because he agreed to a settlement with the school board.
Buterman said he never agreed to the terms of the settlement and accepted no money from the school board.
Although he’s disappointed a human rights tribunal never heard the question of whether it’s acceptable for an employer to fire a worker based on gender expression, Buterman said he’s grateful for all he learned during the legal process.
“If we don’t raise those issues at all, nothing will ever change. I think it’s far better to try and not make it, than never try,” he said.
Buterman hears frequently from transgender people who believe they were fired because of their gender expression. Buterman’s case was a rare instance when he had the reason in writing, he said, which could have led to a precedent-setting ruling.
Gender identity and gender expression were added as protected grounds to Alberta’s human rights code in 2015. Buterman is unsure of his next step.
In an online statement, school district superintendent David Keohane said he is aware of the decision and has no further comment.
The president of the Alberta Catholic School Trustees’ Association also declined to comment.
The case has wound its way through hearings and courtrooms for nearly a decade.
In October 2008, while Buterman was transitioning to male from female, the board removed him from its list of substitute teachers. A letter to Buterman at the time said, “the teaching of the Catholic Church is that persons cannot change their gender. One’s gender is considered what God created us to be.”
Buterman filed a complaint with the Alberta Human Rights Commission, which prompted the school board to offer him a settlement — $78,000 in exchange for him to drop his complaint, a promise not to file any future complaints on the matter, and to keep the settlement terms secret.
Buterman initially turned down the settlement, but a year later asked if the offer was still open. Lawyers for both parties exchanged letters to discuss the wording of the agreement, and the money was put in trust for Buterman.
Buterman ultimately walked away, saying he didn’t want to abide by the confidentiality clause. He did not sign the school board’s legal documents and his lawyer returned the settlement money.
In 2014, a human rights commission tribunal ruled it couldn’t hear Buterman’s case because the parties had reached a settlement. One of the three tribunal members filed a dissenting opinion.
The decision relied on a 1989 ruling that found parties can reach a “settlement” before documentation is complete.
Last year, advocacy group Progress Alberta discovered through a Freedom of Information request the Catholic school board had spent more than $367,000 fighting the Buterman case between 2009 and 2013. Keohane wouldn’t say Friday how much the case has cost taxpayers to date.