Niagara trustee suspended for comparing Pride and Nazi flags tries again to ban Pride flag

A trustee barred from meetings for six months after comments about the Pride flag is once again trying to have it banned from schools with the Niagara Catholic District School Board in Ontario.

Natalia Benoit was censured in January after an independent investigator found she had breached the board’s code of conduct by comparing the Pride and Nazi flags, saying neither should be welcome at the schools.

She was relieved of her duties and barred from attending board meetings until June 30. On July 18, she submitted a notice of motion that was shared with the board Sept. 24, alerting her colleagues that her motion to ban the flag board-wide would be presented at the following meeting, set for Oct. 22.

Benoit’s “proposal to amend the flag-flying protocol to exclude the Pride flag” would bar board schools or offices from displaying the flag, which signals acceptance of the 2SLGBTQ+ community. 

“The rationale … is adherence to Catholic teaching,” she said at the September meeting, before being asked by the chair to save her explanation for the following meeting.

In a video recording of the proceedings, the board’s two student trustees can be seen sharing a pointed look with each other as Benoit reads the notice to the group.

Benoit put forward a similar motion in 2023, but was not supported by the majority of her colleagues. That motion would have excluded most flags from school board property, except those related to the municipality, country, province and Catholic Church.

Trustee videotaped explaining previous flag ban try

In May 2023, Benoit was videotaped explaining her previous attempt at a flag ban, stating she didn’t support flying “any flag at all … Like the Nazi flag, we don’t want that up either, right?”

The Nazis killed six million Jews during the Second World War. They also jailed up to 50,000 2SLGBTQ+ people and sent up to 15,000 to concentration camps, according to Holocaust Memorial Day Trust.

Benoit’s fellow trustee, Paul Turner, complained about the comments and the board hired law firm Parker Sim LLP to investigate. In its report, the firm wrote “While we accept that Trustee Benoit was not intending to be hurtful, in effect, Trustee Benoit was comparing the Nazi flag – as another example, like the Pride flag – that was controversial and therefore – according to Trustee Benoit – not appropriately displayed at school. As a result, this allegation is substantiated.”

The report also said the “Nazi flag is a distinctly recognizable symbol of Nazi propaganda” and “was characterized by its pursuit of racial “purity” pursued through policies designed to exterminate Jews and other minorities – including homosexuals – by mass murder, among other means.”

The report described the Pride flag as one “which always reflects in essence a rainbow, is born out of an intention to include persons historically marginalized in society.” 

The board voted to sanction Benoit and “disassociate itself from any actions or statements previously made by trustee Benoit.” 

Benoit previously said in an email to CBC she wasn’t comparing the Pride flag to the Nazi flag.

“There is no comparison of flags,” she wrote. “It is a statement that no flags should be flown which would cause conflict and controversy in our schools. Alleging the comparison was only spreading lies provoking a hostile environment.”

Campaign Life Coalition, a Catholic advocacy organization in support of traditional values, said Benoit’s comment was fair and accurate, given the context.

“She just gave an example of another ideology that the Catholic Church opposes,” it said in an online campaign gathering support for Benoit earlier this year.

“She could’ve given dozens of other examples too, and they would all have been correct. The Catholic Church opposes Nazism. It opposes homosexual acts. It opposes transvestism and transgender lifestyles. It opposes racism. All these statements are true.”

CBC Hamilton tried to reach Benoit by phone and email on Tuesday to seek comment for this story but did not hear back by our deadline.

‘A sign of acceptance, not a sign of promotion’

Director of education Camillo Cipriano said the board began flying the Pride flag at its high schools, adult learning centres and board office in 2021, and at elementary schools in 2022. He said it is a way of signalling support for students who identify as 2SLGBTQ+, a group known to face more bullying and mental health challenges than the school population as a whole. 

“The New Testament has many stories of Christ himself reaching out to those who are marginalized,” he told CBC Hamilton on Wednesday, noting he has discussed the issue with several priests and the local diocese. “I will continue to fly it as long as it remains my decision.”

Reached by CBC Hamilton on Tuesday, board chair Danny Di Lorenzo said he doesn’t receive a lot of complaints about the Pride flag — “I got some negative, some positive” — and feels it is something that is generally accepted within Ontario’s Catholic schools. 

“I think that it’s a sign of inclusion, a sign of acceptance — not a sign of promotion,” he said. “The Bible also says acceptance of others and that Jesus accepts everyone. I think that’s where we have to stop and reflect on the Bible… We do have a loving God and we do have an accepting God.”

Di Lorenzo said he believes Benoit’s motion is “rooted in her faith” and “she really believes in it,” but said so much focus on the flag issue has taken time away from other areas the board could be addressing. 

“It’s a matter that takes a lot of our time,” he said. “But it’s something that, when it comes to light, we have to treat it like every other issue and take it serious.”