Parent challenges mandatory land acknowledgements, faces board investigations and suspension

Catherine Kronas served three terms on the school council of Ancaster High School in the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board, first as an elected member and later as chair. When the board insisted that every council meeting begin with an Indigenous land acknowledgement, she offered a vote but the board declared it mandatory. After she declined to read one in 2024, the board opened a human-rights investigation alleging "harm," which was dismissed.

A second complaint followed her public objection on social media, leading to a suspension that lacked legal basis and caused her to miss a key meeting; this investigation also ended without findings. Kronas points to similar challenges by Geoffrey Horsman in Waterloo and a 2025 Ontario Divisional Court decision that affirmed school councils' autonomy from boards. Despite a ministerial directive to keep graduations apolitical, the HWDSB still included land acknowledgements at her son’s ceremony, underscoring ongoing tensions over parental voice and board authority in education.