(LifeSiteNews) –– Campaign Life Coalition has given a significant pro-life rating downgrade to Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB) Chair Nancy Crawford after she and the board voted 8 to 2 on Tuesday to stop trustee Michael Del Grande’s pro-life motion, which would have seen pro-life flags fly at Catholic schools in May and students being taught about the pro-life cause on the same day as the Canadian March for Life.
“As a result of this disgraceful vote, Nancy Crawford, whom we’ve green-lit and endorsed in multiple school board elections, will now, sadly, be downgraded to a red light,” Campaign Life Coalition (CLC) Director of Political Operations Jack Fonseca told LifeSiteNews.
“She is no longer supportable because of her betrayal of Church teaching, of vulnerable children in the womb, and of the pro-life movement.”
A look at CLC’s website now shows Crawford’s “red light” rating.
“On April 23, 2024, Trustee Crawford voted against a powerful, and potentially culture-changing right to life motion which would have required schools to fly the International Pro-life Flag throughout the month of May, encouraged teachers and students to attend the National March For Life, and mandated that students receive a full day of pro-life instruction in which the Catechism, Holy Bible and other Church writings would have been studied,” notes CLC.
“Crawford was previously green-lit, and it is with sorrow that we were forced to downgrade her.”
Crawford had steadily voted in favor of family and life, including voting against a motion to declare June as Gay Pride Month, annually. She also voted against having the “pride” flag flown at the TCDSB head office.
Yesterday, LifeSiteNews reported that the TCDSB voted against trustee Michael Del Grande’s pro-life motion, meaning pro-life flags will not be flown at schools. However, the same board in 2021 voted in favor of flying the pride flags at schools.
The vote against Del Grande’s pro-life motion happened during a regular board meeting which was packed with supporters of his motion.
Del Grande, who is trustee for Scarborough – Agincourt, told LifeSiteNews after the meeting that “[a]nyone who watched it could see the inconsistency between my items and theirs.”
CLC blasts other trustee for failing to show up to vote
Fonseca told LifeSiteNews that CLC was also disappointed with trustee Teresa Lubinski, whom it said had “always counted as a strong pro-lifer in the past.”
He noted that it was “shameful” she did “not show up to support this motion when her voice and her vote were so crucially necessary.”
“She knew how important this motion to raise the pro-life flag and to mandate a full day of classroom instruction motion was and should have moved heaven and earth to be present and to be counted,” said Fonseca.
Fonseca said that the “eight unfaithful trustees who voted against the right to life motion” must be voted out by electors in the next municipal elections, which will be held in 2026.
“Torontonians must mobilize now to ensure they are defeated in the 2026 municipal elections, which will be upon us sooner than you realize. Spread the word about what they have said, and how they have voted,” he said.
Lubinski, as of this writing, still has a “green light” rating from CLC.
During the board meeting, vice-chair Markus de Domenico’s notice of motion titled “Supporting Student Learning on the ‘Sacredness of Life,’” which purports to be a pro-life motion but was put forth after he – and two other trustees – had come out in public opposition to Del Grande’s flag motion, was brought before the board.
This motion was supposed to not have been voted on at Tuesday’s meeting, however, the board decided to “waive the bylaw” which states that a notice of motion be discussed and voted on. After some back and forth, de Domenico’s motion was voted in. Del Grande and two others opposed to allow the motion to be voted on.
While the motion itself seems to be in support of Catholic teaching and therefore unobjectionable, Fonseca warned LifeSiteNews that de Domenico’s recent opposition to Del Grande’s pro-life flag motion suggests a different goal is in play.
Fonseca told LifeSiteNews that he believes that de Domenico’s motion’s entire purpose was to “undermine and sabotage Del Grande’s pro-life flag motion specifically, and more broadly, to undermine the National March For Life and the pro-life movement.”
As reported by LifeSiteNews last week, three TCDSB trustees Kevin Morrison, Maria Rizzo, and vice-chair of the board Markus de Domenico, all made comments to legacy media before the vote in which they have voiced their opposition to Del Grande’s Catholic motion.
The vote against the pro-life motion seems to be part of a trend by the TCDSB to fail to promote the Catholic faith, or to even promote ideas in contradiction to the faith.
For example, earlier this year the TCDSB recommended its staff watch a pro-LGBT play about a little girl who thinks she is a boy in clear promotion of transgender ideology, directly contradicting the Church’s unchangeable moral teaching on the immutability of sex.
As for Del Grande, he has been facing ongoing legal battles after being canceled for going against the LGBT agenda. He was tried before a tribunal of the Ontario College of Teachers (OCT) for objecting to the addition of transgender ideology into the Toronto Catholic District School Board’s policies and for defending the Catholic Church’s teaching that abortion is morally wrong.
CLC has asked that Canadians who wish to express their gratitude to Mike, demonstrate it by donating to his legal defense fund.
To respectfully voice your opinion regarding Del Grande’s pro-life motion and the vote against it, please contact:
TCDSB Trustees
Joseph Martino
Ward 1: Etobicoke
Phone: 416-512-3401
Email: [email protected]
Markus de Domenico (Vice-Chair)
Ward 2: Etobicoke
Phone: 416-512-3402
Email: [email protected]
Ida Li Preti
Ward 3: North York
Phone: 416-512-3403
Email: [email protected]
Teresa Lubinski
Ward 4: Parkdale-High Park, Etobicoke-Lakeshore
Phone: 416-512-3404
Email: [email protected]
Maria Rizzo
Ward 5: North York
Phone: 416-512-3405
Email: [email protected]
Frank D’Amico, CD
Ward 6: York
Phone: 416-512-3406
Email: [email protected]
Michael Del Grande
Ward 7: Scarborough-Agincourt
Phone: 416-512-3407
Email: [email protected]
Garry Tanuan
Ward 8: Scarborough
Phone: 416-512-3408
Email: [email protected]
Kevin Morrison
Ward 9: Toronto
Phone: 416-512-3409
Email: [email protected]
Daniel Di Giorgio
Ward 10: Toronto
Phone: 416-512-3410
Email: [email protected]
Angela Kennedy
Ward 11: East York, Toronto
Phone: 416-512-3411
Email: [email protected]
Nancy Crawford (Chair)
Ward 12: Scarborough
Phone: 416-512-3412
Email: [email protected]
Archbishop Francis Leo
Phone: (416) 934-0606
Email: [email protected]