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A photo of Norma Jean Maxwell, trustee candidate for Progress for Langley

Image source Progress for Langley

Progress for Langley trustee candidate urged families to leave public schools. Now she wants a board seat.

By Rainer Fehrenbacher
20 min read
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ANALYSIS: This analysis combines reporting on Norma Jean Maxwell's public statements with The Langley Union's assessment of what they mean for Langley students and families.

Norma Jean Maxwell once told parents to take their children out of public school. Now she wants a seat on the board that runs Langley's public schools.

Maxwell is running for trustee with Progress for Langley, the slate led by Township Mayor Eric Woodward.

In 2021, she helped build an online portal for families leaving the public system. She called that system corrupt. She told parents their first step should be deciding to stop leaving their kids in it, and taking their education into their own hands.

She has also said teachers have no business teaching children about homosexuality, transgender identity or pronouns. And she compared teachers who kept kids masked when it was not required to Nazis.

Her nomination papers list a home address in Surrey, not Langley. Her campaign bio tells voters she has lived in the Township for more than 20 years.

That bio makes no mention of her past efforts to help families leave public schools. It says parents and educators should not be on opposing sides.

The Langley Union believes a trustee should believe in the public system they help govern. A trustee must also be willing to support, affirm and care for every child in it, and to trust the public health science that protects them. In our view, nothing in Maxwell's public record shows she meets that standard.

Township voters elect five of the board's seven trustees on October 17. For the families who rely on Langley's public schools, especially queer and trans students, the stakes could not be more personal.

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A public school system she urged families to leave

In our view, Maxwell has spoken about the public school system with open contempt.

Maxwell worked as an education assistant in Surrey schools for about 18 years before leaving the district. In her candidate disclosure, she lists her current income as work for the Ministry of Children and Family Development as a behaviour interventionist and tutor, and her own business, Time to Shine Teaching and Coaching.

In the fall of 2021, Maxwell helped create Life Force Canada's education portal, an online hub connecting families with teachers outside the public system. In an interview published by Strong and Free Canada in April 2022, Life Force Canada co-founder Karen Klassen said she chose Maxwell to help build it. She said it was created because so many parents and teachers were leaving public schools and needed a place to land.

In the same interview, Maxwell said the portal was meant to include teachers who were not certified.

Asked what parents should do first, she said they should decide to stop leaving their kids in a system she called corrupt, and take their education into their own hands. Parents don't need to be professional teachers to teach their children, she said.

She also said families can step away from the system completely. She suggested universities may not exist in the future, and said that if her group had its way, higher education would look very different.

As more people wake up to how corrupt the system has been, she said, adults and children alike will need to be unschooled and re-educated, to undo what has been done to them.

Earlier in the interview, Klassen said the public school system was not broken but designed to be the way it is, and that families should step out of it entirely. The host said he agreed that the system was designed this way. Maxwell nodded along and agreed.

Her tone toward teachers themselves has been softer. Even in that interview, she said the problems were not teachers' fault. In 2023, she said the system had let teachers down and was burning them out. In 2024, she said the problem was not teachers, whom she described as wonderful, but what they are told to teach.

Why she told families to leave

Maxwell and the groups she worked with pointed to three main reasons for families to leave public schools: pandemic health rules, COVID-19 vaccines, and lessons that include gay and transgender people.

Masks and health rules

The portal Maxwell helped build was clear about who it was for. Its FAQ says many of its users were leaving the public school system because of restrictions and health mandates. It offered itself as a free alternative for those who disagreed with public school mandates and restrictions, and for anyone seeking another route for any reason.

In the Strong and Free Canada interview, Maxwell said the portal was built before September 2021 because she expected masks to return to classrooms. She said parents would panic and need somewhere to go.

Masks did return. In early October 2021, B.C. extended its school mask mandate to kindergarten to Grade 3 students, who had previously been exempt. The province acted after Surrey's school board, in the district where Maxwell had worked, voted to require masks for its youngest students on the advice of Fraser Health's medical health officer.

