Parents as First Educators (PAFE) is calling for the resignation of a Waterloo Catholic school board trustee who publicly commented on Twitter that the “most dangerous creature on the planet is the white Christian male.”
In a now-deleted Tweet, the first-term Waterloo Catholic District School Board (WCDSB) trustee Wendy Ashby called Christian males a “threat to anyone that is not them.”
PAFE Project Director Amelia Willis says that Ashby’s comments have alarmed parents, who are concerned about the well-being of their children in the classroom.
“Parents and community members are shocked by her statements. They don’t speak that way at home, and they don’t want their children learning this behaviour,” she said. “The school board and Ashby have not apologized at this point, and there really haven’t been any consequences to her actions, as she’s still a sitting trustee. This inaction is inexcusable.”
The PAFE petition entitled “Trustee Ashby Must Resign” has collected 2832 signatures as of April 24. At a meeting slated to take place from 5-9 PM on Monday evening, the WCDSB will be hearing from concerned ratepayers. Protestors are expected beforehand.
Willis says that the WCDSB’s lack of action in demanding an apology from Ashby is evidence of Critical Race Theory (CRT) acceptance.
“If a trustee can openly be racist and the school board isn’t alarmed by this, that’s very disturbing. The lack of apology from Trustee Ashby, as well as the lack of action from the board, indicates that the trustees and staff in the WCDSB have been brainwashed by critical race theory into thinking this is acceptable behaviour,” said Willis.
In a more recent Tweet, also now deleted, Ashby commented, “Hush money. Buying silence about being underpaid. White women make obedient soldiers for the christofascist patriarchy.”
The PAFE petition notes that Ashby’s Tweets have “shown prejudice based on race and religion” which suggest that “she is unfit to represent her white Christian constituents as a trustee.” Willis urges that Ashby’s resignation should be imminent.
“She hasn’t offered any sort of apology to date so she hasn’t really taken responsibility. These are not the acts of a trustworthy public official. There are no ands, buts, or ifs about it – Trustee Ashby should resign.”
Over the past year, the WCDSB’s public counterpart, the Waterloo Region District School Board (WRDSB), has seen similar CRT- influenced politics. In mid-November, the WRDSB administered a survey without parental consent that asked its students whether they are “gender fluid, intersex, non-binary, trans or two-spirit.”
Last year, former ESL teacher Carolyn Bujorski was called “transphobic” after being ejected from a WRDSB meeting for questioning the age-level appropriateness of certain books at her school library with sexual content. She claims that after the meeting she was “assigned to home” and threatened with the loss of her retirement benefits. In response, Bujorski filed a $1.7-million defamation suit against the board, claiming that the board misrepresented what she had said.
