An Ottawa-Carlton District School Board (OCDSB) meeting on March 28 became a flashpoint in the conflict between ultra-woke radical activists and parents concerned with the safety of their children.

About 300 people gathered to hear six speakers who were scheduled to address the board about “trans” students’ washroom use, but 200 had to be turned away.

Teacher and former trustee candidate Chanel Pfahl posted videos on Twitter  that captured what ensued in the OCDSB parking lot.

With the swarms of people draped in “pride” flags and chanting “protect trans kids”, an onlooker may have assumed that these people were responding to some kind of hateful event targeting a child that had happened at a school in the Board.

Nothing could be farther from the truth.

This “trans rights” protest came together after an incident at a March 7 board meeting in which parent Nick Morabito raised questions about a policy which allows boys to gain access to girls’ change rooms and washrooms if they self-identify as girls. 

Morabito was cut off less than a minute into his remarks by trustee Nili Kaplan-Myrth, who labelled his comments and concerns “transphobic”, and claimed that they threatened the safety of “gender diverse people”. 

In response, two online petitions were started demanding Kaplan-Myrth’s resignation, and the OCDSB anticipated trouble at the March 28 meeting, limiting attendance inside to 75 people. They also informed police, who had at least five patrol cars at the board that evening. 

Shannon Boschy, who stood up for sanity and against radical gender ideology in running for trustee last fall, told reporters, “There is a narrative that the board wants to perpetuate. This is authoritarianism. They don’t want any questions about it.”

Reached for comment, Chanel Pfahl said she is “horrified” by the conduct of the OCDSB, “but not surprised”. 

Pfahl observes that the activist public officials running our institutions “have forgotten all about the importance of viewpoint diversity, freedom of expression and civility. They are so certain that they are fighting for a noble cause that they have become blind to their own increasingly authoritarian, intolerant ways.”

When parents at a school board meeting are shut down for raising concerns about their children’s well-being so that the demands of a radical minority can be met, it’s time to reevaluate who’s in charge.

Our response must be to elect trustees who will put the needs of children first, and in the meantime to keep up the pressure in resisting those who are trying to bulldoze their toxic agenda into existence at all costs.