Chilliwack school board candidate plans to sue Barry Neufeld over ‘striptease artist’ comment

There’s been plenty of mudslinging during various civic election campaigns around the Lower Mainland, but in Chilliwack, it appears it’s going to another level.

One school trustee candidate in that community plans to sue another over what she says are defamatory comments.

The comments in question were made by incumbent school trustee Barry Neufeld, speaking on an online broadcast.

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Fellow school trustee and candidate Carin Bondar says Neufeld referred to her as a “striptease artist.”

Bondar says her lawyer sent Neufeld a cease-and-desist letter last week — and hasn’t heard back.

“Enough is enough,” Bondar told CityNews when explaining the rationale for moving ahead with legal action.

“You can’t proceed when a lot of the voting public believes falsehoods about you. That’s not fair, that’s not democratic. So, I really had to step up.”

Beyond serving as a trustee, Bondar is a biology instructor at the University of the Fraser Valley. She has written several books, including Wild Sex and Wild Moms, is a host of Outrageous Acts of Science, Stephen Hawking’s Brave New World, and other television series.

Bondar’s research focuses on how human sex compares to that of animals in the natural world.

There is nothing online to indicate that Bondar is or has ever been a striptease artist.

CityNews has contacted Neufeld for comment on this story.

With files from Charlie Carey