An increasing number of teachers are being criminally charged
with assault in Alberta. Sometimes these allegations are
exaggerated or maliciously brought by students or parents to
advance a hidden agenda. In many of these cases, it is not disputed
that the teacher had some physical contact with the child.
Not all physical contact by a teacher with a child is
unjustified or criminal. Teachers charged with assault have the
same defences available to them as anybody else, including
self-defence, defence of others, etc. However, teachers and parents
have an additional defence- s. 43 of the Criminal
Code1 , the so-called "parent and
teacher defence." It is the most important justification for a
teacher's application of force to a student. The question for
the criminal court in most assault cases is whether or not s. 43
applies to exonerate the teacher.
