Chilliwack’s controversial school trustee may be on his way out
Last week was a victorious week for those interested in defeating some not-so-nice people in power: Trump left the White House for (assumably) ever, MP Derek Sloan has been removed from the Conservative caucus, and here in the Fraser Valley, Chilliwack’s own school trustee, Barry Neufeld, is looking like he’ll be gone very soon.
Neufeld has been in the controversy spotlight a few times now, most notably beginning when he attacked the B.C. education system’s Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) program back in 2017. The SOGI program is made for B.C. teachers to help support LGBTQ+ students and also encourage all students in understanding what sexual orientation and gender identity are. Neufeld tweeted, “SOGI in my opinion is an institutionalization of co-dependency, encouraging and enabling dysfunctional behaviour and thinking patterns.” He went on to compare gender-affirming medical treatments to child abuse. From there, a human rights complaint was filed against him on behalf of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) because Neufeld’s remarks promoted an unsafe environment for students, teachers, and other educational staff. It seems that this incident alone should be grounds for termination, but the Chilliwack school board only stated that Neufeld’s views did not reflect the rest of the board. Neufeld soon apologized and the world moved on, without further consequences.
Next, Neufeld hit headlines again this past May, when the pandemic was in full swing. Neufeld claimed that Canada’s chief public health officer, Dr. Theresa Tam, may be transgender and therefore cannot be trusted. The school trustee also added that Tam is a “major player in the corrupt World Health Organization.” Again, these wildly transphobic comments should be even more solid grounds for termination. Of course, comments like this from Neufeld are not okay under any circumstances, but like Rob Fleming, B.C.’s minister of education stated, “This person is not just a private citizen, this is somebody who is well-known as an elected official and involved in the responsibilities of elected office, in this case, looking after the well-being of children and youth in his school district.” But, again, Neufeld apologized and the world moved on.
Once again, we saw Neufeld’s name in the news when he used an ableist slur to describe several employees at the Chilliwack Progress in November. By this point, there’s no excuse for Neufeld to have still been on the board. Willow Reichelt, a Chilliwack board of education chair said, “The Minister of Education can fire a whole board but they can’t remove just one person. This particular trustee has already been censured for past behaviour, so he’s already not sitting on committees, not acting as a school liaison, and not attending events where staff and students are present.” Here we can see that by last November, Neufeld wasn’t doing much as a board member, but unfortunately he still held his position.
And lastly, the cherry on top of it all, after being formally asked to resign by the school board he sits on during a Zoom meeting, Neufeld simply failed to respond to the statement. Then he walked away from the camera for several minutes only to return to light a cigarette, drink wine, and then nap. This was a public school board meeting on Jan. 12. It’s totally fine for someone to smoke, drink, and nap, but certainly not on the job. In addition, this all took place while the board was supposed to be watching a presentation from Sardis Secondary staff. Neufeld’s actions were incredibly impolite and highly unprofessional.
As of right now, nothing has been determined in regard to Neufeld’s future with the education board. The board will submit their final report about Neufeld and his actions to Minister of Education Jennifer Whiteside by Feb. 26, but it does look very hopeful that Neufeld will be leaving. With previous school trustee Dan Coulter being elected to MLA, several candidates have already thrown their hats in the ring to replace him, and hopefully there will be even more candidates to run for Neufeld’s position once he officially leaves.
Neufeld’s resignation has been a long time coming and is very well deserved. It’s hopeful to see that leaders in the Fraser Valley are taking actions to dismiss bullies in order to create safe spaces for everyone in the community. For the first time in a long time, the news doesn’t look so grim.
