Del Grande's on his way to the Supreme Court
We have some bad news... and some good news.
The bad news is that the Court of Appeals of Ontario has dismissed Trustee Mike Del Grande’s lawsuit against the Toronto Catholic District School Board.
The lawsuit was launched over the TCDSB finding him guilty of “misconduct” for speaking against a motion to add Transgender Ideology to the board’s Code of Conduct policy.
Even worse, the judges ruled that he has to pay a $47,500 cost award to the TCDSB.
The good news however, is that Michael is willing to finish the race and fight this all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada… if CLC and its supporters stand behind him!
A victory at the Supreme Court would also reverse all the cost awards made against him to date, including the $140,000 cost that the lower court awarded to the TCDSB.
We’re so glad about Michael’s willingness to keep fighting.
Wouldn’t it be a shame to walk off the field in the seventh inning, just because the umpire made a bad call and we’re down a run? Mike has come this far already. Don’t you agree he needs to go the full nine innings and get the job done?
St. Paul admonished all Christians to “finish the race”. (2 Timothy 4:6-8)
Well, Trustee Del Grande is certainly modelling this teaching. After reading the decision and listening to his legal team’s advice about the path they believe exists for a win at the Supreme Court level, he told CLC:
“If I know that I’ve got a supportive team behind me, I’m willing to go all the way”.
It’s especially inspiring to see this attitude from Mike, given how much he has been made to suffer physically and emotionally by the virulently anti-Catholic trustees on his board.
A couple of years ago, the board persecuted him so badly, and trashed his reputation so publicly, that it almost killed him. The stress of it all put him in an ambulance where they had to use electric paddles on his heart.
But Del Grande didn’t quit.
He kept fighting for his religious freedom, free speech, and the right of Catholic schools to operate in an authentically Christian environment.
It’s going to cost potentially another $100,000 for our hero to fight this in the Supreme Court. However, Mike doesn’t have the money for it.
So, it depends on you to decide if you’ll be on his “team”, to help him get that ninth inning win.
If we can raise the necessary funding for Mike’s legal defense, this martyr for the faith will step forward to the Supreme Court.
But if we can’t raise the money, he’ll have to abandon the fight, pay the TCDSB their cost awards as granted by the court, and give up. Nobody will ever know if the nine Supreme Court justices might have ruled in his favour.
Although victory can’t be guaranteed, CLC has reviewed the legal strategy proposed by Michael’s lawyers, and we believe it’s sound. Certainly, quitting so close to the end, after three levels of court, would be a crying shame!
Therefore, today, we’re launching a brand-new crowdfunding campaign on the LifeFunder platform. I’ve made the first donation of $100.
Please pray for Michael and ask God to guide your response to this appeal.
Will you help Trustee Del Grande to finish his race, with a generous donation of $100, $200, $500 or even $1,000? Any amount is appreciated.
Our next report will detail the unbelievable bias of a certain judge on the Court of Appeal. Watch for it in the next couple of days.