‘Was accused of being racist, colonialist, transphobic …’
A Scottish-born teacher in Canada with 30 years of experience wanted to increase her “employability,” and so in 2022 she enrolled in the University of Western Ontario’s education program.
But the experience wasn’t quite what Margaret Munn had expected. And now she’s suing the school.
According to the National Post, her very first day in the class “Indigenous Education: Towards a Decolonizing Pedagogy” was a “disaster.”
After Munn queried why educators who teach math and chemistry would need the course’s subject matter, the professor allegedly “pulled her aside after class” and lectured her about the “injustices suffered by Indigenous people.”
The professor also (allegedly) reported Munn to the school’s associate dean.
The professor further took issue with Munn saying it wasn’t a big deal to wear “culturally appropriative” Halloween costumes, as well as her “misgendering” of school teacher Kerry Lemieux who had donned ridiculously large fake breasts in front of kids in class (and is now back identifying as a man).
In a subsequent meeting with the teacher education manager, Munn was informed her cultural appropriation comments “did not foster a safe environment.” She also had to rewrite a paper for the Decolonizing Pedagogy class because it was, in part, “offensive.”
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The decolonization professor, per the statement of claim, went on to convene the faculty’s diversity, equity and inclusion committee, which made a non-binding recommendation to [the dean] that Munn be expelled. …
“During the meeting, Munn was accused of being racist, colonialist, transphobic and an advocate of child abuse (apparently for saying that she had received corporal punishment as a child and was none the worse for it),” according to the statement of claim. “Munn was told not to attend (the decolonization professor’s) classes, although she was still expected to complete the assignments.” …
In December, Munn alleges she was falsely accused of plagiarism, and was reported by two instructors to the Ontario College of Teachers. In January, according to the statement of claim, Munn was told in a meeting with the associate dean not to challenge Indigenous faculty members. She at least learned that the faculty’s investigation into her conduct was complete — but it had involved interviews with nameless accusers whom she could not face, and resulted in her being placed on conditions to remain in the program.
According to Munn’s lawyer Lisa Bildy (who represented Richard Bilkszto, the Ontario principal who took his own life after allegedly being bullied for questioning an anti-racism trainer), the entire ordeal was “immensely stressful.”
“It was clear that the goal was to change [Munn’s] worldview as a condition of earning her [a] degree,” the lawsuit alleges.
Munn is seeking “various expenses in mitigating the harm caused to her and her career” which includes “a significant award for punitive damages to express the court’s disapproval” of various U. Western Ontario staff’s actions.
MORE: HS student sues school over suspension for believing in gender binary
IMAGE CAPTION & CREDIT: Sign warns of an impending politically correct area; Shutterstock.com
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