Red Deer Regional Catholic Schools trustees had their minds made up and ignored contrary viewpoints when they booted Monique LaGrange off the board, her lawyer argued in court on Wednesday.
The board’s actions amount to pre-judging or taking a closed-mind approach to the issues at stake before deciding trustee LaGrange had violated the Alberta Education Act and school board policies before removing her from the board last September, said lawyer James Kitchen.
Kitchen is representing LaGrange in two applications for judicial review of school board decisions to at first sanction LaGrange and then later to remove her from the board.
LaGrange was criticized 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.”
Some interpreted it as likening the Pride movement to Nazism. It drew wide condemnation from parents, students, and LGBTQ+ groups, as well as the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Centre, the Alberta Teachers’ Association and some Alberta government leaders.
LaGrange also received emails of support, more than 30 pages worth will be presented as evidence in the judicial reviews and Kitchen read some of them on Wednesday.
LaGrange defended herself saying that was never intention and she was only drawing attention to the wrongfulness of exposing young children to adult ideologies that they do not understand.
The board suspended LaGrange from committee duties and from representing the board at public functions and told her to apologize. When she refused, she was removed.
Her colleagues determined that she put her personal interest above her board duties, did not consider the potential damage her post could cause to public perceptions of the board nor how it did not align with the school district policies on inclusivity.
LaGrange fought back and The Democracy Fund, which describes itself as a charity dedicated to constitutional rights, advancing education and relieving property, offered to pay for her defence.
Kitchen said the board’s decision following a special meeting on Sept. 5, 2023 to write to the education minister asking him to dismiss LaGrange showed their minds were made up about her case before another hearing was held nearly three weeks later that led to her being removed from the board.
That move had the air of a “reverse-engineered decision” in which the board sought justification for a decision they had already made, he suggested to Red Deer Court of King’s Bench Justice Cheryl Arcand-Kootenay.
“This is another cancel culture case,” said Kitchen, who was appearing remotely through the court’s Webex system. The entire Catholic Schools board and its two lawyers were also connected remotely to the Red Deer courtroom where Arcand-Kootenay was presiding.
The board should have brought in a neutral third-party to review LaGrange’s case, he said.
“That’s what should have been done here. It happens all the time.”
Kitchen also zeroed in on a section of the school board’s policy that says all trustees must commit themselves to dignified, ethical, professional and lawful conduct.
“None of those provisions, properly understood, apply. Ms LaGrange did not breach any of those sections.”
Kitchen said if the judge finds the first decision to sanction her was unreasonable, the second decision to remove her from the board also cannot stand.
The case returns to court on Thursday and is expected to finish on Friday.