EDMONTON — The Alberta Court of Appeal has partially upheld on Wednesday a Red Deer school board's decision to punish a former school trustee over a meme posted by her that paired supporting sexual minority pride with Nazi support, though it determined the board erred in demanding an apology. The appeal stems from a 2023 post by then Red Deer Catholic Regional Schools trustee Monique LaGrange, who posted a meme on social media featuring a photo of children waving Nazi flags and one of kids waving Pride flags. The post's caption read "Brainwashing is brainwashing." .Red Deer's Catholic School Division board of trustees responded to LaGrange's post, saying she violated its policies and school board code of conduct. Their initial punishment included stopping her from making public comments on sexual minorities or the Holocaust, and removing her from committees and from representing the school board. LaGrange was also instructed to give a public apology and undergo sensitivity training. However, after LaGrange did a pair of interviews and made additional posts on social media, the board disqualified her, and LaGrange resigned in protest.LaGrange later appealed the board's decisions and sought a declaration that the decisions were unreasonable and unfair, failed to consider Catholic doctrine, and that she did not violate any of her initial sanctions. A judge upheld the sanctions in 2024"The story meme is centred around indoctrination and how children are vulnerable to evil agendas (agendas coming from organizations like Planned Parenthood, the UN or SOGI 123) filtering through culture," said LaGrange in an interview with the Western Standard in 2023."This meme is not comparing or attacking the LGBTQ community; it is about protecting our children and keeping parents as the primary educators.".A judge upheld the sanctions in 2024; however, on Wednesday, the appeals court ruled that it was unreasonable to require a "sincere" public apology, while the other sanctions and appeals were dismissed. "While a freely given apology serves a number of valuable purposes, a coerced apology 'is plainly no more than a reluctant concession to an opponent possessing, for the time being, an overwhelming advantage of some sort', and is 'likely to be regarded primarily as a form of unjust humiliation and not necessarily as a vindication of what is right,'" wrote the judges when referencing a seperate case. The school board released a statement on Wednesday, saying it is pleased with the ruling and the court's upholding of the majority of LaGrange's sanctions. "It is the Board’s statutory mandate and our faith-based mission as a Catholic school division to ensure that each student enrolled in its schools and each staff member employed by the Board is provided with a safe and caring environment that fosters and maintains respectful and responsible behaviours," reads their statement. "Students have the right to a school system free from bias, prejudice and intolerance."
