In a sickening update in February — that should shake the conscience of every defender of human rights and freedoms in Canada — police in Ontario arrested 16-year-old Josh Alexander for attending class at his Catholic school, after he was suspended for protesting the allowance of males who identify as females to use girls’ bathrooms. I have been following the developments of this story from the beginning. See HERE and HERE for background. Thankfully, focus on the case isn’t going away, but is attracting increasing media attention across Canada, the U.S., and the UK.
To sum it up: Ontario student Josh Alexander was penalized with a 20-day suspension last year by his Catholic school “after he organized a walkout in protest of male students being permitted into the girls’ washroom.” In an interview around the time of Alexander’s initial suspension, the teen told LifeSiteNews that he believes, in accordance with Catholic teaching and the Bible, that there are only two sexes. Under the freedom of religion, Alexander has the guaranteed right to affirm this belief.
Or so we thought.
Liberty Coalition Canada (LCC) took up Josh’s case and sent a “Notice of Intention to Appeal Suspension” to Mary-Lise Rowat, Superintendent of Educational Services at Renfrew County Catholic District School Board. But Josh’s situation deteriorated, and fast. LifeSite news wrote in an update in February:
Alexander’s lawyer, James Kitchen, the chief litigator for Liberty Coalition Canada (LCC), told LifeSiteNews that Renfrew County Catholic District School Board won’t “permit him (Alexander) to attend school for the rest of the year because, according to them, Josh’s beliefs constitute ‘bullying of trans students.’”
What nonsense. Mind you, the school is bullying Josh over his religious rights and freedoms, while doing severe damage to what the school proclaims about honoring Catholic teachings.
In an update reported by Fox News, Kitchen stated that his client’s legal battle shows how freedom in the country is rapidly eroding. He further warned that Canadians “do not understand the gravity of the threat their government increasingly poses to religious freedom, which he said is ‘essentially dead’”. One of the first things Justin Trudeau did when he first became Prime Minister in 2015 was to shut down the Office of Religious Freedom.
Josh’s case also caught the attention of Elon Musk:
Yes I was arrested for attending school after expressing my beliefs. Thank you for sharing my story.
— Josh Alexander (@officialJosh_A) February 25, 2023
I previously wrote to the Diocese of Pembroke, of which Josh’s school, St. Joseph’s Catholic High School, and the Renfrew County Catholic District, are a part. Below is an excerpt from that correspondence, where you’ll notice immediately how institutions are able to hide (unintentionally or not) behind bureaucratic red tape, even when in violation of their own stated values.
On Jan 16, 2023, at 8:13 PM,
Vicar General / Vicaire général <vg@pembrokediocese.com> wrote:Dear Ms. Williams,
Thank you very much for your email, to which Bishop Desrochers has asked me to reply on his behalf.
The Renfrew County District Catholic School Board is a separate corporation from the Diocese of Pembroke, and it is under the direction of a Board of Trustees. The diocese does not have jurisdiction over the internal life of the Board, nor does the Bishop have the authority to intervene in internal matters. He can, however, exercise moral suasion, and he is in regular contact with the Board’s leadership.
I thank you again for writing.
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Fr. Michael Smith
Vicar General
and more….
On Jan 17, 2023, at 6:31 PM,
Vicar General / Vicaire général <vg@pembrokediocese.com> wrote:Thank you for your reply, Ms. Williams.
I am not party to Bishop Desrochers’ conversations with the Board’s leadership, but it can safely be said that the Bishop can be trusted to uphold Catholic teaching in a manner that is both clear and sensitive to others, especially the vulnerable.
In Christ,
Fr. Michael Smith
The full correspondence is HERE. From all appearances, the influence of Bishop Desrochers is questionable in a hierarchy that also appears to be corrupted at the highest levels and will only change with public opposition. Without any pushback, Canadians will lose more of their rights. So far, the Catholic faith, to all appearances, is of little importance at Josh’s school or within the diocese. Ethically, therefore, why is this school even being funded by taxpayers under a Separate School system, categorized as religious? The news broke last month that the Ontario government faces a legal challenge for funding Catholic schools; St. Joseph’s Catholic High School and the Renfrew District School Board makes the challenge easy. In an appropriately-titled report by the Christian Broadcasting Network: “Canadian Student Kicked Out of State-Funded Catholic School for Expressing Biblical Beliefs on Gender.”
Far too many people’s rights are being trampled unconstitutionally in the rush to adhere to woke ideology. In Josh’s case, he is a whipping boy for the intolerant in a multicultural country where its Prime Minister routinely hails the virtues of “tolerance” and “diversity.”
Josh’s school, St. Joseph’s Catholic School, boasts about its faith and its “atmosphere of trust” on its website:
After the egregious decision to suspend Josh until the end of the school year, Josh showed up to class anyway, in accordance with his rights and in defiance of the woke gods of his Catholic school. The result: the school called police to arrest him. Josh tweeted:
I have just been arrested and charged at my Catholic highschool for attending class after being excluded for indicating my intent to adhere to my religious beliefs. pic.twitter.com/vTkaSoTnFp
— Josh Alexander (@officialJosh_A) February 6, 2023
The cowards tried to hide the impact of the school’s actions:
“The entire class was dismissed while the staff handled my situation,” the boy continued. “Shortly after, Ontario Provincial Police arrived and asked me to leave. Once again, I respectfully declined and they arrested me.”
