The Toronto Catholic school board is investigating a complaint about an alleged encounter between controversial trustee Michael Del Grande and a student trustee, which left the shaken teen saying, “I have never felt more violated and harassed in all my life.”

The alleged incident, which took place this fall, prompted the Toronto Catholic District School Board to implement a safety plan for the student and sources this week confirmed the board hired an external lawyer who is currently investigating the matter.

A fax recently sent anonymously to the Star outlined the complaint of an incident that allegedly occurred on Sept. 25 and which until now has been dealt with behind closed doors. It involved an interaction between Del Grande and student trustee Taylor Dallin after they attended a meeting for a subcommittee called Catholic Education And Living Our Catholic Values.

At that meeting, those in attendance discussed screening the controversial anti-abortion film Unplanned in high schools. Dallin said she hadn’t seen the movie, but noted doctors had denounced it as misrepresenting facts about abortion, and suggested students be involved in the discussion and research be done before a decision was made.

Following the meeting — according to a complaint Dallin emailed to board officials that night — Del Grande allegedly approached the teen, who was alone in the trustees’ lounge, and “started questioning me with an extremely unfriendly and accusatory tone.”

When contacted by the Star, Dallin, who’s a Grade 12 student at Cardinal Carter Academy for the Arts, would not comment, but confirmed the legitimacy of the complaint. Meanwhile, Del Grande told the Star, “I cannot comment ... The lawyers have said I cannot speak,” but wouldn’t specify if he was referring to the investigating lawyer or counsel he may have hired.

According to the complaint, Dallin said, “(Del Grande) came to me, a 16-year-old girl, to have a debate on abortion alone in the trustees’ lounge. It was not the right time or place,” she said in the email to board officials, adding a few other trustees entered the lounge and Del Grande “called on them to join his side.”

“I felt completely ganged up on,” wrote Dallin, now 17. “(Del Grande) was yelling at me for the majority of the conversation. To be completely honest, I felt scared and helpless ... I tried multiple times to leave the room, but I couldn’t because he kept talking at me.”

She said in the complaint Del Grande questioned her faith and told her she wasn’t fulfilling her duty as a Catholic trustee “because of my more progressive and welcoming views.”

“I normally always stand my ground and maintain my composure, but he pushed me to the point where I was bawling my eyes out,” she wrote. “It was only once I started crying that I got a perfunctory apology from him. Right after that he left,” she said. A couple of trustees stayed on and supported her, engaging her in a “calm and peaceful” discussion about morality and Catholicism, which “greatly contrasted” her conversation with Del Grande, the complaint said.

“I now feel unsafe and unwelcome to be in the trustees’ lounge,” wrote Dallin, calling for “disciplinary action and protections so that I never have to be in a situation like that with him again.”

As is outlined in the trustee code of conduct, complaints about trustees and whether to investigate them are dealt with in private by board members, who are municipally elected. (The board’s two student trustees are chosen by high school students, but their votes are not counted in decisions.)

When asked about the investigation, TCDSB spokesperson Shazia Vlahos said she could not comment on matters dealt with in private board meetings. But about the complaint, she said, “When the matter was brought to our attention, staff acted and a safety plan was put in place to ensure the student feels supported and safe.”

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Also being handled in private is a complaint about Del Grande’s behaviour at the Sept. 25 meeting, submitted last week by Trustee Maria Rizzo and obtained by the Star. In her complaint — made with Dallin’s support — Rizzo said she was at the meeting and witnessed Del Grande “cast indirect insults (towards Dallin) including cold and constant staring for minutes; rolling his eyes, sighing, frowning, snickering, a hostile and sarcastic tone and aggressive body language.” She said when Dallin tried to respond to Del Grande, the teen was met with “sneers, raised upper lip and words meant to shame, belittle and trivialize,” such as, “You’ve been brainwashed by liberals.”

Del Grande was recently criticized by some for his comments at a Nov. 7 board meeting about amending the TCDSB’s code of conduct, as directed by the province, to include protection from discrimination based on gender identity, gender expression, family status and marital status. He argued gender ideology was contrary to Catholic teachings and that adopting the terms was a “slippery slope,” suggesting the code also include bizarre and criminal sexual acts such as sadism, bestiality and pedophilia. He was ruled out of order and the four terms were adopted.

On Friday, LifeSiteNews.com, which in part promotes traditional Christian principles, posted a statement by Del Grande defending his November comments. “I have been called a ‘hero’ by supporters,” he said. “I am not a hero. I am a faithful Catholic with an informed conscience standing up for Catholic education and Church teachings.”