Go Canada

P.Z. Myers of Pharyngula has a disturbing post today about the plight of Colleen Leduc who is nowt under investigation for the sexual abuse her own daughter, Victoria, who is autistic. But the disturbing part is that the allegation comes from the educational assistant that helps Victoria at school and she (the assistant) was told about the supposed abuse from a psychic.

From City News:

"The teacher looked and me and said: 'We have to tell you something. The educational assistant who works with Victoria went to see a psychic last night, and the psychic asked the educational assistant at that particular time if she works with a little girl by the name of "V." And she said 'yes, I do.' And she said, 'well, you need to know that that child is being sexually abused by a man between the ages of 23 and 26.'"

Leduc was shaken by the idea. "It's actually your worst nightmare your child being violated," she admits. "So for them to even suggest that, and that be my worst nightmare, it was horrific."

But things got worse when school officials used the "evidence" and accepted the completely unsubstantiated word of the seer by reporting the case to Children's Aid, which promptly opened a file on the family.

"They reported me to Children's Aid," Leduc declares, still disbelieving. "Based on a psychic!"

The mom, who is divorced and has a new fiancé, adamantly denied the charges, noting her daughter was never exposed to anyone of that age. And fortunately she had proof. The mother was long dissatisfied with the treatment her daughter had received at the school, after they had allegedly lost her on several occasions.

As a result, the already cash strapped mom had spent a considerable sum of money to not only have her child equipped with a GPS unit, but one that provided audio records of everything that was going on around her.

So she had non-stop taped proof that nothing untoward had ever happened to her daughter, and was aghast that the situation had gone this far. But under the Child and Family Services Act, anyone who works with children and has reasonable grounds to suspect a youngster is being harmed, must report it immediately - and the CAS has an obligation to follow up.

And so a case worker came to the Leduc home to discuss the allegations of sexual misconduct, only to admit there wasn't a shred of evidence that anything had ever happened at all. They labelled Leduc a "diligent" mother doing the best she could for her child under difficult circumstances, closed the file and left, calling the report "ridiculous."

And certain folks love to tell me that there's no harm in people believing in psychics. It makes me wonder how many incidents there are of people doing stupid, if less dramatic, things after consulting a psychic. That assistant's ass ought to be in a sling; fired with a big red mark on her record saying that she has no critical thinking skills and is grossly incompetent. Luckily the Canadian authorities seem to recognize the assistant is a fool and are trying to rectify things.

Kudos also must go to the Canadian government for a proposed bill, C-51, which would regulate "herbal supplements" more strictly. This has prompted an outcry of hyperbole and lies from "alternative medicine" supporters. There's even a website called StopC51 which portrays itself as a grassroots movement in opposition to the bill.

Instead it is pure astroturf and a front for Truehope Nutritional Support Ltd, an online purveyor of supplements. Only if we had such a front group here in America. It would mean that there was actually a bill before Congress to make herbal supplement makers prove the safety and efficacy of their products. Of course, no politician has the guts to actually take on the herbal supplement industry. Plus folks like many of the shoppers at Community Pharmacy and the Willy Street Coop here in Madison would no doubt be very vocal in crying foul and seeing a Big Pharma conspiracy as they look the other way while another large and very profitable industry pawns off pills which have no more effect than placebo and are potentially dangerous.

EDIT: Here's more from a Canadian paper.