Josh is a courageous youngster who is bearing the burden for religious rights and freedoms in his country, a burden that adults should be carrying. His attorney told told LifeSiteNews “that Alexander’s decision to go back to school today was ‘an intelligent choice of a young man who knows what he is doing.’”
In a society that claims to abhor bullying, it is appalling that institutional bullying is now at play in the case of Josh Alexander and in full violation of Canada’s constitution.
We are living in a totalitarian nightmare. We need to take our country back!
Apparently there are some 40,000,000 people in Canada.
This makes the probability of becoming prime minister 1 in 40,000,000
The probability that two members of the same family become prime minister is infinitely less likely without cronyism and corruption.
Open the eyes of your countrymen to the corruption of the World Economic Forum and their global leadership program.
Trudeau, Trudeau, Trudeau–I am ‘sick’ of hearing about Trudeau! When I read about PM Trudeau, I think about the ‘back story’ which is ALL over the internet, and I myself believe the story is true. Trudeau’s parents, the former Canadian PM Pierre Trudeau and his mother (both were radical leftists), were enthusiastic fans of Cuba’s Fidel Castro. Former PM Pierre Trudeau was substantially older than his wife. It is rumored that the current PM Trudeau is the son of Fidel (this reportedly happened during a visit of the Trudeaus and Castro). When rudely asked about this later during her lifetime by a reporter (it’s on videotape), the current PM’s mother only smiled demurely, apparently not the least bit offended. Likewise, for Pierre. The current PM has said that he admired Fidel. That’s about all that most can now say for certain, but you ‘put it together’ for yourself! Oh, by the way, whom do YOU think that Canada’s current PM resembles–Pierre or Fidel?
I guess Marxism is in just the blood ( and rather small brain).
he looks like an a hole for sure.
He looks exactly like Fidel, only he’s fruity. Fidel wouldn’t like him.
Marxism is alive and well in Canada. I could smell it in the air when I immigrated from Canada to the United States in 1949. The seeds of the disaster planted by Justin’s father Pierre Trudeau.. A man who hated Canada and served two terms trying to destroy it. He would have succeeded had it not been for the arrival of thousands of Polish, Italian and Dutch from war torn Europe..They saved Canada by building cities, farmland and businesses. A few years before his demolition act began .Pierre took his family to China, and Cuba to learn how Communism and Marxism work.. It was in Cuba that, according to rumors believed for years in Canada., Justin’s mother mated with Fidel Castro and Justin was born Tall. dark and handsome, an image of Fidel Castro., Nothing like his short, light haired parents.. The rumor persists and is fed by Justin’s behavior, his spoken admiration of Cuba and their deplorable system. towards the Cuban people. .Marxism.. It’s in his bl;ood.
If I decide that I am a cat, can I come to one of the ELEMENTARY school playgrounds in the diocese of Pembroke and take a dump im the sandbox? If it’s bullying transgemders to tell boys who say they’re girls that they can’t use the girl’s restroom, it’s bullying trasspecies people to tell them they can”t use the sandbox
Please, I’ve heard some of this is happening. Furry behavior.
(Don’t resent my name here please)
Cats don’t do that. Do they? (That’s the regular ‘they’ not the new one)
It’s not religious freedom that’s dead, it’s reality
Maybe christians need to wake up and stop being bought by political promises of bread and circuses
Not just Catholic but all christian groups need to learn their faith . Your not going to find it easy going if your truly
Following the faith
Personally, I don’t know any Christians who are down with “woke.” All anyone – Christian or not – is talking about is the madness unleased in this country in recent times.
Trudeau needs to be voted out totally and replaced with a common sense person and not this pinhead
This Catholic School is Totally Wrong on this one.
My late Father wanted to move us to Canada I am happy my mom opposed it Our neighbors to the North have become a Nation in ruins because of Dunderheads like Trudeau and Biden is a bigger Dunderhead
It’s a Romans 21 mentality. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God or Gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
28. Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done.
There are 2 genders, male and female. Offspring cannot be produced by two of the same species. It’s common sense. All these other genders are created by man, not by God. They worship created things, rather than the Creator. This planet would never have been populated if we relied on the depravity of man to make things up. This is all denying the existence and reality of the Creation of God..
What Trudeau? This was happening in the early 90s.
Gosh, Canada is even worse than Biden’s America and that’s BAD! I’ve had great many friends in Canada for many years but now I think I’ll stay home in USA flyover country & await the end of the growing Dark Age. Be a long wait.
Peaceful protest against leftist lunatics is a waste of time. One needs strategic action. If a fake girl with a penis wants to use the girls’ locker rooms, encourage the girls to take care of the matter on their own. Give them all small bats or solid objects and let them gang up on the intruder. They might be charged by the police but they should all deny having participated and deny knowing who the participants were. If this type of action takes place in other schools, you can bet, in spite of LGBT screams, trannies invading girls showers will become a rare thing.,
Finally someone had the nerve to say it clearly and the action needed to stop this from continuing. The girls need to take action themselves not rely on others to stand up for them. Same in sports, the girls should simply walk away and not participate if a male enters their domain. .
Where are all the women’s lib they seem to have gone into hibernation.
The Canadian government reeks, but ultimate blame in this case rests with the school, which appears to be Catholic in name only. Sadly, that is true of far too many Catholic schools these days, including all three Catholic schools (elementary, high school, college) that I attended in Seattle many years ago.
We have elected (or China selected)Trudeaus 7 times, we are getting what we deserve. Feminists put him in power because he said he was one if them. It was true because feminism and Marxism are the same whisky in a different bottle.
The Catholic church threw him under vthe bus.