November 13, 2023
Case Description
Josh Alexander was a grade 11 student at St. Joseph’s High School in Renfrew, Ontario until he was suspended, issued a trespass notice, and “excluded” for the entire remainder of the 2022-2023 school year by the Principal of St. Joseph’s, Derek Lennox, all because he expressed his Christian beliefs, during class debates and on social media, that there are only two genders, that students cannot switch between genders, and that male students should not be permitted into girls’ washrooms. St. Joseph’s is a public Catholic school, part of the Renfrew County Catholic District School Board.
Kicking Josh out of school and having him arrested for expressing his Christian beliefs is, among other things, unlawful religious discrimination. Through lawyer and Liberty Coalition Canada Chief Litigator James Kitchen Josh has appealed the School Board’s decisions to suspend and exclude him from school.
The Board rejected Mr. Kitchen’s request the hearing be open to the public. Instead, the committee directed the hearing be held in secret, with only the parties, lawyers, and witnesses permitted to attend.
The appeals should have been heard over half a year ago, but the Board unlawfully refused to accept Josh’s appeals. Josh therefore had to go to court to force the Board to accept and hear the appeals. On August 31, 2023, Justice Hooper of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice found that Josh’s appeals were valid and that the Board was required to hear them.
Josh has also submitted an Application to the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal (HRTO) alleging “creed” discrimination on the part of the Renfrew County Catholic District School Board, Principal Lennox, and two of Josh’s teachers. The Application details the shockingly discriminatory conduct of teachers and students at St. Joseph’s, as well as Principal Lennox’s retaliatory decisions to suspend and exclude for Josh expressing his beliefs and organizing a student walk-out to protest St. Joseph’s policy of permitting biological males to enter and use the girls’ washrooms.
The Application also explains how the religious discrimination experienced by Josh at St. Joseph’s not only unlawfully contravenes the Ontario Human Rights Code, but is contrary to the Ontario Human Rights Commission’s own policies regarding religious discrimination and what the Commission refers to as “faithism”. Among other things, Josh is seeking from the HRTO a declaration that the School Board discriminated against him on the basis of his Christian beliefs.
Under the guise of “safety”, as that term has been revised by woke gender activists now pervasive in public institutions, Josh has been penalized for expressing his Christian beliefs regarding God’s design of the male and female sex. Josh not only has a right to express himself during class discussions and through public forums, he also has a right not to be discriminated against by his school for his sincere religious beliefs. Being suspended and excluded from attending classes is the height of discrimination. Josh will continue to courageously stand for his beliefs, for truth, and for girls whose voices of concern over their actual safety are being drowned out by the outraged nonsense of the woke mob.
Please donate to the Liberty Defense Fund, through which LCC provides free legal representation to Josh.
