Martyr status inevitable for former trustee Barry Neufeld arrested at Chilliwack courthouse Monday

Neufeld is off to jail for one day as BC Sheriff Service carries out Order of Committal for lack of payment defamation settlement of $45,000 to Carin Bondar

Despite knowing he was going to be arrested while surrounded by supporters praying for him on the steps of the Chilliwack Law Courts Monday (Nov. 24, 2025) morning, former school trustee Barry Neufeld looked a little bewildered as deputy sheriffs led him inside the courthouse and handcuffed him.

Neufeld was arrested because of a judicially signed order of committal because of his non-payment of $45,000 to current school board trustee Carin Bondar and for refusing to appear in court on a previous date.

The order means Neufeld will spend one day in jail, Ford Mountain Correctional Centre to be specific, which could have been avoided on Monday if he paid the registrar the $45,000 he owes Bondar plus $8,703.75 for court expenses in the process.

This one day day in jail will almost certainly garner the long-embattled and virulently homophobic trustee martyr status in the Christian nationalist community where he thrives.

Neufeld has twice been unlucky when it comes to defamation, having failed in his lawsuit against former BCTF president Glen Hansman while losing a defamation suit of his own filed by Bondar after he called her a "striptease artist." The comment was in a right-wing online video in response to Bondar's Miley Cyrus-themed science video in which she ends up naked. He insulted the wrong person as he would soon find out.

Both Neufeld and Bondar are known to fling insults around social media and personally against people who dare to disagree with them. While Bondar gets away with, for example, publicly calling anyone who shares her widely available video with hundreds of thousands of views a misogynist, Neufeld hasn't been so lucky.

Neufeld's homophobic comments are legendary and too many to mention. When Hansman called Neufeld's words exactly that, specifically, "bigoted transphobic and hateful," Neufeld sued him. The case went through numerous appeals all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) where the highest court in the nation called Hansman's comments "fair comment."

Hansman’s application that was originally allowed by the B.C. Supreme Court was under the Protection of Public Participation Act (PPPA), so-called anti-SLAPP (strategic lawsuits against public participation) legislation. It was decided that the protection of Hansman’s expression outweighed the harm done to Neufeld. The B.C. Court of Appeal overturned that decision, then the SCC overturned that.

Using the the PPPA’s public interest weighing exercise, the SCC determined the original judge was correct and the appeal court was not.

“In (this) case, Hansman’s expression is counter‑speech motivated by a desire to promote tolerance and respect for a marginalized group in society,” the SCC found. “Hansman spoke out to counter expression he perceived to be untrue, prejudicial towards transgender and other 2SLGBTQ+ individuals, and potentially damaging to transgender youth.”

As for Bondar, she sued Neufeld for defamation and won in the B.C. Supreme Court. Neufeld appealed to the B.C. Court of Appeal and lost. In the decision posted back in February 2025, the three-panel Appeals court found that Neufeld's arguments regarding "fair comment" and "qualified privilege" both fell flat and the original judge did not err.

His lawyer Paul Jaffe argued it was simply free speech.

“This exceeds the purpose of defamation law, sends a chilling message to participants in the public arena and undermines freedom of expression,” Jaffe said.

But the B.C. Supreme Court and the highest court in B.C. disagreed.

"The judge made no reviewable errors in finding that Mr. Neufeld’s statement was defamatory and that the defences raised were not available. His award of damages is entitled to deference and was reasonable on the record before him," the Appeals court found.

The order of committal responds to Neufeld's refusal to follow an order of the BC Supreme Court on Sept. 17, 2024. He's been given considerable time to pay, then he declined to show up for court at a previous date leading to the arrest and one-day committal.

He was ordered to be brought to Ford Mountain (Xàws Schó:lha) Correctional Centre in the Chilliwack River Valley for one day "or until he is sooner discharged by due process by law."

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Paul J. Henderson
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