Former Red Deer Catholic school trustee Monique LaGrange is appealing an Alberta court decision that confirmed her expulsion from the school board over a controversial meme she posted to social media.
LaGrange was reprimanded for violating the trustee code of conduct by her colleagues on the Red Deer Catholic School Board in Sept. 2023 for a picture she posted to Instagram. The meme featured an archival photo of German children waving the Nazi flag juxtaposed with a picture of current-day children waving the Pride Progress flag in a school classroom, with the caption “brainwashing is brainwashing.”
LaGrange’s original censure demanded that she stop making public statements about the LGBTQ community and the Holocaust, complete multiple sensitivity training courses at her own expense, and issue a public apology, among other demands.
LaGrange said that undergoing re-education and issuing an apology would be impossible to do without violating her conscience, so shedecided to forego the measures.
Red Deer Catholic trustees voted to kick her off of the board in Nov. 2023 after she failed to comply with the board’s orders.
Working with the Democracy Fund, lawyer James Kitchen filed an application on LaGrange’s behalf to an Alberta court seeking an order quashing the school board’s decision and unconditional reinstatement to the board.
Justice Cheryl Arcand-Kootenay ruled that the board’s decision to expel LaGrange was reasonable and there was no procedural unfairness.
Arcand-Kootenay quashed the board’s demands that LaGrange attend sensitivity training and make an apology deemed “sincere” by the board, but confirmed all other sanctions and the expulsion.
LaGrange’s attorney says that the trustee code of conduct allows left-wing trustees to kick their colleagues off of the board for holding diverging political and religious beliefs.
“Never before has an Alberta board of school trustees kicked another trustee off the board for what effectively amounts to a disagreement regarding expressed political and religious beliefs (disguised, in our view, as trustee misconduct),” said Kitchen.
“Such an outcome has been made possible by the recent adoption of trustee codes of conduct by Alberta school boards. These new codes enable a majority of trustees to censor and cancel individual trustees with whom they politically disagree.”
Kitchen says the decision sets a poor precedent for democracy and free speech rights.
“Disqualifying a democratically-elected representative based on public comments sets a dangerous precedent. It undermines free speech rights, tolerance for political diversity, and representative democracy by allowing officials to impose ideological purity tests on electoral candidates.”
The notice of appeal has been filed to the Alberta Court of Appeal who will decide whether to hear the case.
