Chair dismisses ‘anti-LGBTQ’ agenda
Brandon trustees accused of violating Criminal Code
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 29/08/2023 (770 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
BRANDON — Brandon School Division trustees have received dozens of so-called “notices of liability,” as part of a continued effort to ban LGBTTQ+, sexual and gender identity content from its school libraries.
The printouts — sourced from Action4Canada, a website promoting homeschooling as a method to counter “the globalist’s agenda to use (children) as agents of change” and rallying cries against “the ramifications of the radical LGBTQ agenda” — claim the recipient is in violation of the Criminal Code of Canada’s statutes regarding child pornography and sexual interference.
The notices end with a demand the recipient work to ban a list of books Action4Canada maintains on its website, as well as to end the teaching of sexual health and gender identity content in schools.

KYLE DARBYSON / BRANDON SUN
Brandon School Division trustee Breeanna Sieklicki, who earlier advocated for book bans, ‘did not receive this package.’
During the public inquiries portion of Monday’s BSD board of trustees meeting, area resident Kathy Smitzniuk said a package of notices had been dropped off at the division’s administration building earlier that day, destined for six of the seven sitting trustees.
On Tuesday, BSD board chairwoman Linda Ross confirmed about 50 to 60 of the three-page documents were delivered. The papers claim, among several items, the recipients have been participants in making pornographic materials available to minors and encouraging children to join gay/straight alliance clubs.
“Just speaking personally… I’m not taking it particularly seriously,” Ross said. “As far as I can tell, it has no legal value as far as claims that we are… violating certain laws.”
“As far as I can tell, it has no legal value as far as claims that we are… violating certain laws.–Linda Ross”
Ross said she thought it was an attempt to intimidate trustees, launched by “a small group of very vocal people with what I see to be an very clear anti-LGBTQ agenda.”
Breeanna Sieklicki, the lone member of the BSD board to advocate in favour of a committee to review and potentially ban books, confirmed Tuesday she did not receive any such documents.
“I did not receive this package, but the other five trustees at the board meeting had large packages on their desks,” Sieklicki wrote in an email. “I am not aware of the content or petitions that may have been in the packages.”
Brandon Pride chairperson Alyssa Wowchuk, who was present at Monday’s meeting, said it was clear much of the document’s content wasn’t applicable to Brandon — and mirrored some of the arguments made by former trustee Lorraine Hackenschmidt when she first proposed book bans earlier this year.
“It’s very clear that for this group, it’s not about book bans or for saving the children,” Wowchuk said. “The same group followed us to a city council meeting when we did a presentation suggesting a rainbow display in the city.
“We were not talking about books at that city council meeting, yet they still followed us there to get on the stand and say they don’t want that either.”
‘Intimidation tactic’: library association
In July 2022, the Canadian Federation of Library Associations issued a statement to its members regarding the same “notice of liability.”
“Libraries need to know (it)… has no legal value with regards to its claims of the recipient breaking the law and does not replace processes that the library already has in place to facilitate challenges to library materials, such as a request for reconsideration form,” the federation’s statement reads.
It also states it “appears to be an intimidation tactic created for widespread use in an organized campaign, but may also be viewed as an individual library patron expressing their disapproval.”
Meantime, Ross said she is not interested in reopening the debate on content in school libraries.
“If people have new information to bring us, that’s a different matter,” she said. “We don’t want to hear information that we’ve already heard multiple times… It certainly infringes on time that we have available to do the business of the board.”
The Sun could not find a phone number for Smitzniuk, and she did not reply to a Facebook message requesting comment.
— Brandon Sun