The ruling forces a rethink of how regulators discipline off-duty speech
On February 26, 2026, the Ontario Divisional Court, in a unanimous decision penned by Justice D.L. Corbett, set aside the certificate revocation of a Toronto teacher who had pleaded guilty to professional misconduct over offensive social media posts. The court ruled that even an admission of wrongdoing does not excuse a disciplinary body from conducting a context-specific balancing of a member's Charter right to free expression — known as a Doré analysis — before making findings on both liability and penalty.
For HR professionals overseeing regulated workforces, the ruling cuts to the core: a solid misconduct file is not enough to guarantee a defensible outcome.
Cheryl Catharine Gould, a Visual Arts and English teacher at the Toronto Catholic District School Board, maintained a Facebook page under the pseudonym "Harvey C Catherine" in 2020 and 2021, identifying herself as a teacher of at-risk youth in the publicly funded Catholic system without naming her school or board.
The school, the Midland campus of Monsignor Fraser Alternative Learning Centre in Scarborough, Ontario, served a student population that was 87% visible minority, with the highest proportion being Black students. Many were new immigrants, some lived in shelters or had experienced violence, and two to three students were in the process of transitioning each year. The Discipline Committee found Gould's posts were "discriminatory, rude,...
Kenneth Scott Miller, 48, is charged with a felony count of making a false report to law enforcement. He was released from the Escambia County Jail on a $500 bond. According to an Escambia County ...