Kempling v. British Columbia College of Teachers, 2004 CarswellBC 210, 2004 BCSC 133 (B.C. S.C.)
Christopher Kempling was a secondary school teacher and counsellor for the Quesnel School District in B.C. Between 1997 and 2000 an article and several letters he wrote were published in the local newspaper expressing his negative views on homosexuals and homosexuality.
On May 8, 2001, the British Columbia College of Teachers (BCCT), the body that oversees teachers under the province’s Teaching Profession Act, charged Kempling with professional misconduct and he was suspended for one month. Kempling appealed the panel’s finding of conduct unbecoming, the suspension aspect of his penalty, and also argued his rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms had been infringed.
The Supreme Court of British Columbia ruled the panel had been justified. The panel found Kempling’s freedom of expression did not entitle him to act on his beliefs while a BCCT member, and the Supreme Court agreed.
The court also said his writings were harmful not only because of their discriminatory content, but also because he explicitly linked that content to his professional positions. As such he was no longer writing as a private citizen. He publicly linked “his private, discriminatory views of homosexuality with his status and professional judgment as a teacher and secondary school counsellor,” which by itself is a harmful impact on the school system and justifies the panel’s finding of conduct unbecoming, the court ruled. “It is entirely appropriate that the teaching profession… be held to more stringent standards of conduct than the lay public.” The court also dismissed Kempling’s objections that his charter rights had been infringed. All of the restrictions imposed on him were compatible with the charter, it ruled.
Christopher Kempling was a secondary school teacher and counsellor for the Quesnel School District in B.C. Between 1997 and 2000 an article and several letters he wrote were published in the local newspaper expressing his negative views on homosexuals and homosexuality.
On May 8, 2001, the British Columbia College of Teachers (BCCT), the body that oversees teachers under the province’s Teaching Profession Act, charged Kempling with professional misconduct and he was suspended for one month. Kempling appealed the panel’s finding of conduct unbecoming, the suspension aspect of his penalty, and also argued his rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms had been infringed.
The Supreme Court of British Columbia ruled the panel had been justified. The panel found Kempling’s freedom of expression did not entitle him to act on his beliefs while a BCCT member, and the Supreme Court agreed.
The court also said his writings were harmful not only because of their discriminatory content, but also because he explicitly linked that content to his professional positions. As such he was no longer writing as a private citizen. He publicly linked “his private, discriminatory views of homosexuality with his status and professional judgment as a teacher and secondary school counsellor,” which by itself is a harmful impact on the school system and justifies the panel’s finding of conduct unbecoming, the court ruled. “It is entirely appropriate that the teaching profession… be held to more stringent standards of conduct than the lay public.” The court also dismissed Kempling’s objections that his charter rights had been infringed. All of the restrictions imposed on him were compatible with the charter, it ruled.
