A subcommittee of the Toronto Catholic school board, struck to further Catholic values, has passed a motion to update its code of conduct without including protection for discrimination based on gender identity, gender expression, marital status and family status.

The motion, passed at the 11th hour of a lengthy meeting Wednesday night, ignores a directive from the Ministry of Education sent in October, 2018, that asked boards to update their codes by Nov. 4, 2019, so that they align with the province’s, which includes the terms.

“I was sickened by it, by the hypocrisy, by the homophobia and the fear-mongering,” said board chair Maria Rizzo, the only trustee of the five-member subcommittee to vote against the motion.

She was completely surprised by the introduction of the pre-written motion.

“We can’t allow words that threaten to stigmatize our LGBTQ students.”

Instead of adding the protections to the code, trustees wrote a seven-paragraph motion that affirms, in part, “that all people are created in the image and likeness of God and are deserving of respect and dignity.”

This could be voted on at the next full board meeting Dec. 5, said a TCDSB spokesperson.

Rizzo says she’s unsure whether it will be accepted.

“It’s 50-50,” she said.

Minister of Education Stephen Lecce addressed the controversy at a funding announcement at George Brown on Wednesday.

“My message to the board is quite clear,” he continued. “My expectation is every child, irrespective of their differences, can see themselves reflected in schools, and, more important, that they will adhere to the Ontario Human Rights Code.”

Section 5 of the human rights code stipulates that “every person has a right to equal treatment with respect to employment without discrimination because of race, ancestry, place of origin, colour, ethnic origin, citizenship, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, record of offences, marital status, family status or disability.”

The subcommittee meeting generated a lot of interest. Four trustees attended who weren’t members of the subcommittee, as did another who dialed in by phone.

There are only 12 trustees on the board.

The room was packed and 13 people had signed up to speak. Two student trustees sat at the table, including Taylor Dallin, a Grade 12 student at Cardinal Carter Academy for the Arts. Dallin reminded several speakers, who didn’t support adding the terms, that inclusion could help save lives and reminded them that transgender individuals are at a greater risk for suicide.

Others said they felt that including the words were against Catholic teachings, which emphasize the importance of biological sex.

John Yan, the executive director of the Angel Foundation for Learning, the board’s charitable arm, told trustees that not including the terms could jeopardize millions of dollars given to the foundation from the city through Toronto Public Health’s poverty reduction and nutrition programs. A third of students in the board live below the poverty line and the foundation runs 184 nutrition programs in schools.

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“As a member of the broader not-for-profit community, we must adhere to regulations and requirements set out by partners such as the City of Toronto/TPH,” said Yan. “Our corporate sponsors also have code of conduct policies that prevent them from working with or contributing to organizations who do not comply with OHRC or other International Human Rights regulations.”

Correction - Nov. 1, 2019: The headline on this article was edited from a previous version. The previous version incorrectly said the Toronto Catholic School Board will not include protections for discriminations based on gender expression. In fact, as stated correctly in the article, this was a motion passed by a subcommittee. The motion has not been voted on by the board.