Lindsay Shepherd

Lindsay Shepherd (born December 7, 1994) is a Canadian columnist who is a regular contributor to the True North Centre for Public Policy, a conservative media outlet. She received national attention in 2017 for her involvement, as a graduate student and teaching assistant, in an academic freedom dispute at Wilfrid Laurier University (WLU) in Waterloo, Ontario.

In November 2017, Shepherd played her communications class two clips of a debate, formerly aired on Canadian public broadcaster TVOntario, with psychologist Jordan Peterson on Bill C-16, which added "gender identity or expression" as a prohibited ground for discrimination to the Canadian Human Rights Act and as an identifiable group to the Criminal Code. After one student approached a campus LGBTQ support group to express concern about the clips, they contacted the University's acting manager of gender violence prevention, and Shepherd's supervisor requested that she attend a meeting the following day with him, a support group staffer, and the head of Shepherd's academic program. Without detailing the nature of the complaint or complaints, Shepherd was accused of having created a "toxic climate for some of the students" by playing the clips and adopting a neutral stance between the positions.

An independent fact-finder hired by the university reported that the meeting should not have taken place, that "no formal complaint, nor informal concern relative to a Laurier policy" had been registered, and that Shepherd had done nothing wrong by showing the clips. In June 2018 Shepherd filed a lawsuit against the university, the two professors, the third staff member and a student, alleging "harassment, intentional infliction of nervous shock, negligence, and constructive dismissal". Peterson also filed a lawsuit, for defamation, against the university and the staff members in the meeting. Both lawsuits were dismissed in 2024.

Shepherd is a board member of the Conservative Party of British Columbia. She was a communications officer with the party until October 1, 2025, when she was fired due to comments she had made on X (Twitter) against the provincial government's display of symbols related to the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

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