Overview
- Following Monday's court session, provincial lawyers withdrew their judicial review and the court quashed the orders that removed the nine Greater Victoria (SD61) trustees.
- The province agreed to reinstate the trustees and to cover back pay and full legal costs, though the total bill to taxpayers has not yet been determined.
- The reversal came after the ministry disclosed text messages it had not produced under a March court order, a failure the Education Ministry calls an inadvertent mistake.
- The newly revealed texts show frequent contacts between senior ministry officials, the provincially appointed special adviser and a Victoria Police deputy chief, including derogatory comments, and Victoria Police has referred the matter to the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner.
- Trustees say they will review the district's police liaison officer policy and consult Indigenous partners, while teachers, civil liberties groups and opposition politicians demand independent investigations and clearer ministerial accountability.