Court upholds sanctions against anti-trans Catholic student

A Renfrew County student, opposed to the Catholic board’s transgender-inclusive policies, has lost another bid to return to class.

Published Dec 31, 2024  •  3 minute read

Protestor Josh Alexander at a downtown Ottawa protest in this file photo. Alexander lost a court challenge to be reinstated to his high school after being expelled. Photo by Tony Caldwell /Postmedia

A Renfrew County Catholic high school student, barred from school because of his conduct toward transgender students, has lost another bid to return to class.

Josh Alexander, 18, of Cobden, was suspended in late 2022 and later excluded from St. Joseph’s Catholic High School. The Renfrew County Catholic School Board subsequently denied requests for his reinstatement.

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Alexander sought judicial review of those decisions in Ontario Divisional Court, where he argued that he was the victim of “faithism” — a form of discrimination that devalues and sanctions opinions rooted in religion.

In court documents, Alexander asserted that as a Christian, he believes humans are created by God as immutably male or female, that they cannot change their gender or sex, and that it’s wrong for biological males to enter girls’ washrooms. He argued the school board failed to accommodate his right to express such minority religious beliefs on gender and sexuality.

In a recent decision, a three-member Divisional Court appeal panel rejected Alexander’s arguments, and said the board’s decision to uphold his suspension and exclusion were reasonable.

A majority of judges said the board correctly balanced the student’s right to religious freedom with the school’s obligation to maintain a safe and inclusive environment.

In its decision, the board’s discipline appeals committee stressed it was Alexander’s behaviour towards other students — not his religious convictions — that was at the heart of the case.

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“While individuals are entitled to their religious beliefs, opinions and views,” the board committee said, “what they are not entitled to do is act in a manner that disrespects, discriminates, insults, denigrates, harasses, bullies or otherwise creates an unsafe environment for anyone in the school.”

The Divisional Court panel said it could find no flaws in the committee’s reasoning, which it described as “intelligible, clear and grounded in the evidence.”

Those reasons, the court said, recognized there are limits to all freedoms, including the freedom of religion, especially when the rights of others are affected.

Protestor Josh Alexander at a downtown Ottawa protest in this file photo. Alexander lost a court challenge to be reinstated to his high school after being expelled. Photo by Tony Caldwell /Postmedia

One member of the three-member court panel, Justice James Ramsay, dissented in part. Ramsay said he would have quashed the initial suspension since it was clear Alexander’s views were the product of sincerely held religious beliefs. He said the discipline committee should have imposed progressive discipline, rather than a suspension.

In November 2022, Alexander was handed a 20-day suspension by the principal of St. Joseph’s Catholic High School based on his findings that the Grade 11 student made inappropriate comments to transgender students in class and online, referred to a trans student by a deadname (birth name), and suggested trans students posed a risk to others in the girls’ washroom.

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At the end of the suspension, the principal said Alexander could return to school provided he was respectful, did not attend two of his classes with transgendered students, and did not use their deadnames.

Alexander refused to comply with those conditions, and the principal issued an order excluding him from school.

He twice attended school anyway, which led to a new suspension and exclusion order.

Alexander appealed the decisions to the school board’s suspension and exclusion appeals committee, arguing that, while he may have offended transgender students, he did not cause them any actual harm.

The committee found Alexander had engaged in gender-based harassment by referring to transgender students who used the bathroom of their choice as “perverted,” and calling them “predators.”

The Divisional Court awarded the school board $15,000 in court costs. It said Alexander had not established he’s a public interest litigant who deserved to have those costs waived.

Neither Alexander nor his lawyer returned a request for comment Dec. 31.

Alexander has already raised more than $65,000 online to contest his case in the court system. He’s also seeking a declaration from the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario that the board discriminated against him on the basis of his Christian beliefs.

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