Chilliwack trustee announces resignation, says recent tribunal decision places chill on free speech

The Feb. 18 ruling came more than eight years after the BC Teachers’ Federation and Chilliwack Teachers’ Association filed the human rights complaint against Neufeld on behalf of their members, specifically those who identified as LGBTQ+ from October 2017 through 2022. It says that for five years, Neufeld “publicly denigrated LGBTQ people and teachers and associated them with the worst forms of child abuse,” which the tribunal alleged created a discriminatory work environment for teachers in the district.

Throness says the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal judgment expresses support for freedom of speech, but points out there is a fine line between speech that runs afoul of the Human Rights Code and speech that doesn’t.

“Few are qualified to make such subtle legal distinctions, particularly in the heat of public debate, and since no trustee wants to undergo a legal ordeal followed by a devastating fine as Neufeld did, no one will dare, in any school board across the Province, to remark on sensitive topics like gender or inclusivity, even when a trustee feels it would be in the public interest to do so,” Throness said.

Throness says the tribunal’s decision has profound implications for elected officials who could see themselves accused of workplace discrimination for expressing certain views.

“The effect of the judgment is clear: it is a warning and a threat that places an absolute-zero chill upon public discourse and the freedom of speech of elected trustees,” Throness said. “While affirming the freedom of speech on paper, the result of the Tribunal’s decision is to destroy it. For example, in the wake of Tumbler Ridge I wanted to call for the suspension of SOGI as a teaching resource until an inquest could determine whether it had an impact in exacerbating a young person’s mental illness, but I felt that I couldn’t do that as a trustee – so I’m doing it now. Finally, just as BC’s Legislature regulates the speech of its members through its Standing Orders, and voters decide the fate of MLAs at election time, so elected school boards and other elected bodies should be able to make similar judgments upon the speech of their own members, and have those members stand or fall before their own voters.”

Accordingly, Throness said: “I call upon the BC Legislature to affirm the freedom of speech upon which democracy relies, and pass a bill placing the speech of school board trustees, municipal councillors and regional district directors outside the purview of the Tribunal.”

Throness says the B.C. School Act (Section 36(2)) states that if a trustee resigns after January 1 during an election year, no by-election need be held. Since municipal elections will be held this October, Throness estimates taxpayers will save approximately $15,000 through the remuneration he would have normally received.

Reaction to the tribunal’s decision has reverberated throughout the political arena.

Neufeld himself issued a reaction to the decision on his website, where he says he is “concerned about protecting children from confusing and dangerous ideologies.”

The statement says the tribunal knows he will not be able to pay the $750,000, but that the decision sets a precedent so “in the future, no one else will ever dare to criticize their sacred Gender Ideology.”

“So I must try to overturn this draconian decision,” he said.

“We are applying for a judicial review at the BC Supreme Court, which is effectively an appeal to the ‘real’ courts.”

Neufeld called the large financial penalty a “blessing in disguise,” saying it has “shocked everyone into realizing that the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal is on a power trip.”

“If it had only been $75,000 everyone would have ignored it and thought Barry Neufeld deserved it for being so outspoken,” he said.

The ruling has garnered criticism online, including from British comedian Cleese, who said that as a result of the ruling he will not “risk” scheduling any shows in B.C. while touring Canada this fall.

Conservative Leader Poilievre issued a statement on Sunday calling the ruling “insane and Orwellian.”

“We must defend the truth and free speech against these mad censors,” Poilievre said in the post.

B.C.’s human rights commissioner, Kasari Govender, welcomed the ruling and said in a statement last week that it “affirms that hateful statements or publications are not shielded from the Human Rights Code because they are part of public or political discourse.”

“Publishing statements that deny trans identities and rely on stereotypes create significant harm,” Govender says in a statement issued last week.

“The decision is significant for ensuring that human rights laws apply to political and public statements from our elected officials and affirming that trans people are entitled to have their identities recognized and rights respected.”

Harman Bhangu, a B.C. Conservative leadership candidate, called the tribunal a “kangaroo court run by a woke activist judiciary.”

“When I become Premier: it’s gone on day one,” he said on social media last Saturday.

Fellow candidate Caroline Elliott issued a similar statement on Sunday, saying the $750,000 penalty “kills free speech and erodes democracy.”

“British Columbians are forced to spend millions to fund this playground for NDP activists to live out their social justice dreams as needed programs are cut,” she said in her post to X.

by Mike Vanden Bosch

Chilliwack trustee announces resignation, says recent tribunal decision places chill on free speech

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