(LifeSiteNews) –– The lawyer for Josh Alexander, a Canadian high school student who was suspended from his Catholic school in 2022 for speaking out against transgender ideology, says the board’s understanding of religious rights are “repugnant” after its secret decision to deny Alexander’s appeal was made part of the public record.
In 2022, Alexander was indefinitely suspended from St. Joseph’s Catholic School, located in Renfrew, Ontario, by the Renfrew County Catholic District School Board, after he spoke out against LGBT ideology in his school, particularly for speaking out against male students being allowed to enter female bathrooms.
According to Alexander’s lawyer James Kitchen, on December 18, 2023, the Renfrew County Catholic District School Board issued a “secret decision” that denied Alexander’s appeals regarding his suspensions and exclusions, which were placed on him by the school principal during the 2022-23 school year.
On February 20, 2024, Kitchen, who serves as Liberty Coalition Canada’s (LCC) chief litigator, filed an Application for Judicial Review to the Divisional Court of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, to try and have the decision overturned.
Because Kitchen’s brief has now been filed, it has allowed for the Renfrew County Catholic District School Board’s “secret” decision to be made part of the public court record.
“The Board’s failure or refusal to address Josh Alexander’s central argument led it to conclude, contrary to the clear direction of the Supreme Court in Amselem and Big M, that individuals are only permitted by law to hold religious beliefs, not to declare or otherwise manifest those beliefs,” said Kitchen in a media statement which was sent to LifeSiteNews.
“The Board embraced an impoverished, repugnant, and unreasonable view of the right to participate in society free of discrimination on the basis of religious belief.”
Kitchen noted that the school board “acknowledged that individuals are free to hold religious beliefs,” yet it “pretended individuals are not free to act upon or publicly express those beliefs if someone subjectively feels disrespected, insulted, offended, et cetera when encountering those beliefs.”
“The law has repeatedly rejected such a notion, and rightfully so,” he said.
The Renfrew County Catholic District School Board’s decision, in justifying their denying Alexander’s appeal, claimed he “continued to pose a safety risk.”
“While individuals are entitled to their religious beliefs, opinions and views, what they are not entitled to do is act in the manner that disrespects, discriminates, insults, denigrates, harasses, bullies or otherwise creates an unsafe environment for any person in the school,” noted the school board in its written decision.
The board said that “Beliefs, opinions, and views, no matter how genuinely held, cannot be used to justify treating any individual with disrespect or in any way that devalues them or makes them feel unsafe.”
Alexander ‘not unsafe,’ says lawyer
Kitchen noted while Alexander’s views might “offend” people, he nor his ideas are “unsafe,” adding that the student never once threatened anyone.
LCC noted that filing the court application will not only “hopefully result in holding the School Board accountable before a court of law for its decision to deny Josh’s appeals, but it has also defeated the Board’s attempt to keep the reasons for its decision secret.”
“Liberty Coalition Canada is now able to provide the public with not only the trustees’ absurd reasons for ruling against Josh, but also all the material submitted by Josh to the School Board, which it ignored in arriving at its decision.”
Alexander, who is now 18, in early 2023 was issued a trespass notice by his principal and barred from attending class for the rest of the school year, “all because he expressed his Christian beliefs, during class debates and on social media, that there are only two genders, that students cannot switch between genders, and that male students should not be permitted into girls’ washrooms,” said the LCC.
Alexander to continue his fight with ongoing court battles
Alexander has continued his fight against the nominally Catholic school and is now hoping that the Ontario Superior Court of Justice will hear his case, after filing an application to have it heard before the provincial court.
Additionally, he has submitted an application to the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal (HRTO), in which he has claimed that his “creed” has been discriminated against by the school board, two teachers, and the school principal.
After being kicked out of school, he was arrested for protesting against LGBT ideology multiple times and still travels across Canada to protest against the LGBT agenda.
Alexander’s activism has made him a familiar face in the pro-family and freedom movement, with many recognizing him by his recognizable “Save Canada” hat.