Barry Neufeld was a school trustee in Chilliwack, BC from about 1993 through till 2022, with the exception of a few years during 2008-2011. In 2017, he spoke out against SOGI 123, BC’s “sexual orientation and gender identity curriculum,” on Facebook. This is when his troubles began.
Both the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) and the BC Teachers’ Federation (BCTF) filed complaints against him with the BC Human Rights Tribunal (BCHRT), claiming Neufeld had breached the human rights code and had “created an unsafe work environment” for teachers and students on account of his words.
The complaints demanded Neufeld stop speaking out as he had been, but he refused, and so the trouble has not relented, as he has now had to appear in tribunals three times. The most-recent tribunal allowed for anonymous complaints from “LGBT-identified teachers,” which sounds very similar to what Justin Trudeau’s Online Harms Act intends to allow for.
Imagine if people were tracking your social media comments and reporting them anonymously to government-funded entities with the intention of having you charged with breaching the human rights code? Well, this is exactly what Trudeau's Online Harms Act will allow for, and apparently what is happening already to Barry Neufeld in BC.
I spoke with Barry about his case and why he’s still fighting.
Is Barry Neufeld a test subject for Canada's online hate speech tribunals?