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Chilliwack school trustee censured over transgender coronavirus conspiracy post

Click to play video: 'B.C. school board trustee apologizes for comments about Canada’s top doctor'
B.C. school board trustee apologizes for comments about Canada’s top doctor
WATCH: B.C. school board trustee apologizes for comments about Canada's top doctor – May 13, 2020

The Chilliwack School Board has censured a trustee over a Facebook post earlier this month espousing a conspiracy theory that linked COVID-19 and transgender rights and targeted the country’s top doctor.

Barry Neufeld’s post drew condemnation from B.C.’s education minister, Chilliwack’s school board chair, and transgender rights advocates. He later apologized for his comments, including the attack on chief medical health officer Dr. Theresa Tam.

At Tuesday’s meeting, school board chair Dan Coulter read a brief statement, saying Neufeld had been censured for the May 9 Facebook post.

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The decision had been made in in-camera meeting, Coulter said, and the board did not comment further. What the censure entails was not immediately clear.

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Neufeld declined to comment. His Facebook page is no longer visible to the public.

Click to play video: 'Chilliwack school trustee compares gender transitioning to child abuse'
Chilliwack school trustee compares gender transitioning to child abuse

 

 

In the Facebook post, Neufeld had claimed that the World Health Organization was “perpetrating fear” over COVID-19 and attacked its backing of transgender-supportive education and the right to access abortion.

READ MORE: Coronavirus conspiracies pushed by Russia, amplified by Chinese officials: experts

He called Tam a “major player in the corrupt World Health Organization” and suggested she has been dishonest with Canadians about her gender.

Neufeld has previously come under fire several times, namely when he compared gender transitioning to “child abuse” and called gender confusion a “sexual addiction.”

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