Barry Neufeld asked about KKK flyer at human rights tribunal: Former trustee claims 2017 story was fake news

Neufeld's lawyer objected to questions about Ku Klux Klan membership or meeting attendance, calling it 'insulting' and 'abusive'

No, Barry Neufeld never spoke at a Ku Klux Klan meeting.

But would he? Also "no," he says.

Neufeld was asked if he ever spoke at a KKK meeting by a lawyer for the B.C. Teachers Federation (BCTF) on Monday at his ongoing B.C. Human Rights Tribunal (BCHRT) hearing regarding allegations of hate speech.

Neufeld's lawyer James Kitchen objected to the question. Right before that, Neufeld had responded "no" to the question whether he was a member of the Christian white supremacist hate group. That wasn't the first time Neufeld answered faster than his lawyer could object.

“That's abusive," Kitchen said of the line of questioning.

BCTF lawyer Lindsay Waddell said the fear some teachers felt at the time was real, and she wanted to explore a possible connection between Neufeld and the KKK. She said a note from his previous lawyer, Paul Jaffe, mentioned the dying U.S. hate group.

“This flyer is connected to Mr. Neufeld," Waddell said Monday (March 10, 2025). "He made a lengthy post quoting from the Old Testament, a very long one, and three days later these were thrown onto lawns in Chilliwack”

"These" referred to flyers that showed up on some lawns and driveways in Sardis one day in December 2017, two months after Neufeld's infamous anti-LGBTQ social media rant about SOGI 123, an anti-bullying gender identity resource used in B.C. schools.

It sure seemed coincidental that three days before the flyers showed up, Neufeld quoted the same passage from Deuteronomy on his Facebook page that says cross-dressing is an "abomination."

On the other hand, anti-trans fanatics have Deuteronomy 22:5 in their back pockets, if they don't have it on a tattoo.

In another supposed coincidence, there weren't too many flyers distributed in 2017 but, lo and behold, one of them landed on the lawn of former MLA, then school trustee, Dan Coulter. The late Coulter was one of only two trustees (Paul McManus was the other) who publicly spoke against Neufeld’s anti-LGBTQ rhetoric.

Coulter even asked for Neufeld's resignation.

"As trustees responsible for the well-being and safety of all students in our district, we are tasked with fostering a safe and inclusive environment where all students feel like they belong," Coulter said in 2017. "This work requires us to be able to leave any prejudices at the door. Barry Neufeld is no longer capable of that."

The offensive flyer that referred to transgender people as "freaks" and an "abomination" landed on Coulter's lawn a month after he called for Neufeld to resign.

"If your [sic] are confused about what sex you are today, use a tree out in the back yard," it said in part, with contact information at the bottom and a message next to a cartoon image of KKK regalia: "The KKK wants you!"

Waddell told the tribunal panel Monday that Neufeld's previous counsel mentioned that he did not speak at a KKK meeting.

"It is our view he clearly was intended to speak and that we say we are enttitled to explore this," Waddell argued against the objection. "It is the basis to connect him to this flyer, which came out shortly after one of his longest and most religious posts." 

Kitchen repeatedly called the line of questioning "abusive" and that Waddell was making a "fantastical" inference on a "fishing expedition."

"He didn’t speak at a [a ku klux klan meeting]," he said. "It is an utterly unsupportable inference."

Kitchen suggested further that Waddell was presenting a loaded question akin to the famous example of that rhetorical tool: "Have you stopped beating your wife?"

Waddell pushed back, the most forceful I've heard her. She said that Neufeld and his counsel have failed to appreciate the level of fear among some LGBTQ teachers at the time, real fear stemming from angry rhetoric and protests following Neufeld's now infamous October 2017 Facebook post. That post was the start of his campaign pushing for action to oppose SOGI 123. Whether that campaign was and still is simply a democratic urge for citizens to get engaged or a campaign to foment fear and hate is essentially what is at issue in this case.

Neufeld's disdain for teachers facing homophobia after his supporters began to rally in his anti-LGBTQ cause is startling. His defence catch-22 is that if so many people support him as he claims, that's could serve as an argument in defence of the argument that his posts created hatred.

"I didn’t have a lot of sympathy for them," Neufeld said just before the topic of the KKK flyer was brought up.

"You had a hard time feeling sorry for the troubles she's endured?" Waddell posited to Neufeld, referring to one of the three teachers who testified earlier in the hearing.

"The troubles she's described certainly didn't feel very onerous," Neufeld said.

"You said 'if she's a vegetarian maybe a meat sandwich would upset her, too,'" Waddell said.

"Maybe," he responded.

Waddell brought up testimony from Neufeld at the Feb. 24 hearing date where he was being questioned by his lawyer about fear the gay teacher who lived next to him had. She testified how on one occasion Neufeld knocked on her door to tell her about possible protests on the street. Another time Rob Bogunovic knocked on her door. Bogunovic is one of Neufeld's most vocall supporters who testified at the hearing in December.

"She said that was upsetting and she was worried," Kitchen put to Neufeld at the Feb. 24 hearing.

"Oh baloney," Neufeld responded.

The panel adjourned briefly Monday to discuss Kitchen's objection to the KKK questions, came back and concluded that Waddell was not on a fishing expedition. The panel chair said that while they recognized the potential prejudicial aspects of questions associated with the KKK, this is what the hearing is all about. Namely, how Neufeld's speech allegedly caused "exposure to detestation or vilification in the community."

Neufeld was brought back into the meeting and asked again if had ever attended a KKK meeting.

"I've never heard of one and I wouldn't go to one if I heard," he said, methinks wondering if he doth protest too much.

"Have you ever been invited to one or asked to speak?" Waddell asked.

"I don't think it even exists in Canada," he replied, later reiterating that "I don't believe there is any Ku Klux Klan chapter anywhere in B.C."

Neufeld was asked if he thought his previous lawyer was inventing the reference to the he and the KKK? That's when Neufeld delved into yet another of his many and persistent conspiracies by those intent on ruining his life.

"It's because of this phoney brochure," Neufeld said. "I think that was a phoney news report generated by a very hostile news reporter that was determined to ruin my reputation.... You've fallen right into his trap."

"His trap?" I think I have been living rent-free in Neufeld's head for quite some time as it's not the first time he or a supporter has invoked something I wrote as an example of people who were out to get him. The problem is that I didn't even write the 2017 story about the KKK flyer landing on Coulter's lawn.

The hearing is adjourned yet again with a next date scheduled in May.

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Paul J. Henderson
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