Judge rules against former Red Deer Catholic school trustee on first part of judicial review

LaGrange didn’t adhere to all of the sanctions, so the board disqualified her from sitting as a trustee under regulations in the Education Act.

LaGrange then decided on taking the division to court, and her double judicial review — one for each application of the code of conduct — was then heard over several days in the spring.

“We are grateful for the Court’s decision, as it reaffirms our commitment to creating an inclusive and respectful environment for all students and staff,” says RDCRS Board Chair Murray Hollman. “This judgment underscores the importance of our policies and our collective responsibility as trustees to uphold them in the service of our community.”

The division notes that Justice Cheryl Arcand-Kootenay did decide to quash a number of sanctions for redundancy, and removed the word ‘sincere’ from the initial sanction that she provide an apology.

According to the Justice, in paragraph 125 of her decision: “It does not seem feasible to me to prescribe an individual’s personally held feelings. Whether or not the apology is sincere is not measurable by any objective standard.”

Airdrie-based lawyer, James Kitchen, who has represented Monique LaGrange through The Democracy Fund, spoke with rdnewsNOW after the ruling was released, and called the judge’s decision on the first judicial review both, “unsurprising,” and, “as expected.”

While Kitchen agrees that there’s no objective standard to measure sincerity, there is one problem.

“Tacitly, not explicitly, but passively, the court is condoning the compulsion of insincere apologies,” Kitchen opines.

“This is, I would think, a socially undesirable policy. It’s common, and we do it all the time, especially to the LGBT community, but if I was a member of the LGBT community, I wouldn’t like that. I wouldn’t like getting all these obviously fake, false and insincere apologies.”

The other aspect on which Justice Arcand-Kootenay ruled against the division was that the training they’d ordered LaGrange to do was redundant in that they, “had also resolved to participate and engage in similar training as a group. There is no reason the Applicant [LaGrange] could not participate in this training alongside her peers.” [Paragraph 124]

Kitchen says LaGrange has advised that she would like to take her case to the Court of Appeal of Alberta, but that likely won’t occur until part two of Justice Arcand-Kootenay’s decision is released.

The full decision can be read here.

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by Josh Hall | @Vancan19

Judge rules against former Red Deer Catholic school trustee on first part of judicial review

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