Vaccines

Maxwell said the portal was also meant for parents worried that COVID-19 vaccines would be pushed on children.

The portal also said it does not require anyone to post their personal medical status in order to use it or post classes. Its FAQ says the portal does not require anyone to post their personal medical status in order to use it or post classes.

Health Canada authorized the first COVID-19 vaccine for children aged five to 11 on November 19, 2021, after an independent scientific review found its benefits outweighed the risks.

But B.C. never required COVID-19 vaccines for students or teachers. In August 2021, the province said it would not require elementary and high school teachers to be immunized, noting that the risk of transmission in schools was low. When children under 12 became eligible for vaccines, the province said the proof-of-vaccination requirement would not apply to them.

The province instead left staff vaccine mandates to individual school boards. In the fall of 2021, the Vancouver, Surrey, New Westminster and Abbotsford boards all decided against one.

Lessons about gay and transgender people

In the same interview where Maxwell urged parents to take their kids out of public school, she said B.C.'s curriculum had been revamped to address sexuality, homosexuality, transgender identity and pronouns. She said families, not teachers, should decide what children learn about these topics and when.

Her Life Force Canada writing made the same case. Her April 2022 Think Tank summary opened by asking parents whether they knew what was in their child's curriculum and what their children were being exposed to.

That summary was posted on the same portal built to help families leave public schools. The site's page titles carry the tagline "Protect Your Daughters & Sons."

Her views on these lessons are set out in full below.

Why run for a system she told families to leave?

Maxwell's campaign bio says she is running to bring what she has learned as an educator, parent and advocate to the school board, so every child has the chance to succeed. It quotes her saying, "I am a strong believer that every child can learn."

But for years, her public message was different. She called the public system corrupt, helped build a portal for families leaving it, and told parents their first step was to take their kids out. We could find no public explanation of what changed. She did not answer our questions about it.

The answer matters because of what trustees do.

A trustee is one of seven votes on a board that sets the district's budget, hires its superintendent, and adopts the local policies that shape daily life in schools. That includes codes of conduct and the supports that protect 2SLGBTQ+ students. Trustees cannot rewrite B.C.'s curriculum, but they decide how the district carries it out and how it speaks to families.

The 2021 decisions behind Maxwell's portal were not made only by the province. Some were made by school boards. Surrey's board voted to mask its youngest students. Boards across the region voted on whether to require staff vaccines. In the next health emergency, trustees may be asked to make the same kinds of decisions again.

In our view, that is the heart of the question for voters. Maxwell helped build an exit from public schools for families who disagreed with decisions like these. Now she is asking for a vote on making them.

In our analysis, that raises clear questions for Langley parents:

  • Inclusion: Would she vote to keep the district's 2SLGBTQ+ committee and its SOGI-inclusive policies?
  • Student privacy: Would she push the board to tell parents when a student uses a new name or pronoun, even when that student may not be safe at home?
  • Supports: Would she support funding for programs in a system she called corrupt?
  • Public health: In the next health emergency, would she back the advice of public health officials, or treat it the way she treated masks and handwashing?

One trustee cannot change a district alone. But boards work by majority, and Progress for Langley has not said whether its trustees would vote together.

Maxwell may have good answers to these questions. Voters deserve to hear them before October 17.

What she said about LGBTQ+ kids

In the Strong and Free Canada interview, Maxwell said B.C.'s curriculum had been revamped to address sexuality, homosexuality, transgender identity and pronouns. These were topics, she said, "that teachers have no business teaching our children."

She said families should decide what their children learn about these subjects, and when. She said she did not think sexuality should be discussed with five- or seven-year-olds at all.

She also said teachers are obligated to keep it from parents when a child raises these topics at school. Parents, she said, are being pushed out of the equation, and "our children are becoming children of the state."

