Bob Mackin
The controversial decision against a former school board politician by the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal (BCHRT) — hailed by NDPers and condemned by Conservatives and a cross-dressing comedy legend — will be appealed.
In its main Feb. 18 ruling, BCHRT found ex-Chilliwack trustee Barry Neufeld violated the human rights code by discriminatory publication and discrimination in employment. It ordered Neufeld pay $750,000 compensation to Chilliwack Teachers’ Association (CTA) members that identified as LGBTQ between 2017 and 2022.
Neufeld’s lawyer James Kitchen said Feb. 23 on X that his client is seeking a judicial review.
“It will be filed in the coming weeks. I will be publicly releasing the court document,” Kitchen wrote.
Barry Neufeld (YouTube)
More than $750,000
Neufeld spent 27 years in office. He gained international attention as an outspoken opponent of sexual orientation and gender identity teachings in schools and what he calls gender ideology and transgenderism.
Neufeld’s lawyer Kitchen, in his closing argument of the main hearing, did not address the Charter of Rights and Freedoms (and its guarantee of freedom of expression) “at all.”
“At the hearing, Mr. Neufeld took the position that he was not asking the tribunal to balance his Charter rights with the statutory objectives set out in the code because, in his view, doing so was an acceptance of the underlying discriminatory behaviour,” the decision said.
Neufeld also faces a $10,000 fine for improper conduct after the tribunal agreed with a CTA application to further penalize Neufeld’s “clear contempt for the tribunal, its mandate and its process.”
The CTA wanted a $20,000 fine. Neufeld argued for no more than $2,500, because he was self-represented during part of the misconduct hearings and any of his conduct “had only a marginal impact on the tribunal’s process.”
The tribunal also said Neufeld knowingly undermined its ability to control the process and public confidence in the tribunal. It “wasted needless resources policing and attempting to correct his behaviour.”
“It made no difference whether he was represented by counsel or not; for example, even when his lawyer told him to stop publicizing settlement offers, he continued to do so.
Six violations
BCHRT said the $10,000 award was appropriate, because of six types of Neufeld misconduct:
- Surreptitiously recording and publishing the April 18 [pre-hearing conference call];
- Surreptitiously recording the May 16 PHC, in violation of the Tribunal’s April 26 Order;
- Publishing privileged information about settlement discussions, in violation of settlement privilege, s. 40(2) of the Code, and Rule 14(5);
- Failing to delete the April 18 PHC recording, sharing it with a third party, and allowing it to be uploaded to the internet, in violation of the April 26 Order;
- Sharing confidential information obtained through the Tribunal’s disclosure process, in violation of the implied undertaking rule and Rule 23.1; and
- Sharing dial in information for the Tribunal’s hearing, in violation of the Tribunal’s process for facilitating public access to its online hearings.
Small consolation
BCHRT vice-chair Devyn Cousineau. (Lancaster House)
BCHRT said Neufeld “appears to be a man of limited financial means” and he did not cross the line like an Albertan did during hearings into a 2017 flyer campaign against a transgender NDP candidate running in the Vancouver-False Creek provincial riding.
In 2019, the tribunal fined Bill Whatcott $35,000, plus $20,000 in costs, for smearing Morganne Oger with “Transgenderism vs. Truth in Vancouver‐False Creek” flyers.
“Whatcott used the tribunal’s process to perpetuate further discrimination and harm against Ms. Oger on the basis of her gender identity,” the ruling said.
Coincidentally, tribunal vice-chair Devyn Cousineau was involved in both the Whatcott and Neufeld cases, as well as the 2019 decision against Jessica (aka Jonathan) Yaniv, who unsuccessfully sued waxing salons that refused to remove scrotum hair.
And now for something completely different
One of those shocked at the BCHRT’s $750,000 fine was comedy legend John Cleese of Monty Python’s Flying Circus fame, fearing he could be fined for performing in the BCHRT’s jurisdiction.
“What a pity!” Cleese wrote on X. “I’m arranging a theatrical tour of Canada this fall, and now I won’t be able to risk doing any shows in British Columbia. I was really looking forward to coming.”
British Columbia was the setting of Monty Python’s famous “Lumberjack Song,”which featured Michael Palin singing about logging and cross-dressing, with lines repeated by a bemused choir dressed in RCMP red serge ceremonial uniform
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