Organizational Submission Regarding Bill 33 the Supporting Children and Students Act, 2025

To the Honourable Paul Calandra, Minister of Education, and Members of Provincial Parliament,

We write to you on behalf of the Disability Justice Network of Ontario (DJNO) to reflect, once again, on legislation that falls short of the needs of disabled students and to urge you to reject police-in-schools initiatives. While we recognize that police presence and policing practices are already ubiquitous within Ontario schools through local police–school board protocols, (re)stationing armed officers in schools will only further exacerbate negative outcomes for students across this province. 

We call on you to stand in solidarity with students, caregivers, educators and community members across this province by responding to our collective call to reject Bill 33. 

Bill 33 is evidently part of a broader pattern of austerity—one which targets public education at all levels. From K-12 to post-secondary, this government cannot continue to cut vital supports while imposing top-down policies that will inevitably hit disabled, racialized, low-income, and marginalized students the hardest. 

In mandating that school boards collaborate with local police departments—and in its other proposed amendments—Bill 33 represents a fundamental overreach of provincial power. It strips school boards, educational institutions and local communities of the ability to make context-specific decisions based on the needs and leadership of those most impacted. The proposed legislation will not make education more accessible, nor safer, at any level. 

What ties all of these proposals together—whether it be the mandating of police in schools, increased Ministry oversight over local school boards, fee changes, or interfering with university admissions processes under the false pretense of “merit”—is a refusal to address the real crisis: the chronic underfunding of education in this province. Instead of investing in the resources and supports that students have asked for time and time again, this government continues to scapegoat local decision-making, community-centred student supports and marginalized communities more broadly. 

This is not about safety or support—it’s about entrenching control while deflecting responsibility.

Since launching our Education Project in 2023, DJNO has supported Black, Indigenous, and racialized disabled youth in navigating carceral and ableist violence across Ontario schools. Through direct peer support, systems navigation, workshops, consultations and beyond, we have learned from countless students about their experiences with both police presence and police(ing) practices in schools. Whether by police officers themselves or staff carrying out policing practices, students have reported being physically restrained, secluded, detained and outright denied their right to access a dignified education. 

Beyond the physical presence of armed officers, reinstating police-in-schools programs will only re-intrench cultures of control and ableist violence within educational spaces. Whether through corporal punishment, surveillance, criminalization, medicalization or other means of pathologizing children and youth, this Bill undeniably reinforces the school-to-prison pipeline. 

While those in power may argue that police make schools safer for the “majority” of students, let us be clear that even one student feeling unsafe from police in schools is one too many. We know that disabled and neurodivergent students—especially those living at the intersections of poverty, racialization, gendered oppression and beyond—are disproportionately subject to police violence within schools. 

Time and again, caregivers, students, and educators have spoken out about the emotional, physical, and psychological dangers of police in schools. The data has consistently been clear. 

Within the scope of our own research (pdf attached), survey data revealed that 65% of Black and racialized disabled respondents felt that their disability and/or race, ethnicity, or culture influenced their negative interactions with police (Figure 1). 

Figure 1 and 2:

Here in Hamilton, hundreds of students, caregivers, educators and community members have shared stories of police violence in schools and expressed clear and sustained opposition to police-in-schools programs. 

Let us be clear: police are not teachers. They are not Educational Assistants. They are not Early Childhood Educators. They are not counselors. And they are certainly not equipped to support disabled youth. 

At every level, Bill 33 prioritizes control over caring, accessible learning spaces. 

Students suffering at the hands of a failing education system should never be met with the use of force, nor isolation. Policing is not a solution to under-funded and under-resourced schools. 

We reject this Bill in its entirety, and if supporting children and students is truly central to your motivations, we trust that you will do the same. 

Submission prepared by Disability Justice Network of Ontario (DJNO) Education Project Team on behalf of the whole Network.

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