Embattled Winnipeg school trustee suspended for 3rd time after online comment

A school board in Winnipeg has suspended one of its trustees for the third time in six months. 

On Tuesday evening, the Louis Riel School Division's board of trustees voted unanimously to take disciplinary action against Ward 1 trustee Francine Champagne, after an online comment decried as racist was brought to the board's attention.

Chair Sandy Nemeth said the board received an email from a community member about the Facebook comment and asked them to take action.

"We took a look at the language that was used. We took a look at the context and … the manner that it was shared, which was public, and we married that with the requirements that we have for upholding our code of conduct," Nemeth told CBC. 

The board felt the comment breached a prohibition in its code of conduct on using "abusive or denigrating language," said Nemeth.

Champagne was invited to discuss the situation at the meeting but declined. She was not in attendance. CBC has also reached out to her for comment but has not had a response.

CBC has viewed the comment, which was made on the page of a Facebook user who posted about eating chicken fried rice at a Chinese restaurant.

Champagne commented, "Flied lice?" with a laughing face emoji on the post.

3rd consecutive suspension

On Tuesday, the school board unanimously voted in favour of a recommendation that she be suspended for three months without remuneration. That's the maximum suspension possible under the Manitoba Public Schools Act.

This is the third consecutive suspension Champagne has been handed since she was elected to the board in 2022.

The St. Boniface representative is currently under a one-month suspension for failing to submit paperwork. Nemeth said she refused to sign the board's code of conduct, which all members are required to do annually.

That suspension ends on Nov. 16. The latest one begins the following day.

Champagne was also temporarily removed from her role in June, when the board voted unanimously to suspend her for three months over posts that it said "targeted the 2SLGBTQIA+ community." 

"She signed the code of conduct when she was first elected. She chose to breach it," Nemeth said. 

"She chose not to then engage with the board in conversation about how to make it right. She's in the situation because of choices that she's made, and we have an obligation and a duty to uphold that."

Can't remove trustee

Nemeth said every suspension requires an "incredible amount" of human and financial resources. The board would rather focus those resources on students, she said.

"It's very frustrating," said Nemeth. "The whole situation is dreadfully unfortunate, but the board stands [and] will continue to stand behind its decisions."

Because Champagne was democratically elected by the community, there is no provision within the Public Schools Act for the board to remove her, said Nemeth.

However, the board can and will continue to suspend Champagne if she fails to sign and uphold the code of conduct.

"There's so much wrong with what she's doing, and that's what we want our community to hear, is that we have their backs," she said.

"This is just not who we are, and Louis Riel and we will not tolerate it."

Education Minister Nello Altomare, who is also a retired teacher and principal, said there is no space for racism or anti-LGBT sentiments within the education system.

"Schools need to be safe spaces for children to learn and grow," Altomare said in a statement to CBC.

He said an independent adjudicator has been appointed to the case, and he's hopeful "the adjudication process will work as it is supposed to and reach a resolution."