A new banner in West Kelowna, questioning what children are being taught in school has been sparking outrage due to its message and the graphics on it.
The billboard, stationed along Highway 97 in West Kelowna, shows a cartoon woman, who appears to be a teacher, wearing a mask in front of a rainbow flag with a caption reading “What are your kids really learning in school?”
One advocate of the queer community was shocked to see the billboard, calling it ‘discriminating.’
“It’s promoting hate against the 2SLGBTQ, against educators who are supportive and trying to create safe spaces in schools, and discriminating against a whole community,” said Wilbur Turner, Chair of Advocacy Canada.
One of the Co-Organizers of Get Awake Canada, the group responsible for the billboard shared what the message means with Global News.
Part of the statement reads, “The billboard is about political and ideological indoctrination of children in Canadian Schools.”
In a phone call, the co-organizer asked to remain anonymous and said parents involved in this group are concerned that they are losing their rights to parent their own children, adding that they are trying to start a conversation about what kids are being taught in school.
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However, Turner says the billboard, is a targeted message directed at the queer community and that when it comes to children, it’s doing more harm than good.
“This targeting is really harmful to children, especially children who are trans or gender diverse and it sends a message to them that it’s not okay for them to be who they are,” said Turner. “They shouldn’t have to fight for their existence”
According to a Vancouver Criminal Lawyer, even though the billboard appears to target and offend a group of people, nothing about it violates the law, since there is no hate speech on the billboard itself or on the website, GetAwake.ca advertised on it.
“The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms protects people’s rights to free expression and even when somebody has a political opinion that’s distasteful they are entitled to express that opinion as long as they don’t verge into prohibited grounds such as hate speech,” said Kyla Lee, Lawyer at Acumen Law in Vancouver.
At this time, it is unknown how long the billboard will be up.