Alberta’s highest court has struck down a Catholic school board’s order requiring former trustee Monique LaGrange to publicly apologize for a social media post comparing children waving Pride flags with children displaying Nazi flags.

A three-judge Alberta Court of Appeal panel ruled the Red Deer Catholic Regional Schools board could not compel LaGrange to say she was “deeply sorry” when she did not believe she had done anything wrong.

The court found the requirement amounted to compelled speech and imposed an impossible disciplinary standard.

LaGrange’s now-deleted August 2023 post placed an image of children holding Pride flags beneath a historical photograph of children waving Nazi flags. The caption read: “Brainwashing is brainwashing.”

The board determined the post, along with interviews LaGrange subsequently gave to the media, violated its trustee code of conduct and Alberta’s Education Act.

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Trustees ordered LaGrange to undergo sensitivity training, barred her from serving on committees or representing the division publicly, restricted her from commenting on LGBTQ and Holocaust-related issues and demanded a public apology.

LaGrange was later disqualified after the board concluded she had violated the sanctions. She subsequently resigned.

The Appeal Court struck the apology requirement but dismissed the remainder of LaGrange’s appeal, including her arguments that the board’s decisions were procedurally unfair or unreasonable.

The court also rejected the claim that the board failed to properly consider LaGrange’s Roman Catholic beliefs.

“Ms. LaGrange was not sanctioned for her religious beliefs,” the decision stated. Instead, the court said she was disciplined for conduct contrary to the board’s behavioural standards.

LaGrange’s lawyer, James Kitchen, welcomed the ruling, saying it could assist other elected trustees and councillors facing compelled apologies from boards and municipal councils.

“It is good to see that the Court of Appeal at least got that right,” Kitchen said.