Catholic student arrested at Canadian Catholic school—for saying that there are only two genders

(and how Trudeau got away with the Emergency Measures Act)

Hi everyone,

Thanks, as always, for taking the time to read this newsletter—I’ve been encouraged by the level of engagement. I’ve got a number of essays and interviews in the works coming soon. In the meantime, here’s my interview with journalist Andrew Lawton, author of the bestseller The Freedom Convoy: Three Weeks that Shook the World, on the Emergency Act Commission’s decision that Justin Trudeau’s invocation of the Emergency Act was justified—in contravention of much of the testimony they heard.

And in case you were wondering just how bad things have gotten in Canada, on to today’s main story.

Catholic student arrested at Canadian Catholic school—for saying that there are only two genders

In November of 2021, Josh Alexander was suspended from St. Joseph’s Catholic High School in Renfrew, Ontario. Alexander is in the 11^th grade, and he had stated the fact that there are only two genders. He didn’t bring up the subject randomly. The class was discussing gender.

“It was about male students using female washrooms, gender dysphoria and male breastfeeding,” Alexander said. “Everyone was sharing their opinions on it, any student who wanted to was participating, including the teacher. I said there were only two genders, and you were born either a male or a female, and that got me into trouble. And then I said that gender doesn’t trump biology.”

Josh Alexander was kicked out and told that he couldn’t return until he changed his mind. St. Joseph’s stated that he couldn’t attend classes until he affirmed that he would not “use the ‘dead name’ of any transgender student and agree to exclude himself from his two afternoon classes because those classes are attended by two transgender students who disapprove of Josh’s religious beliefs.” A “dead name” is transgender lingo for the name given to students at birth; Alexander says this has never come up.

On February 6, Alexander arrived at school to attend classes anyways. The school called the police, and the 11^th grader was arrested—for saying that there are two genders at a Catholic school. “They definitely quote Scripture,” Alexander noted. “But at the same time, for every crucifix on the wall, there's also a Pride flag. And there's a lot of gender ideology and encouragement of gender dysphoria.”

I’ve been reporting on the colonization of Canada’s public school system (Ontario Catholic schools are public) for years, and even I find this story shocking. Gender ideology is the new religion even in many allegedly religious schools—heresies, in fact, are mandatory, and stating basic biological facts can prompt a crackdown. It is true that in the last few years it has become more controversial for Ontario Catholic schools not to fly a transgender or Pride flag than to fly one, but still—having a student arrested?

On February 15, Alexander and his older brother Nick and friend Monty Walker were interviewed by Laura-Lynn Tyler Thompson sporting “Save Canada” hats. Alexander noted that while he was the one who spoke up, many girls at the school are upset that biological males are permitted in their bathrooms. “Male students were using the female washrooms and they [the girls] were obviously disturbed and uncomfortable with this,” he told Thompson. “So I decided to speak up about it when it entered a class discussion.”

When Alexander shared his concerns last fall, the principal told him: “I’m not going to pursue your personal crusade…I’ll have to hear it from a female student as well.” A female student spoke to him; the principal, predictably, still did nothing. Alexander was told his presence was “detrimental” to transgender students. When he tried to come back to school for classes, the school made it crystal clear that his views—held by virtually every Canadian, through all Canadian history, until about five years ago—would not be permitted.

“A few minutes into my time there on February 6, I was brought to the office, and my lawyer was on the phone at the time,” Alexander recounted. “And the principal kind of stood in front of the exit of the office and told me there's some people on the way to see me, and two Ontario Provincial Police officers walked in. They told me I was trespassing. I explained to them the situation that I was merely excluded from the school because of my religious beliefs, and I was going to continue to attend as any other student would. They read me my rights, escorted me out of school, put me in the back of the cop car.”

His older brother Nick says that it is time for young people to stand up. “When you look out into the world, and you see the wave of indoctrination, the perverted actions, the iron grip of tyranny closing around us, especially as a Christian, I think we have an obligation to stand up and stand defiant to what is morally wrong, and what's harmful to those around us and to future generations.”

Walker agreed: “Going out there and seeing how much evil there is in the world, seeing how people act out there, there has to be a force of good. My Christian beliefs have taught me what to do and how to act. And it's just going out there and doing this morally right. It's not really that complicated to me.”

That sort of moral clarity is difficult to come by these days, particularly in Canada. Consider: a student was suspended and then arrested for expressing a view held by nearly all conservative politicians in this country. Yet, none have spoken up in defence of Alexander. None have condemned his treatment. Many, I’ll bet, would desperately like to not be asked about it. Very few Conservative politicians—and certainly no leaders that I’m aware of—would have the guts to step up to a microphone and say clearly: “There are only two genders.” Not because they don’t believe it, mind you. Because the transgender movement’s cultural victory has met virtually no resistance aside from a handful of scrappers like these teens, and Canada’s political parties have transitioned.

And you know what that means. The surgeons remove quite a bit during the process.

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As always, I’ve quite a few short, regular culture updates on The Bridgehead, and you can get a copy of Prairie Lion: The Life and Times of Ted Byfield here and here, and my other books here.