I have good news and bad news…

The good news is that Trustee Michael Del Grande witnessed powerfully and prophetically to the sanctity of human life and the evil of abortion at the Toronto Catholic District School Board meeting on the night of April 23rd.

In his opening remarks and closing statement, Mike gave the sort of witness in defense of unborn children that we wish we heard more regularly, from our spiritual leaders.

Here’s a quote from Del Grande’s closing statement:

"I'm sure that all my trustee colleagues around the table here would readily identify themselves, if asked, as Catholics who agree with the Catholic Church's unchanging teaching that abortion is a grave evil and that we as Catholics have an obligation to protect the lives of unborn children from this violent and lethal act."

"None of us here would argue with Pope Francis' declaration earlier this month that, quote: 'The termination of a pregnancy means nothing other than denying human dignity to the most defenceless'. Nor with his unambiguous statement on Sept 15, 2021 that, and I quote: “… abortion is more than an issue. Abortion is murder.' End quote.

"Therefore, I can think of no legitimate reason why this motion shouldn't pass unanimously. We are a pro-life board and I expect you will all vote in favour of my motion so that the TCDSB does its part to vigorously defend the most marginalized and victimized group in this country, namely children in the womb, who are killed at a rate of 100,000 annually."

"We have an opportunity to showcase ourselves as defenders of human rights, in the greatest social justice battle of our day. I trust you will do the right thing this evening, for the children, for our Catholic faith, for God who himself took the form of a defenseless unborn child, and whose divine heart no doubt breaks with every abortion."

Wow!

Isn’t that unapologetic, pro-life boldness, coming from an elected official, so refreshing to hear?

I firmly believe we’d have a different country – one that was still Christian – if all our spiritual leaders possessed Mike’s outspoken and courageous faithfulness.

His statements weren’t only live streamed to the entire Toronto Catholic community, but many of his wonderful words about the sanctity of life were carried out to the public by news reports about the board meeting, which got a lot of media attention.

Catholic Parents Turned Out in Force!

The gallery was packed with approximately fifty TCDSB parents and Catholic ratepayers in support of Trustee Mike Del Grande’s motion to fly the International Pro-life Flag at every school.

In addition, several faithful Catholics, including a retired Catholic teacher, an 18-year-old TCDSB grad, and a young mom of five children, delegated persuasively in support of the right-to-life motion.

If passed, the potentially culture-changing motion would’ve seen the TCDSB encourage teachers and students to attend the National March For Life in Ottawa, and would’ve required a full day of classroom instruction on the pro-life teachings of the Church, including from the Catechism, the Holy Bible, and Pope John Paul II’s encyclical letter Evangelium Vitae.

Now, for the Bad News…

A majority of the trustees disgraced themselves by voting to defeat the International Pro-life Flag motion.

In an 8 to 2 vote, the TCDSB actively voted against raising its voice to protect preborn babies from death by abortion.

Right after the vote was taken, the audience, understandably disgusted, started shouting “Shame! Shame on you all!”

One person even shouted “What a joke! This is supposed to be a Catholic school board.”

Here’s the vote breakdown:

IN FAVOUR

Trustee Mike Del Grande (Ward 7: Scarborough-Agincourt)

Trustee Garry Tanuan (Ward 8: Scarborough)
 

OPPOSED

Trustee Joseph Martino (Ward 1: Etobicoke)

Trustee Markus de Domenico (Ward 2: Etobicoke)

Trustee Ida Li Preti (Ward 3: North York)

Trustee Maria Rizzo (Ward 5: North York)

Trustee Frank D’Amico (Ward 6: York)

Trustee Kevin Morrison (Ward 9: Toronto)

Trustee Angela Kennedy (Ward 11: East York, Toronto)

Trustee Nancy Crawford (Ward 12: Scarborough)
 

ABSENT

Trustee Teresa Lubinski (Ward 4: Parkdale-High Park, Etobicoke-Lakeshore)

Trustee Daniel Di Giorgio (Ward 10: Toronto)
 

Take Action: Defeat the unfaithful trustees in 2026

The eight trustees who voted to betray unborn children and the pro-life teachings of the Catholic Church all need to be defeated in the next school board election, which is scheduled for October 2026, and will be here before you know it.

ASAP, we need to educate Catholic voters in each of those wards about the trustee’s opposition to, or lack of support for, the right to life of preborn children. To that end, please share this message with your friends and relatives throughout Toronto.

We also need to identify faithful Catholic candidates to run against these incumbents and make the TCDSB pro-life again!

I will send you a follow-up report next week, with more insights into the opposition by the dissident trustees. You’ll be amazed at their hypocrisy and intellectual incoherence.

Show Mike Del Grande your gratitude!

Look at what Trustee Del Grande has done, almost single-handedly!

#1. He ignited a national debate about abortion and the right to life of preborn children.

#2. He served as a model of courage for other Christian trustees across Canada.

#3. He forced all the trustees to expose their true loyalties, so that, as a pro-life movement, we can plan now to ensure their removal from office in the next election.

But all this has come at great personal cost to him…

Mike is not a young man, and he has heart problems.

At 2:00 PM on the afternoon of the board meeting and the critical vote, Mike had to rush to the hospital, likely due to the stress, because he got an atrial fibrillation attack. His heart began beating erratically, he had difficulty breathing, and got very dizzy.

And yet, he got out of the hospital and went to the board meeting anyway. Why?

For his faith.

For the unborn children targeted for abortion.

To do his part to try to return our nation to the path of righteousness.

Mike has also received a lot of hate mail because of the Pro-life Flag motion, accusing him of being “anti-choice” and “anti-woman” and demanding he resign.

On top of this, Mike is still in a costly lawsuit against his board to clear his name over their previous sanctions and unjust misconduct ruling against him for having opposed the addition of transgender ideology to the TCDSB Code of Conduct.

In retaliation for that 2019 stance against gender ideology, the Ontario College of Teachers is still prosecuting him, as we speak, at a tribunal hearing, to try to strip him of his teacher’s license.

Mike is buried in mounting lawyers' fees from these legal actions that stemmed from defending Christian teaching in the TCDSB.

Mike has suffered all of this for his faith... and for the preservation of faith in the next generation.

As a show of your gratitude to Mike, I encourage you to make a generous donation to his legal defense fund, so that he has the financial means to continue his lawsuit against the TCDSB and his defense at the Ontario College of Teachers tribunal. He can’t continue fighting without you.

Click here to donate.