Tradition vs. Tyranny of the Human Rights Tribunal
James Pew / Feb 23, 2026
“So doesn’t old age truly hold evils in abundance? Obviously it does: these two forcibly manhandle their former master, completely forgetting all the jackets and tunics he used to buy them, and the caps, and how in wintertime he saw to their feet so they wouldn’t always be frozen. But in their eyes there’s no respect at all for their former footwear.”
– The Chorus Leader, Aristophanes’ Wasps
Ancient societies, even those celebrated for wisdom and debate, could be unforgiving toward elderly men who refused to bend their traditional views to prevailing winds. In 422 BCE, the Greek playwright Aristophanes satirized the age-typical conservatism and reluctance of the elderly to change their ways in his comedy Wasps. He portrayed Philocleon as an antiquated, stubborn old Athenian juror obsessed with the populist jury of which he was a long-standing member. Yet Aristophanes also illustrated, crudely and comedically, the cruelty of familial disdain: the old man is confined at home against his will, barred from the one pursuit — jury service — that gives him satisfaction and purpose. In typical fashion, ancient Athenians often showed little respect for the wisdom of their elders. Although Philocleon’s behaviour appears pathological to his son, he remains unbothered and determined to cast as many pebbles into the voting urns as the gods may permit.
A few years later, in 399 BCE — shortly after Athens’ defeat in the Peloponnesian War—the 70-year-old philosopher Socrates was charged with impiety and corrupting the youth through teachings that encouraged skepticism and elitism among the young. His accusers portrayed him as a dangerous sophist who undermined Athenian values, subverted religious custom, and insulted democratic norms. Socrates refused to beg for mercy or propose exile. He obstinately declared that “the unexamined life was not worth living,” and so — rather than breach his commitment to the law by attempting escape or compromise his principles by submitting to coercive forces—he accepted execution by hemlock poison.
These ancient examples reveal a recurring pattern: societies that prize ideological conformity often show particular harshness toward the elderly, whose life experience makes them “likely” to hold fast to older convictions — whether populist jury traditions, philosophical integrity, or moral absolutes. The cruelty lies not just in the punishment, but in targeting what age itself predisposes: an unwillingness (or inability) to conform to the new orthodoxies of the day.
This pattern finds a striking modern echo in the recent case of Barry Neufeld, an 80-year-old former school trustee from Chilliwack, British Columbia. In a February 18, 2026, decision by the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal (Chilliwack Teachers’ Association v. Neufeld, 2026 BCHRT), Neufeld was ordered to pay $750,000 (plus additional punitive costs) for statements made over several years opposing SOGI 123 (sexual orientation and gender identity) resources in schools. The tribunal found that six of his publications constituted hate speech — exposing LGBTQ+ people to hatred or contempt based on sexual orientation or gender identity — and 24 violated discrimination protections under the Human Rights Code. It described his rhetoric as invoking “negative and insidious stereotypes” about trans people, denying their dignity, associating them with child abuse, and creating a “poisoned” work environment for queer and trans teachers in the district.
Neufeld, like Philocleon or Socrates, has shown no inclination to recant or adapt his views — rooted in a scientific and traditional understanding of biology, gender, and child protection — despite intense pressure and now a life-altering financial penalty. At 80, his “old-fashioned” perspective on these matters is precisely what one might expect from a man shaped by decades outside the current cultural convulsions. Especially when one considers that Neufeld’s views actually reflect broad agreement among Canadians across the age spectrum. Yet the tribunal’s remedy ignores this consensus, and treats Neufeld’s oppositional persistence not as the natural outgrowth of age and conviction, but as actionable harm warranting severe sanction. In doing so, it raises uncomfortable questions: Is this justice, or a contemporary form of generational and ideological intolerance? The Human Rights Tribunal’s in Canada have created a system which punishes the elderly harshly for failing to accept modern and popular misconceptions and false fashions. Circumventing the wisdom and experience of the aged, the tyranny of the HRT demands Canadians (of all ages) be kept in lockstep with that institution’s preferred ideological trends.
Conservative Party of BC member Harman Bhangu, who is the MLA of Langley-Abbotsford, reacted on X to the HRT decision regarding Neufeld with the following:
“SOGI was sold as an anti-bullying tool. That was the sales pitch. But what it has become is something very different, it has become a vehicle for embedding a highly contested worldview about sex and identity directly into classrooms, while silencing anyone who questions it.” — Harman Bhangu
And from Independent MLA for Kelowna-Lake Country-Coldstream Tara Armstrong:
“The BC Human Rights Tribunal is a political extension of the NDP that exists solely to punish their political enemies. It just fined Barry Neufeld, a former school trustee $750,000 because he wouldn’t indoctrinate our kids with the woke lie that men can become women. I stand with Barry and invite every Conservative to join my call to decommission this illegitimate institution.”
Yesterday, federal conservative leader Pierre Poilievre posted the following comment to X:
“This is insane and Orwellian.
Governments and kangaroo courts now chill freedom of expression instead of fighting crime, censoring people who dare to speak their minds. Just ask the B.C. school board trustee who got slapped with a $750,000 fine for saying there are two genders.
Enough is enough. We must defend the truth and free speech against these mad censors.
Sign here to support free speech: RESTORE FREE SPEECH – Conservative Party of Canada”
There has been an outpouring of support for Barry Neufeld. It is well deserved. Neufeld took the risk that so many others are too terrified to take. The move to crush him is a move to crush all those who dissent from the madness of SOGI, who care to protect the innocence of children. I would like to share one final Aristophanes quote for Barry which I hope will in some small way help put this outrageous persecution into some, perhaps hazy outline of perspective. Or at least, fire him up a bit to fight on in the next round:
“But even from these ruins we must
summon up youthful strength,
for I think that my old age outdoes
the ringlets, the getups, and the wide-arsedness
of today’s young men.” – The Chorus, Aristophanes’ Wasps
2+2=4 and you don’t need to have the wisdom and experience of a Barry Neufeld to know this. Similarly there are only two sexes and the term gender – which does not mean what SOGI activists claim – is in reference to, and tied inexorably to the dimorphic sex category in which all humans are born. The ideological milieu one grows up in has no bearing on the sex/gender classification of individuals exposed to it. There is no such thing as transitioning one’s sex, just as there is no such thing as gender ideology. What we have is, in fact, confused gender incongruent people affirmed by a harmful anti-science, anti-reason, anti-truth, leftist social engineering movement with its own aggressive political enforcement bureau, akin to Orwell’s Ministry of Truth. If we don’t want 1984, the Human Rights Tribunals have got to go. Until then, please stand with Barry Neufeld.
Shared from https://wokewatchcanada.substack.com/p/the-resistance-of-barry-neufeld
Barry's fighting back for truth with a judicial review
support his defence, here are the many official ways you can donate
Rights And Freedoms Fundraising Society - Barry Neufeld's Lawfare.
https://rightsandfreedoms.org/support-barry-neufeld
(Credit cards & etransfer available / Volunteer & 100% goes to Barry.)
Put a cheque in the mail
Attn: Barry Neufeld c/o Rights and Freedoms Fundraising Society
P.O. Box 21004, Chilliwack, BC V2P 8A9
(Write "For Barry" on the bottom of the cheque.)
Etransfer donatebarryneufeld@rightsandfreedoms.org
Official Give Send Go
https://www.givesendgo.com/BarryNeufeld
(GSG withholds a small percentage as their fee for hosting the site.)
Time Elapsed Since Barry Neufeld Charged With Hate Crime:
8 years, 0 months, 26 days (2948 days)