Niagara Catholic school board trustee denies comparing Pride flag to Nazi flag

The Niagara Catholic District School Board (NCDSB) trustee under fire for comments about the Pride flag says her words are being misrepresented, but also said "deeply religious children are also being harmed" amid debates about whether to raise the flag.

The Niagara Catholic District School Board (NCDSB) trustee under fire for comments about the Pride flag says her words are being misrepresented, but also said "deeply religious children are also being harmed" amid debates about whether to raise the flag.

A video posted to YouTube a week ago by Peter Taras, a former Ontario candidate for the People's Party of Canada, shows the trustee — Natalia Benoit — saying she didn't want the school board to fly the Pride flag. Someone behind the camera asks Benoit what happened as she leaves a board meeting, and whether trustees were supposed to vote on "not [flying] the Pride or the Trans flag."

"Well, any flag at all... Like the Nazi flag, we don't want that up either, right?" Benoit says in the video.

Benoit declined an interview but told CBC Hamilton in an email on Thursday she wasn't comparing the Pride flag to the Nazi flag.

"In response to a question about what flags should not be flown, my answer does not include the Pride flag," Benoit wrote.