A group mounting a campaign to get anti-abortion candidates elected as MPs visited with Coquitlam high school students to enlist teenage supporters for door-knocking and other campaign activities.
But the school where RightNow co-founder and executive director Alissa Golob met with students was not a School District 43 public school, The Tri-City News has confirmed, nor was it Archbishop Carney Regional Secondary School, a Catholic school in Port Coquitlam.
RightNow has yet to confirm which private school Golob visited last week and where it obtained feedback forms from Grade 8 to 11 students who offered to make phone calls or to vote for an anti-abortion candidate.
On its Facebook page, RightNow said it had received “many” feedback forms after executive director Golob talked to students in Coquitlam.
And according to SD43 spokesperson Ken Hoff, the district has rules governing secular and non-sectarian principles around such an event, “which would guide decision making around an event such as this and when topics of this nature are discussed in our public schools.”
An Archbishop Carney vice-principal confirmed that RightNow was also not at the Port Coquitlam private school. But Jo-Anna Nicolato noted the school had received three calls from people asking if the recruiting meeting was held at Carney.
Coquitlam Teachers’ Association president Ken Christensen said he saw the RightNow post on social media and was relieved to know it wasn’t a public school that was involved.
“It populated my feed," he said. "I did a bit of digging. It’s not one of ours, which is a concern, if such things are promoted in public schools."
The Tri-City News reached out to Golob to find out what school she visited and how many students she recruited but has not yet heard back.
RightNow was the subject of protest last week when some members met at the Poirier branch of the Coquitlam Public Library to discuss strategy.
According to a report in the Catholic Register, Golob has been speaking to local churches about the RightNow campaign to mobilize voters in support of anti-abortion candidates.
Coquitlam-Port Coquitlam Conservative candidate Nicholas Insley and Nelly Shin, who is running to represent the Conservatives in Port Moody-Coquitlam, attended a Feb. 27 RightNow meeting at Westwood Community Church.
