By John Carpay, President of the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms
Feb 23, 2026
Time Elapsed Since Barry Neufeld Charged With Hate Crime:
8 years, 0 months, 26 days (2948 days)
BC’s “Human Rights” Tribunal last week ordered former Chilliwack School Board Trustee Barry Neufeld to pay $750,000 to the Chilliwack Teachers Association over injury to the “dignity, feelings and self-respect” of a small but unknown number of LGBT teachers and staff.
What vile hatred did Mr. Neufeld promote to warrant a $750,000 punishment? Did he suggest that all the gay teachers in Chilliwack should be fired? Or forced to undergo conversion therapy?
Here is the first of dozens of comments made by Mr. Neufeld from 2017 to 2022, reprinted by the BC “Human Rights” Tribunal in its 50,000-word, 64-page ruling:
“The Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) program instructs children that gender is not biologically determined, but is a social construct. … allowing little children to choose to change gender is nothing short of child abuse. But now the BC Ministry of Education has embraced the LGBTQ lobby and is forcing this biologically absurd theory on children in our schools.”
And here is the last comment of Mr. Neufeld that the Tribunal reprinted in its lengthy decision:
“… if an anorexic person is suffering, you don’t pat them on the back and say, here, here, I’ll give you some diet pills, and you don’t have to eat as much. Sometimes the loving thing is saying something very challenging to a person who’s struggling with a problem. If an alcoholic is suffering because they can’t find any booze, you don’t hand them a case of beer. You tell them to, you know, buckle up and do without. Give them a cup of coffee instead.”
The other opinions expressed by Mr. Neufeld from 2017 to 2022 are like the first and last comments here above: standard, run-of-the-mill citizen opposition to radical transgender ideology.
The local teachers’ union was outraged that an elected Trustee would publicly and repeatedly state his belief that there are only two sexes, that children should not be exposed to transgender ideology in schools, and that gender-confused children should be provided with compassionate help rather than with puberty blockers, opposite-sex hormones and eventual gender-reassignment surgeries.
The teachers’ union found a like-minded ally in the BC Human Rights Tribunal. Both organizations fervently embrace unscientific transgender ideology. Neither organization understands that free expression is the cornerstone of a democracy that embraces a diversity of opinions, and that facilitates healthy debate about controversial issues. Like other censors throughout human history, they believe in “free speech for me, but not for thee.”
Rather than seeking to persuade parents and other citizens to support SOGI (Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity), the teachers’ union and the “Human Rights” Tribunal instead use coercive state power to silence and punish their political opponents. They use section 7 of BC’s Human Rights Code, which prohibits “discriminatory publications” that indicate “discrimination” or even “an intention to discriminate” against a person or group, or that is likely to expose a person or group to hatred or “contempt.”
Section 7 pertains only to speech. It does not prohibit discrimination in services, tenancies, property purchases, job ads, wages, employment and trade union membership. Section 7 applies to all speech in all public places, everywhere in BC, online and off-line. Non-criminal, non-hateful “discriminatory” speech in public is illegal in BC. Only fully private communications are exempted.
Mr. Neufeld is not the first person whose basic human right to speak freely has been trampled into the ground by the Tribunal.
In 2019, the Tribunal ordered political activist William Whatcott to pay $55,000 to unsuccessful NDP candidate Morgane Oger, who felt offended by a plain-spoken election flyer titled “Transgenderism vs. Truth.” The flyer included the following: “Because gender is God-given and immutable, “transgenderism” is an impossibility. A male cannot “transition” into a female, nor can a female “transition” into a male. One can only cross dress and disfigure themselves with surgery and hormones to look like the gender they are not.” The Tribunal ruled that Mr. Whatcott violated section 7 of the Human Rights Code because the flyer demonstrated “an intention to discriminate against Morgane Oger in a critical area of public life, namely participation in an election as a candidate for public office.”
Barry Neufeld has been punished for expressing opinions intended to support, protect, and advocate for the well-being of young people. British Columbians who love freedom and democracy should be outraged by the Tribunal imposing its woke ideology on citizens by censoring conservative and libertarian speech. Citizens should not be punished for speaking out to protect young people from irreversible harm (such as permanent infertility) that results from unscientific transgender ideology.
But the real culprit is not the Tribunal. It’s BC’s Human Rights Code that makes non-criminal political speech punishable in the first place.
The best way to prevent further injustices of this kind is to repeal section 7 from BC’s Human Rights Code.
Some might argue that repealing section 7 opens the door to signage like “Apartments for Whites only” or “women need not apply.” But signs like that are clearly prohibited by sections 8-14 of the Human Rights Code. Sections 8-14 already outlaw discrimination in any accommodation, service or facility customarily available to the public, including hiring and employment practices.
Repealing section 7 would place all people in BC on an equal footing, by removing the Tribunal’s power to punish speech that it disagrees with under the false pretext of “promoting human rights.” The federal Criminal Code prohibition against the wilful promotion of hatred against an identifiable group (section 319) would not be impacted in any way. The amended Human Rights Code – without section 7 – would continue to prohibit discrimination in the provision of goods and services, the same way that it does now.
John Carpay is the President of the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms
"Restore free speech in BC: Abolish section 7 of the Human Rights Code"
— The New Westminster Times (@NewWestTimes) February 23, 2026
Exclusive: Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms @JCCFCanada President John Carpay says sweeping speech laws should be scrapped in wake of the $750,000 Barry Neufeld case. https://t.co/ZHYynaCNGe
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