"Extremely alarming": Billboard along BC highway sparks outrage

Organizers behind a new billboard say its intention is to encourage conversation about BC students’ education; however, it is being criticized for amplifying harmful misinformation. 

Get Awake is the organization behind the sign hung earlier this month along Highway 97 in Kelowna. 

The sign reads, “What are your kids REALLY learning in school?” and includes a photo of a cartoon which appears to be a teacher wearing a face mask in front of a 2SLGBTQ+ flag. 

In a statement, Get Awake explains there are several meanings to the sign including claims that people who disagree with “radical and harmful agenda being pushed on kids” are being bullied.

Wilbur Turner, the chair of Advocacy Canada, told Daily Hive that the poster suggests 2SLGBTQ+ students “shouldn’t be visible” and impacts young people’s mental health and well-being. 

“The harm it creates is it tells these kids that they’re not okay to be who they are,” he said. “Growing up in the world we have today, it’s already hard for them. And some of them don’t have support from their families… So any kind of refuge that they would find by teachers having these kinds of resources to support them is incredibly important.

“The fact that these organizations like the people behind this billboard are trying to get them taken out of schools is extremely alarming.”

We've had a small victory after pointing out this violates sections of the Ad Standards Council. Some of the false information has been removed from the website and content has been updated. We're not finished yet with out efforts to #banthebillboard as its still harmful #Kelowna pic.twitter.com/T9IaTa5Qbv

— Wilbur Turner 🇺🇦🇨🇦🌈 (@62Takes) February 12, 2023

According to the organizer’s website, the sign was funded through donations and received just over $2,200. 

Turner said advocates were aware the billboard was going up since they knew the organization was collecting donations for the signage. However, when he saw it he still had questions as to “why people… are so obsessed with trying to come after the queer community or 2SLGBTQ kids or educators who are trying to support them in the education system?”

In the statement provided to Daily Hive, Get Awake added, “We support all individuals right to be whoever they like. Love who you want. Identify as your true self. What ever makes you feel good, as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone else.”

However, there are suggestions that the website only added that language following pushback from advocates

After us flagging that the Kelowna billboard contravened ad standards the website was updated with a “Love who you want” message, “as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone else.” Either ignorant to the harm they’re causing to youth or they don’t care. pic.twitter.com/NDHxfCMuJY

— Wilbur Turner 🇺🇦🇨🇦🌈 (@62Takes) February 13, 2023

Turner is encouraging parents to find “factual information” regarding their children’s education and is urging the public to “stand up against this harmful propaganda.”

“We don’t need to have this kind of rhetoric in the public domain that’s harmful to our kids,” he said. 

Advocacy Canada has created a petition for the removal of the billboard.

Vancouver Criminal Lawyer Kyla Lee describes the billboard as “abhorrent” but said it’s not unlawful signage.

“The billboard is protected expression under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which functions to protect free expression even where it is distasteful,” she explained. “The billboard appears to be carefully worded to also not engage in discrimination but instead to suggest people think critically about what is being taught in school.”

“So there is nothing that clearly amounts to a human rights violation on the billboard itself either.”

For this billboard to be considered hate speech, Lee said it would have to promote hatred of a person or “advocate for a breach of the peace or violence.” 

The provincial and the federal governments are looking into ways billboards like Get Awake are harmful and can be considered “hate speech,” Lee added.