In our view, that framing turns a teacher who protects a vulnerable student's trust into an agent of the state, taking children away from their families.

Later in the interview, Klassen and the host described transgender identity as part of a deliberate plan or attack aimed at children. Maxwell then linked it to youth suicide. The suicide rate is so high, she said, because kids are so confused.

In our view, that gets the evidence backwards. UBC nursing professor Elizabeth Saewyc has explained that LGBTQ students face a higher suicide risk partly because they are more often targeted for bullying and discrimination.

Support makes a measurable difference.

In U.S. research by The Trevor Project, LGBTQ youth with at least one accepting adult were 40 per cent less likely to report a suicide attempt in the past year. For many queer and trans kids, that one accepting adult is a teacher.

Less than two weeks after that interview was posted, Maxwell wrote a summary of a Life Force Canada meeting she facilitated. It was posted under her name on the group's Education Portal.

She wrote that some would argue curriculum changes are meant to "twist the minds of our youth." She wrote that the changes aim to break down the natural family and remove parental rights. She called schools a political war zone, with children as the casualties.

She pointed to U.S. preschools teaching words like nonbinary and gender fluid. She mocked the idea that objecting to this reflects internalized homophobia or transphobia.

Much of the meeting focused on the HBO series Euphoria. Maxwell described three storylines, about opioid addiction, an underage transgender girl being sexually exploited by adults, and a teen drawn into online sex work, as examples of what she called depravity being normalized for teens.

To be fair to Maxwell, she also wrote that her group did not want a return to 1950s-style sex shaming.

She returned to the subject in a January 2023 interview with Self-Discovery Media. She said she feels strongly about gender identity topics in schools, and that children are being exposed to them far too young.

"I don't have a discriminatory bone in my body," she said. People should live as they choose, she added, but children should be left alone.

In July 2024, on The Homeschool Advantage podcast, Maxwell described a memo from her time at school, about five years earlier. She said it asked staff to respect students who used a different pronoun, and to keep that in confidence rather than tell parents.

She stressed that the children were six and seven years old, and said she would be livid as a parent. Schools, she said, are "eliminating parents out of the picture."

Whether schools must tell parents when a child uses a new name or pronoun is one of the most heated fights in Canadian education. School boards are where that fight lands. Maxwell has made clear which side she is on.

In our analysis, her words do real harm.

They treat learning that queer and trans people exist as a danger to children. They treat simply naming these identities in school as an attack on families.

Some kids are not safe coming out at home. For them, a trusted teacher who keeps their confidence can be a lifeline. Maxwell's words treat that trust as a threat.

Queer and trans kids hear that message. Many of them already hear it at home, online and in the hallway. In our view, they should never hear it from the board that runs their school.

The standard every trustee must meet

A school trustee does not get to choose which students count.

Trustees vote on the district's budget, its policies and its supports for students. They set the tone for how every school treats every child.

In B.C., that includes queer and trans kids by law. In July 2016, gender identity and expression became a prohibited ground of discrimination under the B.C. Human Rights Code. By the end of that year, every school district and independent school had to name sexual orientation and gender identity in its anti-bullying policies.

The Langley School District has its own 2SLGBTQ+ committee, with a trustee representing the board on it.

These supports are not extras. A UBC study of nearly 22,000 B.C. students in grades 8 to 12 found that both LGBTQ and straight students in schools with anti-homophobia policies and gay-straight alliances had lower odds of discrimination, suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts.

That is why The Langley Union holds a clear line. In our view, supporting, affirming and caring for 2SLGBTQ+ children is not a political opinion a trustee can take or leave. It is part of the job.

Maxwell has not, to our knowledge, taken back any of these statements.

If she has changed her mind, Langley families deserve to hear it from her, clearly and before October 17.

COVID-19 and vaccines

Maxwell's sharpest criticism of schools came during the pandemic.

