Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is calling a recent ruling by a B.C. tribunal “insane and Orwellian” after a former school board trustee was ordered to pay $750,000 for speaking out against sexual orientation and gender identity curriculum.
The B.C. Human Rights Tribunal ordered former Chilliwack school trustee Barry Neufeld to pay $750,000 to the Chilliwack Teachers’ Association after ruling last week that he had violated the Human Rights Code by publishing content that it deemed “discriminatory” and exposed LGBT people “to hatred or contempt.”
Poilievre criticized the ruling in a Feb. 22 X post that included a link to a Conservative Party free speech petition. He said the trustee should not have been punished for “saying there are two genders.”
“Governments and kangaroo courts now chill freedom of expression instead of fighting crime, censoring people who dare to speak their minds,” the Tory leader wrote. “Enough is enough. We must defend the truth and free speech against these mad censors.”
The tribunal issued its final decision on Feb. 18, concluding a case that had been ongoing for nearly a decade and involved Neufeld, the BC Teachers’ Federation, and the Chilliwack Teachers’ Association.
The case began in 2017 when the teachers’ associations filed a complaint about Neufeld’s public commentary on SOGI (sexual orientation and gender identity) curriculum being taught to children.
Neufeld was a school trustee from 1993 to 2008, and again from 2011 until 2022. He has spoken out against gender ideology in schools since SOGI was introduced in 2017.
The tribunal scrutinized Facebook posts made by Neufeld, as well as a widely circulated email, a speech he made at a gathering, and comments at a school board meeting and in the media that were critical of gender identity teachings. One of Neufeld’s posts said that “letting little children choose to change gender is nothing short of child abuse.”
The tribunal’s 143‑page decision concluded that six of Neufeld’s “publications” exposed gay and transgender people “to hatred or contempt” and that an additional 24 were discriminatory.
Neufeld told The Epoch Times last week that he plans to apply for a judicial review “of the Tribunal’s unjust decision.”
He shared a statement with the Epoch Times on Feb. 23, saying he will petition the BC Supreme Court, an undertaking that he said will be “expensive” but said he is hopeful he will be able to raise the necessary funding with the help of the Rights and Freedoms Fundraising Society (RFFS).
Neufeld said he does not have the money to pay the tribunal’s fine.
“I am sure they know I can never begin to pay this, but it sets a precedent, and in the future, no one else will ever dare to criticize their sacred Gender Ideology,” he said in a written statement. “So I must try to overturn this draconian decision.”
Neufeld said he is remaining positive despite the ruling, referring to the size of the penalty as “a blessing in disguise.”
“If it had only been $75,000, everyone would have ignored it and thought Barry Neufeld deserved it for being so outspoken,” he wrote. “But Three quarters of a Million bucks shocked everyone into realizing that the BC Human Rights Tribunal is on a power trip.”
Public Commentary
The tribunal’s ruling has brought public commentary on both sides of the gender identity issue.
B.C.’s Human Rights Commissioner, who was an intervenor in the complaint against Neufeld, applauded the decision.
“Publishing statements that deny trans identities and rely on stereotypes create significant harm,” Commissioner Kasari Govender said in a press release last week. “The decision is significant for ensuring that human rights laws apply to political and public statements from our elected officials and affirming that trans people are entitled to have their identities recognized and rights respected.”
The BC Teachers’ Federation President Carole Gordon called the tribunal’s ruling a “huge win” for LGBT rights in a Feb. 18 press release.
One BC Leader Dallas Brodie was critical of the tribunal’s ruling in a recent social media post and called for the quasi-judicial human rights body to be “abolished.” She described it as a “left-wing political enforcement arm” for the current provincial NDP government.
“They punish brave people like Mr. Neufeld for standing against gender theory being pushed by the government,” she wrote on X. “BC needs more radically normal people like Barry Neufeld. OneBC will carry on the fight against the Woke bullies at the BC Human Rights Tribunal and in the BC NDP government.”
B.C. independent MLA Jordan Kealy called the tribunal’s decision “horribly wrong, in so many ways.”
“You don’t have to agree with Barry Neufeld to see the danger here,” the Peace River North representative wrote in a Feb. 20 X post. “When a tribunal can redefine opinion as ‘harm,’ free expression becomes conditional.”
British comedian and “Monty Python” star John Cleese said he is removing B.C. from his Canadian tour schedule this year after reading about the tribunal’s ruling.
“What a pity,” the actor wrote in a Feb. 21 X post that included a link to a news story about Neufeld’s $750,000 fine. “I’m arranging a theatrical tour of Canada this Fall, and now I won’t be able to risk doing any shows in British Columbia. I was really looking forward to coming.”
Vancouver nurse Amy Hamm, who was fined last year by the B.C. College of Nurses and Midwives (BCCNM) for saying there were only two genders, has also spoken out on Neufeld’s case.
“Here’s the thing: If my most-detested enemy was fined $750,000 for their speech, I would not celebrate,” she wrote in a Feb. 21 X post. “No person of sound moral principles, without a hate-filled soul, would gloat about the state punishing someone in this fashion. Barry Neufeld’s punishment harms us all.”
Conservative Petition
Poilievre’s comments on the recent tribunal ruling against Neufeld were similar to those he made when Hamm was ordered to pay $93,639.80 in legal costs for what the BCCNM deemed “discriminatory and derogatory” statements regarding transgender people.
Poilievre said the BCCNM’s ruling against Hamm was censorship.
“A nurse with a spotless track record gets fined and suspended for pointing out there are two genders,” he said in an X post last August. “This is authoritarian censorship. We must restore free speech and free thinking in a free country.”
The petition Poilievre plugged at the bottom of his Feb. 22 post about Neufeld specifically references Hamm’s case.
Like Neufeld, Hamm made comments about gender identity on podcasts as well as on social media. She was also investigated by the college after helping a friend sponsor a billboard in support of UK author J.K. Rowling, who has been critical of biological males going to female-only spaces.
The college last year found Hamm liable of “professional misconduct” for making her comments while identifying herself as a nurse. The college argued that her posts violated the standards of the nursing profession.
The petition in which Hamm is named criticizes Bill C-9, also known as the Combatting Hate Act, introduced by the Liberal government in September 2025. The act proposes significant amendments to the Criminal Code aimed at addressing hate crimes. The Tories have argued that some of its provisions may extend too far and could risk infringing on freedom of expression and religious speech.
Conservatives are opposing an amendment to the bill that removes the religious defence to hate speech in the Criminal Code, arguing that it could infringe upon religious freedom.
The religious defence, currently established in the law, safeguards individuals from charges of intentionally promoting hatred for expressing religious beliefs in good faith.
Justice Minister Sean Fraser told reporters on Feb. 10 that the Liberal government is willing to accommodate requests from critics by refining parts of the bill, while accusing the Conservatives of wanting to “obstruct the criminal justice agenda” rather than work cooperatively with the government.
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