Michael Higgins: She heckled a land acknowledgement. Child services were sent after her

B.C. Law Courts. Getty Images

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Childcare authorities were called on Lara Yates, a mother-of-four, after she dared to heckle a land acknowledgement at a school in British Columbia, says her lawyer.

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Land acknowledgements are tedious political theatre and pompous virtue signalling and weaponizing social services to persecute those who refuse to adhere to this zealotry smacks of the Inquisition.

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For her sin, Yates was also banned from the school premises for two months.

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She is now at the centre of a legal battle which might have the advantage of declaring land acknowledgements as quasi-religious in nature and should therefore be banished from schools, city councils and other places where we don’t expect to be indoctrinated by those in authority.

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“Schools are supposed to be neutral public educators, they’re not supposed to be weighing in on political or sectarian matters,” said Lisa Bildy, the lawyer for Yates, in an interview with the National Post.

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“This has become a form of quasi-religious ritual now, at the beginning of all these performances, and not everybody agrees.”

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In December last year, Yates attended an evening drama class performance at Chatelech Secondary School in Sechelt, B.C. Yates had previously told school staff she opposed land acknowledgements because they did not help reconciliation. On this occasion, during the land acknowledgement she shouted “save us your race-baiting” before sitting down and remaining quiet.

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“Not having any success in challenging it through private channels, she decided she was going to protest the land acknowledgement during a drama performance at her daughter’s high school,” said Bildy.

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“She had her daughter give the teacher a heads up that this would be happening and that mom would sit quietly afterwards and not disrupt the performance, which is exactly what happened.”

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However, after the performance the principal contacted childcare services, said Bildy.

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In a letter to the school’s district superintendent, Bildy wrote, “The principal then took it upon herself to report the family to the Ministry of Children and Family Development, which sent staff to interview the two children still living at home, after which they immediately closed their file, finding nothing concerning.

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“Targeting this family with social services interventions because they do not share the current progressive orthodoxy over land acknowledgments is reprehensible. Ms. Yates and her family have rightly interpreted this action as threatening and intimidating, meant to wield the power of the state in order to silence their political and ideological dissent.”

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The principal banned Yates from the school for two months under sec. 177 of the School Act.

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A statement from the Sunshine Coast School District, which covers the school, said it could not comment on specific cases but in respect to calling childcare authorities said that the “District follows established protocols and legal obligations when concerns arise, and any actions taken under section 177 of the School Act are undertaken in accordance with those requirements.”