Her interview with Klassen aired on The Iron Will Report, a Strong and Free Canada program. Its opening graphics bill it as "The Voice of the Covid Counter Narrative." The episode was titled "Our Children Deserve Education, Not Indoctrination."

In it, Maxwell said COVID-19 was the tipping point that led her to leave her job. She said school safety rules made no sense, and that schools pushed a climate of fear that made children afraid of each other and of adults.

She described the routine of laying out classroom books each night so they could be fogged with disinfectant as absurd. She also criticized the handwashing rules, describing students washing their hands when they arrived, before and after snack, and after recess. She said lining up 22 children at the sink could cost half an hour of class time and leave the room in chaos.

Lost class time is a fair concern for any teacher. But handwashing is one of the simplest ways to slow the spread of illness in a classroom, and it was a basic part of keeping schools open during the pandemic.

She called masking children in school criminal, arguing that young kids need to see faces to learn language. She said masks were completely ineffective, describing children wearing them below their noses, hanging them on their wrists and trading them on the playground. She called the whole thing a joke.

She said teachers who kept students in masks when it was not required had no right to do so, and that they were acting out of fear. She then compared those teachers to Nazis.

She returned to the subject of vaccines in 2023. In a January 2023 interview, when the host raised vaccines and autism, Maxwell described a rise in autism diagnoses at her school, from one child when she started to three or more in each new kindergarten class. Something was going on, she said, and people should be asking questions.

Those questions have been asked and answered. A Danish study of 657,461 children born between 1999 and 2010 found autism occurred just as often among children who received the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine as among those who did not. Researchers also found no higher risk among children with other risk factors for autism.

School trustees do not write public health orders. But in a health emergency, the board decides how schools carry them out and how it speaks to families about them.

In our view, a trustee who has done any of these things should not be guiding those decisions:

  • dismissed handwashing rules,
  • called masking children criminal,
  • compared teachers who masked children when it was not required to Nazis, or
  • responded to a discussion of vaccines and autism by hinting that something is going on.

A Langley candidate who appears to live in Surrey

Maxwell filed her nomination papers with the Township on September 11. Both those papers and her required financial disclosure list her residential address in Surrey.

That does not match how she presents herself to voters. Her Progress for Langley bio says she has lived in the Township for more than 20 years, raising two sons who graduated from Langley schools in Brookswood.

Norma Jean Maxwell candidate nomination documents
Public candidate nomination documents from Township of Langley
Post---Trustee---Maxwell,-Norma-Jean.pdf
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Progress For Langley | Norma Jean Maxwell
Norma Jean Maxwell

B.C. law does not require school trustees to live in the district they serve. The School Act sets no residency requirement for the school district or trustee electoral area, and candidates must only be Canadian citizens, at least 18 on voting day, and have lived in B.C. for at least six months before nomination day. Maxwell is eligible to run.

In our view, though, trustees answer to the families in their district. Township parents deserve to know that the candidate asking for their vote lists her home in another city. They also deserve to know why her campaign bio suggests otherwise.

Selling to schools

Maxwell's business, Time to Shine, is listed as a source of income in her candidate disclosure.

On The Homeschool Advantage podcast, she said her phonics program is for sale. She said a B.C. school uses it in kindergarten and Grade 1, and a school in Ontario uses it too. She also said she offers professional development inside the public school system.

Strong early reading support matters, and helping struggling readers is real work. Maxwell's focus on kids with learning differences is a genuine strength.

But trustees approve budgets that pay for programs and training. Under B.C.'s School Act, a trustee with a financial interest in a matter before the board must disclose it at the meeting, and must not take part in the discussion or vote. The Langley Union found no evidence that any Langley school uses her program.

Maxwell has also pitched her program as a way for parents to teach reading at home. In her 2023 interview, she told parents they don't need a degree to do it. In our view, that fits a wider theme in her public record: encouraging families to take learning outside the public system.

The groups behind the interviews

Many of Maxwell's comments came through two groups: Life Force Canada and Strong and Free Canada.

