An Alberta Catholic School Board trustee has kept her position but is facing sanctions and sensitivity training for a social media post that compared school children waving Nazi flags to their counterparts waving LGBT flags in a classroom.
On Aug. 30, Red Deer Trustee Monique LaGrange posted a photo of children waving Nazi flags beside another image of children waving LGBT flags. The caption said, “brainwashing is brainwashing.”
Although LaGrange took the post down, the Red Deer Catholic Regional Schools (RDCRS) voted to apply several sanctions. She is not to sit on any board committees, cannot speak on behalf of the board, and is not permitted to participate in events like graduation ceremonies, according to her lawyer James Kitchen.
Mr. Kitchen said she has also been ordered to undergo sensitivity training—something he said he finds concerning.
“This is just part of the broader, cancel-culture type trends, where we make sure we silence anything we disagree with,” he told The Epoch Times.
“We make sure we send these people to reeducation camps where we can sort of forcefully indoctrinate them to our views. And then make them comply with our view of the world.”
Ms. LaGrange must pay for the training herself and has been given 90 days to complete it, according to board motion documents provided to The Epoch Times.
“It seems that the courts have approved of this trend and that’s just the continuation of the gradual slide away from freedom of expression towards control of expression and publicly shaming anybody who doesn’t tow the party line or conform to the majority opinion,” Mr. Kitchen said.
The sanctions are a retreat from a Sept. 6 statement released by the RDCRS where the board was looking to dismiss Ms. LaGrange.
“An additional motion was also passed for the Board of Trustees to write to the Minister of Education as to the dismissal of Trustee LaGrange,” the statement said.
The Epoch Times reached out to the Red Deer Catholic Regional Schools but got no not response by publication time.
Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaide has said each school board is responsible for developing a code of conduct for its trustees.
“It is the responsibility of each school board to determine whether a trustee has violated that code of conduct and, if so, decide how they want to deal with the matter,” Mr. Nicolaide said in an email to The Epoch Times. “The board has the authority and independence to manage its own affairs and I respect their autonomy.”
Removed as Association Director
The social media post also cost Ms. LaGrange her role as director of the Alberta Catholic School Trustee Association (ACSTA). It posted a statement on X, formerly Twitter, that confirmed she was removed from her position for the rest of her term.“Removing a representative from our board is not a decision we take lightly,” the statement said. “Given the manner in which the previous director’s post has the potential to undermine the charitable learning environment offered by Alberta’s Catholic school system, we consider this to be the most appropriate response.”
“Our Catholic schools love all students as gifts from God made in his image, irrespective of their sexual orientation and gender expression. Trustee LaGrange’s social media post was unbecoming of an ACSTA director.”
“Trustee LaGrange’s social media post undermines the trust and care that school trustees are supposed to foster for all students and staff in our public schools,” ATA president Jason Schilling said. “Instead of promoting acceptance and diversity in our schools, she is promoting discrimination and bullying—this is not what we want for our students and each other in schools.”
Mr. Kitchen said that while Ms. LaGrange was disappointed with the sanctions, she felt standing up for kids was the right thing to do. “Protecting children is always worth it,” he said.
He posted on his social media account that he was honoured to have represented her in the matter “and defend her courageous opposition to the sexualization and indoctrination of children.”
Red Deer Catholic Regional Schools serves over 10,650 students in 21 schools in Red Deer, Blackfalds, Sylvan Lake, Rocky Mountain House, Innisfail, and Olds, the release said. It also oversees 850 students in the home education program.
