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TDF takes Red Deer Catholic Regional school board to court over removal of democratically elected trustee

Published

9 months ago

3 minute read

News release from The Democracy Fund

Written by 

A former trustee was ousted from the school board for memes that some found offensive.

The Democracy Fund (TDF) is taking the Board of Trustees of the Red Deer Catholic Regional Schools to court over its expulsion of former trustee Monique LaGrange, who was democratically elected to the board in 2021. LeGrange was removed from the board in November 2023 after she allegedly failed to comply with sanctions imposed on her by the board earlier in the year for posting a meme to her Facebook account that some people found offensive.

The impugned meme depicted two side-by-side photographs, one of children holding swastika flags and the other of children holding pride progress flags. The meme, which drew both support and disapprobation from the community, included a caption stating, “brainwashing is brainwashing.”

The board asked LaGrange to apologize for the meme, but she refused to do so. In speaking to the Western Standard, LaGrange stated, “I was elected to stand up and protect our children, and that is what I am doing.”

The board ultimately ordered LaGrange to undergo sensitivity training at her own expense for allegedly breaching their code of conduct by posting the meme. The board also barred LaGrange from making public statements about the Holocaust and sexual minorities and prohibited her from representing the board in any official capacity and from speaking with news outlets.

Following the board’s decision to censure LaGrange, an interview of LaGrange with Laura-Lynn Tyler Thompson, that was filmed prior to the board decision, was released. LaGrange also posted another meme, this one depicting a wolf wearing colourful makeup, with the caption, “I just want to read some books to your chickens.” As a result of these and other alleged breaches of the sanctions, the board voted to expel LaGrange as a trustee.

TDF is partnering with well-known lawyer James Kitchen to challenge the board’s decisions. On December 18, 2023, Kitchen issued two applications for judicial review in the Court of King’s Bench of Alberta. The applications argue that the board’s decisions to censure and expel LaGrange lacked fairness and contained a number of legal errors, including misinterpretation of the board’s policies. They further argue that the sanctions were invalid, inappropriate or disproportionate.

About The Democracy Fund:

Founded in 2021, The Democracy Fund (TDF) is a Canadian charity dedicated to constitutional rights, advancing education and relieving poverty. TDF promotes constitutional rights through litigation and public education. TDF supports an access to justice initiative for Canadians whose civil liberties have been infringed by government lockdowns and other public policy responses to the pandemic.

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Trial for Freedom Convoy leaders ends, verdict may take 6 months

Published on September 16, 2024

By

From LifeSiteNews

By Anthony Murdoch

In her concluding statements last Friday in an Ottawa courthouse, presiding judge Heather Perkins-McVey said that she does ‘not know’ when a decision will be rendered in the Freedom Convoy leaders’ trial.

The trial for Freedom Convoy leaders Tamara Lich and Chris Barber, which was supposed to have been only 16 days long, has now concluded after over a year, with the presiding judge observing that determining a verdict, which could take up to six months, will be “daunting” task.  

In her concluding statements last Friday in an Ottawa courthouse, presiding judge Heather Perkins-McVey said that she does “not know” when she will “be in a position to give my decision,” adding that coming up with a verdict will be “a little daunting.” 

The judge has promised that on November 26, she will be providing an update as to when a decision could be forthcoming.  

The trial has been ongoing for over one year and began on September 3, 2023. As reported by LifeSiteNews, both Lich and Barber face a possible 10-year prison sentence for their role in the 2022 Freedom Convoy.

In an X post on Friday, Lich shared her thoughts on the trial finally wrapping up.  

“Well, that’s a wrap to the Longest Mischief Trial of All Time,” she wrote. 

“The Crown really disappointed me today. His remarks about the Event That Shall Not Be Named (Freedom Convoy) being nothing more than a weekend party are indicative of a level of smugness and elitism that I can never and will never understand,” added Lich.

Both Lich and Barber had attended the hearings in person, travelling from their homes in Alberta and Saskatchewan respectively. Last Friday, however, they attended via video.

The Crown prosecution has held steadfast to the notion that Lich and Barber somehow influenced the protesters’ actions through their words as part of a co-conspiracy. This claim has been rejected by the defense as weak. 

It has also been asserted “that the absence of violence or peaceful nature of the protest didn’t make it lawful, emphasizing that the onus was on the Crown to prove the protest’s unlawfulness.” 

The reality is that Lich and Barber collaborated with police on many occasions so that the protest remained law abiding.  

The Democracy Fund, which is crowdfunding Lich’s legal costs, noted in one of its last legal updates of the trial that it expected the Crown would try to prove the leaders were “co-conspirators,” meaning that accusations placed against one leader automatically apply to the other.

As reported by LifeSiteNews at the time, despite the non-violent nature of the protest and the charges, Lich was jailed for  weeks before she was granted bail. 

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Coutts Blockade

Pastor Artur Pawlowski appeals conviction for preaching at Freedom Convoy border protest in 2022

Published on September 13, 2024

By

From LifeSiteNews

By Clare Marie Merkowsky

The Alberta pro-freedom pastor’s lawyers pointed out to the Calgary Court of Appeal that he did not ‘incite mischief’ but encouraged peaceful protesting.

Canadian Pastor Artur Pawlowski is appealing his conviction over a sermon he gave during a Freedom Convoy-related border protest blockade in February 2022 in Coutts, Alberta.

On September 10th, the Calgary Court of Appeal heard Pawlowski’s case after he was criminally charged for delivering a sermon at the Freedom Convoy-related border protest blockade.

“Pastor Artur did not actually incite mischief,” Pawlowski’s lawyer, Sarah Miller, told the court.

In May 2023, a court found Pawlowski guilty of mischief and breaching a release order for his sermon to the protesters.

Pawlowski is also facing a serious criminal charge of “willfully damaging and destroying essential infrastructure,” which will be ruled upon once a constitutional case brought by his lawyers is heard.

Pawlowski’s conviction stems largely from a sermon he gave in Coutts on February 3, 2022 to a group of truckers and protesters blocking entrance into the U.S. state of Montana.

At the time, he told the large crowd of protesters who had gathered in support of the trucker strike to peacefully “hold the line.”

While Pawlowski’s lawyers argued that his speech was made to encourage protesters to find a peaceful solution to the blockade, the statement is being characterized as a call for mischief.

Days later, on February 8, Pawlowski was arrested – for the fifth time – by an undercover SWAT team just before he was slated to speak again to the Coutts protesters.

During the appeal, Miller admitted that there was mischief at the protest but pointed out that Pawlowski was not part of it.

“We’re not saying that there was no mischief afoot. We’re saying it’s not on Pastor Artur,” she said.

Indeed, Pawlowski recently posted his speech on X, formerly known as Twitter, as evidence that he did not incite violence or mischief of any kind.

“Here is again my entire sermon to the truckers delivered by me on private property in a supposedly free and democratic society!” he wrote.

“For those words, the conservative Canadian government locked me up in prison!” he continued. “Please support my fight against this totalitarian regime! I have launched a lawsuit against them, and you can become part of this fight for freedom!!!

“Be blessed and stay strong in the Mighty Name of Jesus Christ!” Pawlowski declared.

Pawlowski is the first Albertan to be charged for violating the province’s Critical Infrastructure Defence Act (CIDA), which was put in place in 2020 under then-premier Jason Kenney.

The CIDA, however, was not put in place due to COVID mandates but rather after anti-pipeline protesters blockaded key infrastructure points such as railway lines in Alberta a few years ago.

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