Former Chilliwack school trustee Barry Neufeld was in BC Supreme Court earlier this week to resolve a complaint against him by the Chilliwack Teachers Association..Neufeld said the “lame" human rights complaint is five and-a-half years old, far beyond the time criminal charges must be dropped if there is no trial..“They complained that I was a danger to their members because I was trying to protect children from and warn parents of the dangerous ideas in SOGI 1-2-3. But the complaint is stuck, because they can’t come up with a name of anyone who feels threatened by me,” Neufeld explained in a Facebook post..“In 2021, I applied to the human rights tribunal to drop the case. They refused and have scheduled three weeks of hearings in December of this year. I am no longer a trustee, so how can I be a threat to anyone in the school district?”.On a Facebook post on Oct. 23, 2017, Neufeld called BC's SOGI 123 school resources a “weapon of propaganda” that teaches the “biologically absurd theory” that “gender is not biologically determined, but is a social construct.”.He also lamented that children were “being taught that heterosexual marriage is no longer the norm." He voiced his support for “traditional family values” and heralded countries like Russia and Paraguay, which have “had the guts to standup to these radical cultural nihilists.".He acknowledged he posted at the risk of “being labelled a bigoted homophobe,” but felt his voice needed to be heard..The complaint was filed by the B.C. Teachers’ Federation (BCTF) on behalf of the local Chilliwack Teachers’ Association (CTA) in January 2018. In January 2021, tribunal member Kathleen Smith removed non-LGBTQ teachers from the complaint, as the BCTF did not produce enough evidence to prove discrimination for those employees..“The complainant group will now include only those CTA members who identify as LGBTQ.”.Neufeld called on the BC Supreme Court to dismiss the complaint. The BC Safe Schools program hired the Guild Yule Law Firm to represent him. His application would have been heard last September, but for an untimely car accident.."Shauna Gersbach was on their team. She sends her children to a private Christian school. She was very supportive of my position. And she had done a lot of homework and could out-argue any BCTF lawyer," Neufeld explained.."But the morning of my hearing, she was badly injured in a serious car accident and they had to postpone the hearing until June 19. She has not yet fully recovered, so her colleagues David Bell and Jordan Bank are battling gender ideology on my behalf.".Court proceedings lasted two days. Neufeld said his legal representation was enthusiastic.."Bell says he loves the case. It is all about an important issue that people are worked up over, the Charter of Rights, free speech, and putting some boundaries on the increasingly totalitarian powers of the BC Human Rights Tribunal. And every lawyer in town wants to talk about Barry Neufeld!".The CTA were also represented by two lawyers. The executive of the CTA were in attendance including president Reid Clark, son of former premier Glen Clark. Clint Johnston, current president of the BC Teachers Federation, was also in attendance..Seven other lawyers were there as interveners: two from the BC Human Rights Tribunal, two from the BC Human Rights Commission, and one from EGALE.."All of the lawyers were urging the judge to back off and let the human rights complaint against me proceed. They kept reminding him that I lost my defamation suit to former BCTF President Glen Hansman because I was such a horrid bigot. They kept accusing me of launching the defamation suit against Hansman as retaliation for the human rights complaint. Frankly, I felt like a wounded animal with vicious wolves and vultures circling me!" wrote Neufeld.."But their desperation to destroy me was obvious. Public opinion is beginning to turn against the radical alphabet people. They need to get me in front of the extremely biased tribunal as soon as possible.".Neufeld said his lawyers argued no one had been harmed, as shown by the fact the CTA couldn’t name anyone as a victim in their complaint.."They managed to get the CTA to admit that none of the non-LGBTQ2+ (straight) members of their union were in any way threatened. They also argued the BC Human Rights Tribunal made a legal error against natural common law justice when they refused to drop the complaint against me. ."Justice Andrew Mayer was very interested in the case and often spoke up to challenge the lawyers’ arguments.".Neufeld said if the judge has not ruled by December, "the kangaroo court" of the BC Human Rights Tribunal might proceed.."The members of the tribunal are not trained lawyers. They are all activist social justice warriors who want to bring in the new utopia of diversity, inclusion and equity (DIE!)," wrote Neufeld.
