Catholic School Board Trustees Leave Meeting After Gallery Erupts Over Trustee Tweets

High school students head to school buses after school in this file photo. (Geoff Robins/AFP via Getty Images)

A video posted on social media shows Waterloo Catholic District School Board (WCDSB) trustees walking out of a board meeting when asked questions about controversial tweets made on social media by a trustee.

At an April 24 evening meeting, a journalist from Rebel News, complete with a camera crew, stood and began reading social media posts written by trustee Wendy Ashby, who has since deleted her Twitter account and the posts in question.

The first tweet in question, dated Oct. 16, 2022, read: “The most dangerous creature on the planet is the white Christian male. They’re a threat to anyone that is not them.” The post included the hashtags: “#truth #facts #misogyn #whitentitlement #racism #homophobia.”

In a separate tweet, Ashby’s Twitter stated: “Hush money. Buying silence about being underpaid. White women make obedient soldiers for the christofascist patriarchy.”

Trustee Tracy Weiler, who chaired the meeting, interrupted the journalist’s questions. “Such behaviour and outbursts will not be tolerated,” she said, and threatened to have people thrown out of the meeting. The gallery of attendees, some with signs objecting to the tweets, became loud, clapping, standing, and yelling shame at the departing trustees.

Parent Group Reaction

A screenshot of one of Ashby’s tweets was shared in an April 6 news release by parent advocacy group Parents as First Educators (PAFE). The posts did not sit well with some parents who have children in the Catholic school system, the group said. It subsequently created a petition, calling for Ashby’s resignation, which had received over 2,900 signatures as of press time. A separate, similar petition on the Campaign Life Coalition platform regarding Ashby had almost 2,500 signatures by April 25.

PAFE said the tweets were “inflammatory” and caught the eye of several concerned community members.

“Ashby’s tweets all had hashtags such as ’transgenderism‘, ’truth’, ‘white entitlement’, ‘racism’, ’trans rights are human rights’, etc. She appears to consider herself a social justice warrior, fighting for justice and acceptance for all! But where is the representation for the white Christian males she so blatantly discriminates against?” said PAFE.

The group said the trustee has “shown prejudice based on race and religion” and is unfit to represent her “white, Christian constituents as a trustee, and she should resign.”

Ashby and the trustees of WCDSB, including the board chair, did not respond by press time to questions from The Epoch Times.

Platform

Ashby’s election campaign focused on LGBTQ advocacy, anti-racism, and indigenous advocacy. “I proudly and loudly advocate for BLM [Black Lives Matter], anti-racism, truth and reconciliation in education, LGBTQ2IA+, [and] mental health,” she told a local publication last year.

“As someone who identifies as Métis and settler, and whose family is diverse, a great deal of my education is based in understanding and furthering diversity equity and inclusion,” she told another local publication, The Record.

Ashby completed a preelection questionnaire for an LGBT publication and stated she had “several degrees in social policy, social work, and social Justice.” She said if elected, she would “[w]ork on education, inclusion and addressing heteronormativity. Education and visibility is key.”

Board Response

By press time, the official video of the board meeting had not been posted to the WCDSB YouTube channel.

One parent, Mike Bogias, who has a son in a Cambridge Catholic school, told local newspaper Cambridge Today on April 25: “It was a bit unsettling to see that kind of rhetoric from a board member representing Christian values and inclusiveness. What I saw was a pattern of conduct online that this individual holds deeply prejudice views that include race, sex and religion.”

Bogias said he had written to the school board on April 3, and again on April 10, and received no reply.

Weiler told the newspaper that the board “is working through the process of what to do next.” She said the board has a code of conduct and they would “follow the process.”

Earlier, on April 17, Weiler told The Catholic Register, “The board of trustees are aware of the concerns that were raised by some community members regarding a recent social media post.”

“In speaking with trustee Ashby, she understands that the posted message was inappropriate, and she has immediately shut down her Twitter account and has apologized for the message from her Twitter account.”

Weiler said Ashby apologized to her fellow board members. However, neither Ashby nor WCDSB has issued a formal public apology to the school community at large, according to The Catholic Register.

“We are working through our own internal process,” said Weiler. “That will determine any next steps.”

Tara MacIsaac contributed to this report.