A BC citizen group championing decency in school materials is now calling for the removal of the chair of the Chilliwack school board..In early February, Action4Canada (A4C) served trustees and the superintendent a Notice of Liability (NOL). The NOL said they were liable for any harm to students that resulted from the pro-transgender SOGI 123 resource and any criminal code violations associated with what A4C called “pornographic books.”.The group is especially concerned with a book by Ellen Hopkins called Identical, which has seven copies available at Chilliwack schools. An A4C online video includes an excerpt read at a school board meeting in the United States. The excerpt includes explicit description of a father masturbating in front of his seven-year-old daughter, then penetrating her and saying he loved her more than her mom..Gender Queer, a Memoir, by Maia Kobabe is another book the group objects to. It includes illustrations of a boy giving oral sex to another boy. The video showed it was available at G.W. Graham Secondary School in the district..At a contentious school board meeting on February 7, trustee Heather Maahs said the books in question were not approved resources. .“So right now I want to ask the question, is there a line we won’t cross? Do we have a line? There’s no mention of the Criminal Code of Canada, which we have heard from parents who got up to the [mic],” Maahs said..Chair Willow Reichelt interrupted and said, “There are no materials in our schools that break the criminal code or are illegal.”.Maahs replied, “So I’m going to read the code to you and then you can judge,” to which Reichelt said, “I’m going to cut your mic. So does anyone else want to speak to this motion?”.Later, a grandmother of 10 children in the school district said, “I have two things that are on my mind … one of them is a safety policy for overnight trips. I don’t know if there is such a thing. My first concern is regarding an overnight field trip coming up in which there are students that identify as the opposite sex attending.”.Reichelt interrupted to say that was not on the agenda..“What about for violence and bullying in the schools? Is that something I can speak on?” the woman asked, only to be told that was not on the agenda either. .“So basically anything I wanted to say today is not going to [be allowed] — so when can I?”.Reichelt interrupted and said the grandmother could talk to the board at any time, to which the grandmother replied, “I have emailed you and you responded, but I didn’t get the answers that I was hoping for ...”.Reichelt said she could email them and then cut off the speaker’s mic..“I know you can hear me,” the woman said, mentioning the fact a transgender child was on the overnight trip.."Yes, I can hear you,” Reichelt replied, “but it’s not getting broadcast because you’re saying stuff that is potentially discriminatory, so I’m not going to let you speak anymore. Those items are not on the agenda, thank you.”.Darryl Ferguson, PhD, said, “Is the superintendent aware of the sexually explicit books in School District 33? Do you know their content? What legal stance has the superintendent taken with regards to the criminal code? Let me just briefly read, ‘There are strict definitions in the child pornography code.’”.Reichelt stopped the speech saying, “So, I’m turning off your mic. Dr. Ferguson, yeah, we’re not doing this. There is no illegal material in our schools. That is highly defamatory. No. I’m not going to let you. Sorry. Too bad.”.Tanya Gaw, founder of A4C, said, “I just wanted to make a statement regarding what you said regarding making criminal record checks on drag queens.”.Reichelt said, “That’s not on the agenda… Drag queens are not on the agenda. So do you have a question about something on the agenda?”.Gaw said, “You as a board have to protect our children and consider something moving forward such as the [SOGI 123] learning resource. In 2017 they put it into all schools. No parents were involved in this decision or psychologists to determine the long-term affects. Now what we’re finding—”.Reichelt interrupted, “SOGI 123 is not on the agenda.”.“It’s a learning resource,” Gaw protested..“That’s not anything to do with our learning resources policy,” Reichelt said. After a brief exchange, she continued, “You’re not on the mic. I’ve told you, thank you, so you can go sit down now, thank you.”.The exchanges led to an Action 4 Canada campaign page entitled, “School Board Chair: Dictatorship or Democracy?” that includes a five-minute compilation video of the school board meeting. .Part two of the campaign page includes a screenshot of Willow Reichelt’s school board re-election Facebook page where she defended Gender Queer. .“The book banners claim to be about protecting children, but make no mistake: This is an explicitly racist and anti-LGBTQ+ agenda,” Reichelt wrote..A formal complaint was made to the RCMP regarding the materials on February 17, but investigators did not believe it fit the legal definition of child porn..“This is a serious allegation and one that caused many parents great concern in our community,” said Chilliwack Sgt. Krista Vrolyk in a press release..“Police have a duty to investigate these allegations, but it became clear to the investigator who has years of experience in investigating Child Pornography offences that, while the material may be deemed inappropriate or concerning to some people, it does not constitute child pornography.”
