Chilliwack – Teri Westerby has been in the cross hairs for as long as he has been on Chilliwack School Board as a Trustee. He was a 2025 Federal NDP Candidate.
He has faced a tremendous about of homophobic abuse as a person and in office.
Now time for a change.
Westerby will not run in the October 17 Municipal elections.
In his social media post:
I will not be running for school trustee in 2026.
I thought about this a lot over the summer. I cried a little. Okay, fine. A lot.
Serving on the Board has been one of the greatest honours and privileges of my young life. And if I’m honest, it has also come with real sacrifice.
When I put my name on the ballot four years ago, I came in with a lot to fight for and a lot to prove. I definitely did not know exactly what I was getting myself into. I just knew that inclusive public education was worth standing up for.
What I found over the next four years changed me.
I met incredibly giving, open-hearted people across our school community who work ridiculously hard, often with limited time and resources, to make things better for kids.
And I mean everyone carries a piece of that work.
Educators, leadership, parents, volunteers, neighbours, you name it.
Chilliwack schools are truly a community.
Through all of that, I learned that I never had to prove I belonged here. I also learned that I was never meant to carry this alone. None of us are.
And now, I want to live the life I fought so hard to be able to live freely. To make space for love, joy, rest, creativity and all the parts of myself that exist beyond the fight.
Thank you to everyone across the Chilliwack School District who taught me that.
I ran to stand up for inclusive public education and, hopefully, inspire more people to step forward with me.
I believe I can leave this role knowing I did what I came to do.
Remember, the work continues because it belongs to all of us, not any one person. We each take our turn, do our part and leave something stronger for the people who come next.
And if the point of this work is to build a world where people can live more freely, then we have to let ourselves live in that world too.
For me, that means carrying the work differently now.
So, I’ll leave you with this:
Trans leadership is resistance.
But so are trans rest, love, happiness and ordinary trans lives lived fully.
Thank you, Chilliwack, for four incredible years and for helping me prove that queer and trans people belong everywhere.
