A petition with more than 5,000 signatures, calling for the removal of Regina Public School Board chair Katherine Gagne, is being submitted Tuesday evening.
Queen City For All is expected to deliver the document at the school district’s board meeting at 5:30 p.m.
This comes after the school board trustees voted down a motion (4-3) to recognize and support the celebration of Pride in public schools.
“Katherine Gagne was ultimately responsible for the defeat of this motion. She made insensitive and hurtful comments both online and to the media since then. It’s poor leadership,” said Eric Bell, Queen City For All spokesperson.
School board trustee Aleana Young, brought forth the motion in June and expressed her feelings following the decision saying, “as a board, we vote on motions, so that is the will of the board but personally, as an individual, obviously I am disappointed and heartbroken.”
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Gagne admitted to not fully understanding the motion and has continued to face scrutiny for not supporting it.
Despite her confusion, Bell said he believes she had the opportunity to “stand up” and take a strong stance on supporting inclusion throughout the district.
“It would have meant a lot, symbolically. The whole line was ‘defeating it doesn’t change anything,’ but I think defeating it created a lot of damage to the reputation of the school board,” Bell said.
“I’ve had a lot of teachers message me to say they are very disappointed in the decision. They want to know that their employer supports and affirms what they are doing in the classroom.”
Following the backlash, Gagne posted on Facebook, listing some of the names she’s being referred to.
Aside from Gagne’s resignation, Bell is also asking the board to rethink their decision to vote down the motion.
“Bring back the motion to the school board so they can ultimately pass it and send a message to students, staff and families that LGBTQ students are safe and welcome in our school system,” Bell said.
Global News spoke to Gagne on Tuesday morning. She said the board won’t be addressing the issue prior to their meeting.
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