In the Canadian province of British Columbia, the province’s Human Rights Tribunal has ordered a Board of Education trustee to pay damages of $750,000 (Canadian) to compensate LGBTQ teachers in the Chilliwack School District for injury to their dignity, feelings and self-respect caused by respondent’s discriminatory and hate speech that violated the British Columbia Human Rights Law. In Chilliwack Teachers’ Association v. Neufeld, (BC HRT, Feb. 18, 2026), the Tribunal (in a 141-page opinion) said in part:
… In 2017, the Ministry approved resources and tools aimed at fostering a SOGI [Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity]-inclusive education environment in all schools….
The backlash to SOGI 1 2 3 was immediate. One of its loudest critics was the Respondent, Barry Neufeld. At the time, Mr. Neufeld was an elected trustee of the Chilliwack Board of Education …. For the next five years of his tenure as a trustee, Mr. Neufeld engaged in a high-profile public campaign against SOGI 1 2 3 and the values underlying it. He did this through social media posts, as well as in statements made in Board meetings, rallies, and interviews. Throughout these publications, 30 of which are at issue here, Mr. Neufeld broadcast the message that SOGI 1 2 3 is a “weapon of propaganda”, which threatens “traditional family values” and instructs children about the “absurd theory” that “gender is not biologically determined, but a social construct”. This “lie”, he warned, alienates children from their parents and primes them for sexual abuse….
We declare that Mr. Neufeld violated ss. 7(1)(a), (b) and 13 of the Code….
… [A]lthough Mr. Neufeld occasionally alluded to his religion, at no point in this complaint did he assert, or lead evidence to support, that his right to freedom of religion under s. 2(a) of the Charter was engaged. In our view, it would not be appropriate to speculate about s. 2(a) of the Charter without a factual foundation or proper argument. For that reason, we have not considered whether our decision appropriately balances Mr. Neufeld’s religious freedoms….
Christian Post reports on the decision.