Toronto Catholic itinerant music teacher is charged by Ministry of Labour for failing to wear a mask

An itinerant music teacher who tested positive for COVID-19 — leading to the weeklong shutdown of a Toronto elementary school earlier this month — has been charged under the workplace health and safety act for failing to wear a mask.

Ontario’s Ministry of Labour confirmed a charge was laid after inspectors responded to a -related complaint about St. Charles school near Dufferin St. and Lawrence Ave. W., said Richard Sookraj, spokesperson for Labour Minister Monte McNaughton.

The “health and safety inspectors conducted a field visit on Oct. 23, 2020 at St. Charles Catholic School in the Toronto Catholic District School Board,” Sookraj said via email.

“No orders were issued to the employer. A certificate of offence, pursuant to part I of the Provincial Offences Act, was issued charging a worker with an offence under the Occupational Health and Safety Act.”

He said the “individual worker was charged with failing to comply with … failing to use or wear protective devices or clothing that the worker’s employer requires to be used or worn.”

The teacher will appear before a justice of the peace on Feb. 2, 2021. The maximum penalty is a $1,000 fine, plus any victim fine surcharges, Sookraj said.

Shazia Vlahos, a spokesperson for the Toronto Catholic board, said she could not comment on specifics. She said the board “takes seriously the safety and well-being of all students and staff. As the matter is part of a legal proceeding pursuant to the Occupational Health and Safety Act, we are unable to comment further.”

St. Charles for a week Oct. 5 after the teacher’s diagnosis, and Toronto Public Health set up an on-site assessment centre so that staff and students could access quick COVID-19 tests.

The school also received a deep cleaning before students and staff returned.

The music teacher is an itinerant — which requires travel from class to class or among schools — and had taught several classes before receiving the positive test.

Principal James Graham told the Star’s Kevin Jiang that “there just after we determined close contacts with this particular individual.” He also said the teacher’s “behaviours … maybe weren’t as safe as they could have been.”

The teacher had contact with three classes in the school of 250, and a source familiar with the situation said the individual is also accused of failing to self-screen before coming to work, coming to school while symptomatic and not self-isolating while ill.

The Catholic board has been looking at ways to limit itinerant teachers’ contacts, as some see up to 10 schools a week.

Some trustees have likened the situation to personal support workers in long-term-care homes, who the province limited to to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Kristin Rushowy is a Toronto-based reporter covering Ontario politics for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: