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Controversial Niagara Catholic trustee taking 4-month leave

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The Niagara Catholic District School Board (NCDSB) trustee who came under fire in May for comments comparing the Pride flag to the Nazi flag has taken a leave of absence.

Trustee Natalia Benoit will be on leave through Jan. 29 of next year.

The board says the request put forward by Benoit to be excused from further scheduled meetings until Jan. 29 was approved at the latest board meeting on Tuesday.

Benoit first came under fire in May for comments made about Pride month celebrations being conducted by the board.

Following an announcement from the board that the Progress Pride flag would be flown during Pride month, Benoit and Niagara Falls trustee Joe Bruzzese put forward a motion to reverse the decision.

WATCH MORE: Niagara Catholic school board trustee compares Pride flag to a Nazi flag

A video would soon surface online where Benoit answered a question posed about the board choosing to fly the flag where she could be heard saying ““Well, any flag at all … Like the Nazi flag, we don’t want that up either, right?”

The motion would ultimately fail to pass at the June board meeting, with only Benoit and Bruzzese voting in favour.

“It was disappointing to hear the equivalency made between the Pride flag and the Nazi flag,” said NCDSB Director of Education Camillo Cipriano, who was behind the decision to raise the Pride flag again this year.

He said, “For us, the Pride flag is a symbol of love, of inclusion, acceptance. The flag that it was referred to is for us a symbol of hate, of prejudice, of intolerance. Again, completely the opposite of what the rainbow flag is presenting for us in Niagara Catholic.”

The board asks residents who want to contact a trustee reach out to board vice-chair Rhianon Burkholder (Thorold/Merritton) or trustee Larry Huibers (St. Catharines/Niagara-on-the-Lake) for assistance.

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