The parents of six Vaughan children with life-threatening allergies have filed complaints to the Ontario Human Rights Commission after one Woodbridge school stopped the practice of checking the lunches of its students.
The families say failing to screen lunches for eggs, peanuts and other allergens to which their children suffer severe reactions is a form of discrimination.
The students, who are aged between six and 11, attend St. Stephen Catholic School.
"During the last school year, the principal and the board removed the accommodations that were in place and working well since the school opened in 2002, without consulting those who were impacted," the parents said in a statement to the media on Monday.
The students who suffer from the severe allergies say they no longer feel safe.
"At school, I'm afraid because I don't really know some of the food with eggs and milk look like, and most of the time the kids won't spot it because if it's like a candy or something, they'll just eat it," 11-year-old Alex told CTV News.
The parents and children say they aren't asking for anything new, just for the old program to be reinstated.
"Pupils with deadly allergies have the right to an education in a safe learning environment," lawyer Iain T. Donnell, who is representing the children, said in a release.
"It must be emphasized that these children are not asking for anything new but merely the restoration of accommodations that had already been in place since the school opened in 2002. Children's safety is non-negotiable."
The human rights complaint has been filed against the York Catholic District School Board, a trustee, a superintendent and the school's principal.
The parents involved in the dispute say the decision to scrap the daily allergy checks was "an administrative and political decision" that occurred after a new principal came to the school.
The board, in its defence, says it is impossible to properly check every lunch bag, CTV's Galit Solomon reported.
A spokesperson also said the program was ended to bring the school in line with the others in the region.
Official Chris Cable told the Toronto Star that St. Stephen has a "vigilant" approach to accommodating the children, and sends a letter to all families asking them not to send food that contains nut products or eggs in "pure form," and suggests a list of allergy-safe snacks.
Cable told the newspaper that while the Ontario Human Rights Code requires schools to accommodate children with disabilities, "it makes no mention of daily inspections of children's lunches by school staff .... nor does Human Rights require parents to send in notes with each lunch and snack to describe the ingredients."
Administrators say they are working with the commission to consider the individual needs of anaphylactic students.
With a report from CTV's Galit Solomon
