Catholic trustee to push for release of report
Fellow board member likened LGBTQ rights to bestiality, pedophilia
A Toronto Catholic trustee is pushing for the public release of a third-party investigation of homophobic comments by fellow board member Michael Del Grande.
Markus de Domenico, who represents Ward 2 in Etobicoke, said he will make the proposal during a private trustees’ session before Wednesday’s board meeting.
He had already planned to ask his colleagues to at least provide the complainants a summary of the process and the findings, but after the issue was raised in the Ontario legislature on Thursday, he said it’s time for the full report to be shared publicly.
“I was astounded (the complainants) had not been contacted” and had no idea of the outcome of the probe, said de Domenico.
“That struck me as not proper process.”
At a meeting last November, during discussion on updating the board’s code of conduct to include the terms gender expression and identity — something all boards were required to do to align with provincial human-rights legislation — Del Grande tried to introduce an amendment naming a number of bizarre and offensive sexual behaviours, including vampirism, necrophilia and cannibalism.
“After all, everybody is concerned that the right terms are used ... It’s a slippery slope,” Del Grande said at the time.
He later said the move was an attempt to “(keep) our Catholic schools authentically Catholic.”
On Thursday, MPP Kathleen Wynne — former premier and education minister — raised the issue in the legislature, saying the province needs to “intervene in order to secure the release of the report on the homophobic, bigoted behaviour and language of trustee Michael Del Grande.”
Former student trustee Kyle Iannuzzi had complained to the board about it, but had no idea what the report on the incident said and had also urged the province to force the issue.
De Domenico saw Education Minister Stephen Lecce at a school funding announcement Friday in Etobicoke, and said “he was very patient and understanding, but he wants action and I want action, too.”
De Domenico said some may want to dismiss it as hyperbole, “but the bottom line is it was completely outrageous, offensive,” and was shot down immediately.
Trustees have had the report for some time, de Domenico said, and it was done by “a very reputable firm, and they took a very measured look at it, as lawyers would.”
However, when fellow trustees were asked to find Del Grande in violation of the code of conduct, eight trustees needed to agree for that to happen, but just seven did. Four supported Del Grande.
“This is not the Catholic faith,” added de Domenico. “This is not at all Catholic public education. It does not represent us — it represents a small group of people that do not represent the majority of parents by any stretch of the imagination, and it does not represent students.”
De Domenico will raise the matter privately, as the report was requested and discussed afterwards in a private session, but will be asking that it be made public that evening.