Stand with pro-life trustee Mike Del Grande: LifeFunder
(Campaign Life Coalition) — School trustee Michael Del Grande needs your support!
His day in court is happening next week.
On Monday, September 23, 2024, Toronto Catholic District School Board trustee Michael Del Grande will appear before the Court of Appeal for Ontario, in the hope of overturning an earlier ruling against him by the Superior Court of Justice.
We’re hoping many supporters would attend the court hearing via Zoom, in order to show moral support for Michael, and his cause. Details on joining the Zoom hearing are further down.
What’s the court hearing about?
Del Grande is asking the Appeals Court to find that the TCDSB had acted illegally in 2020 when it convicted him of “trustee misconduct.”
What was the alleged “misconduct,” you ask?
Well, he stood up for the Catholic Church’s teachings against transgender ideology and abortion at a couple of TCDSB board meetings!
The gall of him, eh? Who does he think he is, a Catholic trustee or something?
At one meeting, he opposed adding “Gender Identity” and “Gender Expression” to the board’s code of conduct, using a hilarious slippery slope argument that was designed to shock his colleagues into realizing that it would be inappropriate for a Catholic board to protect and elevate sinful lifestyles.
Toronto Catholic ratepayers in the boardroom gallery broke out in laughter and applause. However, the anti-Christian LGBT lobby didn’t find it funny, and after that meeting, vindictively filed a “misconduct” complaint over his motion.
At a subsequent TCDSB meeting, Trustee Del Grande gently corrected a trustee colleague, one of the elected student trustees, for espousing pro-abortion views during a public trustee debate.
The student trustee, who lacked no confidence whatsoever in challenging Catholic doctrine in public, even in the presence of a Catholic priest representing the Archdiocese of Toronto, filed another vindictive “misconduct” complaint against Del Grande, alleging “verbal and emotional abuse.”
Mike’s TCDSB colleagues held a misconduct trial on both of these complaints. It resulted in a verdict of not guilty. You’d think that’d be the end of it, right?
Well, it wasn’t.
Mainstream media steps in to demand its pound of flesh
The mainstream media worked with a couple of dissident TCDSB trustees and with LGBT activists all across the country, even non-Catholics who didn’t live in Toronto, to demand a new trial and a new “guilty” verdict.
Even the lesbian former Premier of Ontario, Kathleen Wynne, who is not Catholic and has no standing in the Catholic board, joined the effort to demand a new guilty verdict.
Under the media pressure, a majority of trustees agreed to redo the trial, despite there being no new evidence – only new political pressure! A single trustee who had previously voted “not guilty,” switched her vote, which resulted in a fresh, new “guilty” verdict.
The board then imposed sanctions designed to humiliate Del Grande… and to send a message to all other Christian trustees across the land: “Don’t you dare oppose LGBT ideology, or this’ll happen to you too!”
Sanctions would include a public censure, forcing him to mouth an insincere apology to LGBT activists, and making him undergo the humiliation of a mandatory re-education camp to “correct” his beliefs.
Defense: Charter protects Del Grande against ‘double jeopardy’
Not wanting to bend the knee or suffer the sanctions, Michael took the TCDSB to court, asking it to overturn the guilty verdict and related sanctions.
Del Grande argued that the trial re-do was unlawful, since Section 11(h) of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms protects Canadians from being tried twice for the same crime. This is colloquially known as protection from being put in “double jeopardy.”
A Justin Trudeau-appointed judge in the lower court with a history of left-wing activism at a pro-abortion, pro-LGBT pressure group, sided with the TCDSB against Del Grande, in a ridiculously argued decision that simply ignored the evidence.
So, Mike appealed to a higher court. This brings us to Monday’s hearing where we hope the new judicial panel will rely on the law, rather than ideology.
Join the court hearing via Zoom
CLC is encouraging our supporters who are able, to attend the upcoming hearing, which we expect will last for half a day (from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM), via Zoom. It would be a great source of moral support for Mr. Del Grande, if a lot of pro-family Canadians were tuned in and watching the proceedings.
Hopefully, it’d send a message to the judges too, that Canadians are watching.
For the sake of clarity, we’ll mention that the public is not permitted to attend the court hearing in person. Only via Zoom. See details below.
Date: Monday, September 23, 2024
Time: 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM
Zoom link: https://ca01web.zoom.us/j/69763808283?pwd=3PVgN0Ep3bc6jXbyAQ3Sj6ghUWXkNx.1
Passcode: 503631
The Court of Appeal published the following notice, which applies to anyone attending by Zoom:
Unless permission is given by the court, it is an offence under s. 136 of the Courts of Justice Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. C.43, punishable by a fine of not more than $25,000 or imprisonment of up to six months, or both, to record any part of the hearing, including by way of screenshot/capture and photograph, as well as to publish, broadcast, reproduce or disseminate any such recording.
Mr. Del Grande’s legal team has been doing an excellent job at defending his democratic right to freedom of expression, both at the provincial courts and the Ontario College of Teachers tribunal!
However, good legal defense comes with a high price tag, which is why Mr. Del Grande also needs your financial help. So, please consider making a donation to help cover his legal expenses. No amount is too small!
Michael has enormous legal bills, so please be generous. Defending his name, the Christian faith, and our democratic rights, is a very expensive game.
To donate toward Michael Del Grande’s legal defense fund, click here.
Reprinted with permission from Campaign Life Coalition.
Stand with pro-life trustee Mike Del Grande: LifeFunder