Trustees condemn anti-COVID vaccine protests in Salmon Arm schools

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Anti-COVID measures protesters who barged into Salmon Arm schools Friday are receiving broad condemnation from elected officials, including the head of the BC School Trustees Association.

Multiple schools in the area were forced to go into a hold and secure, with students and staff locked in classrooms, as adults made their way into the building to protest to protest vaccine clinics in schools.

“Pretty disappointed to hear that the safety of staff and students was compromised by people with I think a misdirected desire to speak to the people who are making these decisions. That’s not our school principals or teachers,” trustee association president Stephanie Higgins said.

“Keeping the school safe is part of their job description, but having to deal with this kind of demonstration around topics that are not their area of expertise puts them in a very difficult position.”

.@BCSTA_News prez Stephanie Higgins (@BCSTA_President) calls anti-COVID vaccine clinic protests inside Salmon Arm schools on Friday "colossally disappointing and it's not a good look for humanity."
Full story: https://t.co/jL3RkiBq1T

— Lasia Kretzel (@rhymeswpretzel) September 18, 2021

Higgins says earlier last week, Salmon Arm Supt. Donna Kriger met with people opposed to COVID-19 vaccination clinics in schools to address their concerns.

“(She) had met with them for approximately two hours earlier in the week to hear their concerns,” she said. “On the vaccine clinics that are currently happening, I think it’s really important that the public remember that vaccine clinics have been happening in schools for years this is not simply just related to COVID.”

Despite protests in schools relatively rare, they are not unheard of. Higgins points to when the LGBTQ+ inclusive curriculum SOGI 123 was being introduced and people would sneak into schools to video tape sexual education classes and hand out pamphlets opposed to the program.

“But it’s still just as inexcusable every time it happens,” she said. “It’s just really colossally disappointing and it’s not a good look for humanity.”

On Friday, Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth held nothing back in his criticism of the protesters.

“This is just a complete and utter disgrace,” he said. “The word ‘covidiot’ doesn’t even begin to describe how inappropriate the actions of these whack jobs are. It’s unacceptable in the extreme.”

The protests follow similar demonstrators outside hospitals across B.C. Protesters slowed ambulances and forced patients to walk for blocks and wade through crowds to get to their appointments.

Related articles:

• Anti-vaccine protesters enter Salmon Arm schools, triggering ‘hold and secure’
• Anti-vaccine protest outside Abbotsford school prompts mother’s concerns
• Anti-vaccine protests and kids: How messaging can impact child psychology

As of Friday, 78.9 per cent of eligible British Columbians are fully vaccinated, while in Salmon Arm, only 68 per cent have received both doses. There were 103 cases in Salmon Arm alone between Sept. 5 and Sept. 11, and the rate of infection is more than 20 per 100,000.

Despite the protests, Higgins says she is reluctant to ask governments to create so-called ‘bubble zones’ where people cannot protest within a certain area around schools.

“I always try not to make you know broad based decisions that would impact every school site based on the, you know, a very small number of incidents… At this point in time, it has not been something that’s been necessary,” she said, adding she would prefer to use this as an opportunity to educate the protesters and ease their concerns.

However, she says anyone who protests inside a school could be subject to trespassing laws, especially if they have been told they must leave school property.

Salmon RCMP said they were not called to any schools on Friday.