Cancel culture had nothing to do with the Red Deer Catholic Regional Schools board's decision to sanction Monique LaGrange for posting a meme many found offensive, a lawyer for the board said on Thursday.
"This isn't about cancel culture. This is about not following board procedure," said Teresa Haykowsky in a Webex court appearance on a pair of judicial reviews of decisions to first sanction and then remove LaGrange from the board.
In a decision last September, the board found LaGrange breached board policy and its code of conduct. She was kicked off committees and barred from representing the school division or board in any official capacity, ordered to take sensitivity training and write a sincere letter of apology.
When she refused to apologize, she was removed from the board.
LaGrange came under fire when she posted a meme on Facebook in August 2023 featuring side-by-side photos of young Nazi supporters and a group of children with a Pride in Progress flag with the caption “brainwashing is brainwashing.”
Haykowsky walked Red Deer Court of King's Bench Justice Cheryl Arcand-Kootenay through the school board's 15-page summation of the facts and procedures that led to the Sept. 26 decision to impose sanctions.
The decision notes that LaGrange said the point she was trying to make with the meme was about the dangers of indoctrination and exposing children who were too young to understand its implications, and was not meant to make comparisons with the Nazi regime.
However, the board's reasons claim she explained the meme was also about "indoctrination through the United Nations which directly correlates to World War 2 and Nazism; it is about the agenda of Planned Parenthood which is an attempt to sabotage our youths' identities and destinies and hijacks the LGBTQ (2SLGBTQA1+) community's original mandate …"
Haykowsky read from a number of emails from people appalled that the LaGrange posted the meme, including one from the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center, which called the meme "abhorrent."
The board ultimately decided it did not accept LaGrange's submission that it had nothing to do with Nazism and a reasonable person viewing the meme "could reasonably conclude that a negative comparison was being made."
Haykowsky also argued that the board did not, at first, vote to disqualify LaGrange, which shows they had not pre-judged the case as the former trustee's lawyer suggested on Wednesday.
The decision to impose lesser sanctions shows their decision was not "tainted by procedural unfairness or bias," said Haykowsky.
"Just for the record, they were asked to disqualify. They did not. We see reasonableness," she said.
"There is no evidence of ill intent. There is no evidence of an attempt to humiliate Ms. LaGrange."
LaGrange's lawyer James Kitchen argued the board did not explain why it was assumed that the meme posted by LaGrange linked Nazism to the 2SLGBTQA1+ community.
It was not fair and reasonable to sanction LaGrange based on offences the board could not articulate, he argued.
It was both unlawful and unreasonable for the board to make the decision it did without considering LaGrange’s explanation and the numerous letters of support that showed many people did not feel she was equating Nazism with the Pride community.
“(The board) they’re stuck on 'this is hateful.' We can’t tolerate hate. They’re stuck on that train and they can’t seem to get off of it.”
Kitchen argued that the board's finding she violated the code of conduct was unreasonable and the sanctions amounted to “punishment for punishment’s sake.”
The sanctions imposed on LaGrange included what he likened to a "forced apology" that put her in the position of having to lie about sincerely held views and was an unreasonable punishment.
"It's vindictive. It's humiliating. It's designed to be punishment for punishment's sake and it's setting her up for failure."
The judicial review returns to court on Friday.