Closing arguments heard in trial of former Saskatoon principal accused of paddling students
Closing arguments have been heard in the trial of Duff Friesen, a former principal of a private Christian school in Saskatoon. Friesen is accused of assaulting students with a wooden paddle. A jury will soon begin deliberating whether he is guilty.
AI-generated discussion · Different perspectives
Context
Corporal punishment in private religious schools occupies a grey zone in the public imagination — many assume those settings operate under different rules than public classrooms.
Pushback
But criminal law doesn't carve out an exception for parochial classrooms, and the jury is being asked to apply the same standard.