accepts all claims made by the applicant as akin to gospel.
Latest 'legal' advice for those born here:
Add a Doctorate or two to your resume - scream "discrimination" if challenged.
(local 'Bench God' in Chief)
Posted on 01/12/2007 8:42:10 PM PST by GMMAC
Teachers college violated rights
of Iranian applicant: court
CBC News
Last Updated: Friday, January 12, 2007 | 1:50 PM ET
The Ontario College of Teachers must find a way to determine whether an Iranian-born woman is qualified to teach in the province without having original documents to prove her credentials, a court ruled Thursday in Toronto.
The Ontario Superior Court said the college discriminated against Fatima Siadit when it insisted that she provide original documents to back her qualifications. Siadit now runs a daycare in Ottawa.
The ruling says the college must hold another hearing into her application without having access to the documents it requested. The college required original copies of her university degree and a teaching certificate and denied her application in 2002.
Siadit, a refugee who was born, raised, educated and who worked as a teacher in Iran for 16 years before fleeing the country, said she is thrilled with the ruling. She took the college to court in 2004.
"It's just so exciting. I'm still shaking. So it's just a wonderful feeling," she told CBC News.
"Teaching is not my job, it's my passion, it's my life. I love to do it and I do it with lots of joy. I am satisfied doing it."
She said she applied to the college for a teacher's licence in 2002. She could not provide the original documents because they are being held by the Iranian Education Ministry, and if she were to request them, the ministry might seek out and harm her family members still living in Iran, she said.
"I tried really hard to get some friends to send them to me, and unfortunately, I was not able and they didn't succeed," she said.
Siadit did obtain an identification card issued by the Iranian Education Ministry that indicates she is a teacher.
Chantal Tie, Siadit's lawyer, said the ruling is good news for hundreds of highly skilled foreign-educated professionals who have faced enormous obstacles in having their credentials recognized by Canadian institutions.
"I think it's very good news for anyone in a similar situation or for anyone who has not been able to produce documents, because it's absolutely clear and the court is very clear that the college has the duty to accommodate if it cannot obtain documents from your country of origin," she said.
Tie had argued in court that the college had violated the Ontario Human Rights Code when it required Siadit to provide the original documents. The court agreed.
The court also ruled the college failed to accommodate Siadit, given her situation, to provide adequate reasons for its decision and to look at alternatives in assessing her qualifications.
Certificate required to teach public school Public school teachers in Ontario must have a certificate of qualification from the college.
Tie said the college could review Siadit's credentials a number of ways.
"One possibility is they convene a panel of Iranian educators who are familiar with the system in Iran and they interview her. Another one is they actually hold a hearing and let her testify before them, which is something they've never done," she said.
In court, Tie argued that the college could also test Siadit to determine whether she is qualified to teach in Ontario.
Siadit taught literature at a high school in Iran, but when she allowed one of her classes to debate the banned book The Satanic Verses, by Salman Rushdie, she was harassed by the Iranian Education Ministry, lost her job and had threats made on her life. Siadit then left for Canada, where she was accepted as a refugee.
In Iran, she obtained the equivalent of a Canadian university undergraduate degree and a bachelor of education.
The college, which can appeal the ruling, has declined to comment.
(local 'Bench God' in Chief)
PING!
Go back to the country where you came from, straighten them out, and then come back and we can talk about it.
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