BC school trustee who shared offensive anti-Christian meme offers no apology

Teri Westerby, a transgender school trustee in Chilliwack, British Columbia's School District 33, has shown no remorse after sharing an offensive meme that targeted Christians and those with traditional family beliefs.



The meme, which Westerby posted to a personal public Facebook account last Thursday, depicts a mob in rainbow colours labelled 'Barbie' rejoicing as they are about to steamroll over a group of characters labelled as the traditional family, the sanctity of marriage and Christian values. The bottom right corner of the meme also shows imagery of the lead characters in the Barbie movie, which is currently screening in theatres.

The decision to share the discriminatory meme, which could be perceived as promoting violence against Christians and others whose opinions may differ from Westerby’s, casts a shadow of hypocrisy over the trustee’s previous “anti-hate” and pro-inclusivity comments.



Shortly after B.C.’s municipal election concluded last fall, the CBC quoted Westerby as citing the following as inspiration for running for the trustee position: “What I found is that children were crying out for representation and for someone to listen to them and to their families to make sure that the Chilliwack school board has someone who recognizes that every student has human rights.”

Yet, when I reached out to Westerby to see if the trustee would be issuing an apology for posting the Christophobic meme while representing students in a region where the most popular religion is Christianity, Westerby failed to provide any comment for the public’s consideration. The public figure did, however, respond to my inquiry, by blocking me from their personal Facebook account where the meme was posted.

“In my personal opinion as a trustee for 15 years I am deeply concerned that a trustee elected to represent the entire community would depict some members of this city in such an egregious manner. Does my colleague believe that people who uphold family and Christian values (including etc, whomever that is) need to be 'steamrolled' or destroyed?” Fellow Chilliwack school trustee Heather Maahs responded in an email statement to Rebel News over the concerning meme.

At least one Chilliwack resident, whose name we are keeping anonymous, shared similar concerns over the post to that of trustee Maahs. In a statement to Rebel News the grandparent of five children enrolled in SD 33 described Westerby’s post as hateful and harmful, adding that it “promotes violence and hatred to the largest demographic in Chilliwack.”

The concerned grandparent also sent an email calling on Trustee Westerby to take accountability for the post, as well as to the district's superintendent Rohan Arul-pragasam and the Minister of Education and Child Development to ensure that “all children in our public schools have the right to equal protection under the law.”

Despite the entire Chilliwack Board of Education being emailed the concerned grandparent's request and Rebel News’ inquiry, Maahs was the only trustee who made the effort to provide a public comment that separated at least herself from her colleague's offensive post. Even the board’s chair Willow Reichelt, who reacted with a laughing emoji to the anti-Christian meme, chose not to provide public comment to the members of her community who may feel threatened by Westerby’s post.

Yet, just last week Reichelt did not hold back on publicly commenting to show her support for another meme Westerby posted on Facebook that also mocks Christians.

That meme depicts a lesbian woman telling a priest she is homosexual, to which the priest suggests she pray to God to cure her of “that sin.” The woman prays to have her "problem disappear," with the meme suggesting that God answered the lesbian’s prayer by making the priest vanish into thin air.



When a commenter pointed out the over simplification of the meme, by saying that the meme's message isn’t always the way homosexuals are counselled in church, Reichelt replied, “It is absolutely always this way if the religion is telling someone that being gay is a sin—to remove the 'problem' the solution is to ditch the religion. This doesn’t mean that all religious people are problems; many people have found a way to love god and to fully embrace 2SLGBTQ+ people.”

The controversial chair has made many headlines for the appearance of an iron fist-like rule over an elected board that is supposed to be comprised of equals. In February, video recordings of board meetings circulated online showing Reichelt arbitrarily censure citizen's concerns about sexually explicit books in the district’s schools during board meetings.



In April, a petition which has garnered over 5,100 signatures was drafted in effort to have Reichelt ousted from her position as chair. The signatories believe that Reichelt has acted unilaterally and failed to “listen when parents, guardians and other residents of the Chilliwack community, attempt to voice their concerns.”

According to District 33’s Board of Education policy manual, the board’s core values should include kindness, inclusion, compassion and empathy for everyone.

To date, there are no signs that the controversial school board chair will resign over the public backlash she’s received. Aside from removing the steamroll Christian values meme from Facebook, Westerby also shows no sign of taking accountability for the emotional harm that could have been caused by the post.



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This article was updated to include additional comments from a Chilliwack resident.

Drea Humphrey

B.C. Bureau Chief

Based in British Columbia, Drea Humphrey reports on Western Canada for Rebel News. Drea’s reporting is not afraid to challenge political correctness, or ask the tough questions that mainstream media tends to avoid.

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