The Safe Schools Act is an Ontario bill, implemented in 2000 to provide a definitive set of regulations for punishments that must be issued for students. The bill is often referred to as a zero-tolerance policy, however "the presence of mitigating factors in the Act and school board policies precludes it from being strictly defined as a zero tolerance regime".[1] Nonetheless, the bill has been criticized for not providing enough flexibility to schools for disciplining students on a case-by-case basis, preferring instead mandatory suspensions for a wide range of behaviour including verbal abuse and physical violence.[2] A report commissioned by the Ontario Human Rights Commission concluded that "there is a strong perception supported by some empirical evidence that the Act and school board policies are having a disproportionate impact on racial minority students, particularly Black students, and students with disabilities."[1]

  1. 1 2 Ken Bhattacharjee (2003). "The Ontario Safe Schools Act: School Discipline and Discrimination". Ontario Human Rights Commission. Retrieved 2006-07-31.
  2. ↑ "Editorial: School discipline requires flexibility". The Toronto Star. 2006-07-03. Retrieved 2006-07-31.


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