Life Force Canada calls itself a platform of "conscious and awake Canadians." Its Education Portal promotes holistic courses outside mainstream schooling, on subjects like natural law and holistic healing. From late 2021 to spring 2022, Maxwell signed its weekly meeting summaries as the Education Think Tank facilitator.

Strong and Free Canada was an Alberta non-profit that said it offered data and expert testimony on COVID-19 and government overreach. It shut down in early January 2026.

Maxwell appeared on its program with Klassen, a Calgary life coach and a co-founder of Life Force Canada. Klassen said she chose Maxwell to lead the group's education think tank and help build its portal.

The full interview gives a sense of the setting. Here is some of what Klassen and the program's host said:

  • Klassen's parallel society: Klassen said she got involved when the pandemic began, to help build what she called a parallel society.
  • Replacing the legal system: She described the group's nine pillars, including plans to replace what she called a satanic legal system with natural law.
  • Gender and having children: She told a story about an eight-year-old who asked to be called a boy. She said she believes confusing children about their gender is part of a plan to stop people from having children.
  • The pandemic as an awakening: She called the pandemic a great thing because it was waking people up.
  • An attack on gender identity: The host said he believes there is an intentional attack on children's gender identity.
  • Wokeism: The host also said society is being run by what he called wokeism.

Maxwell did not make these remarks, and The Langley Union does not attribute them to her. They are included to show the setting of the interview. In the recording, Maxwell does not challenge or disagree with any of these remarks.

Woodward's slate owns this choice

Progress for Langley is running five Township trustee candidates: Matt Burck, Olivia Lake de Meza, Norma Jean Maxwell, Betty Siegel and Sean Stevenson. Its website, which features Maxwell's bio, is authorized by Woodward.

In our view, when a slate puts a candidate on its signs, it tells voters that person meets its standards. That is true of every slate, including the rival Langley Strong.

So Progress for Langley owes voters clear answers. Did it know about these statements when it chose Maxwell? Does it share her views on public schools, or on queer and trans students? Does it stand behind her now? Would its trustees vote as a bloc?

We put those questions to Woodward earlier this week. He did not respond by our deadline.

Maxwell also did not respond to detailed questions about her past statements.

We asked Burck, Lake de Meza, Siegel and Stevenson whether they support Maxwell's candidacy, and how they would support 2SLGBTQ+ students. None responded.

The Langley Union will promptly update this story if any of them reply.

Every student in Langley's public schools deserves trustees who believe in those schools, and who will stand up for every child in them.

What voters can do

General voting day is Saturday, October 17.

The Township lists every trustee candidate on its election page, along with their nomination documents. Ask each one, directly, whether they believe in public education, and how they will support 2SLGBTQ+ students.

Maxwell says every child can learn. Every child also deserves to be safe, seen and welcome at school. In our view, a trustee who cannot promise that to all of them should not have the job.

If you need support

If you or a young person you know is struggling, help is available any time, day or night:

  • 9-8-8 Suicide Crisis Helpline: Call or text 9-8-8 for free, bilingual support, 24 hours a day, every day of the year.
  • Kids Help Phone: Call 1-800-668-6868 or text CONNECT to 686868. Trained responders are available 24/7 for young people aged 5 to 29.
  • In B.C.: You can also call 1-800-SUICIDE (1-800-784-2433), available 24/7.

If someone is in immediate danger, call 9-1-1.

References

Candidate records

Maxwell's interviews and writing

Life Force Canada

COVID-19 rules in B.C. schools

Law and policy

Research and health

Election coverage

Support

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Tagged in:

2026 Township of Langley Election, 2026 Municipal Elections, Progress for Langley, Politics

Last Update: October 03, 2026

About the Author

Rainer Fehrenbacher Langley, BC

Rainer and his family live in the Nicomekl area of Langley City. During his free time, he enjoys going for bike rides with his amazing partner and laughing with his 2 year old son.

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