Press Release: Niagara Pride and St. Catharines Mayor Pressure Private Advertiser to Remove Child-Protection Billboards
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 6, 2025
ST. CATHARINES, ON – A series of billboards urging that children be protected from harmful, irreversible medical interventions were taken down today from the side of the QEW near the Garden City Skyway after Pride Niagara pressured the Mayor of St. Catharines to intervene.
Mayor Mat Siscoe contacted Vann Advertising, the company contracted to host the signs, following activist demands. Under mounting political pressure from activists and Mayor Siscoe, Vann Advertising decided to terminate the campaign only days into its twelve-week run.
The billboards’ simple message—opposing medical transitions for minors—reflects growing concern from medical experts and parents about the serious, lifelong consequences of these procedures. The ads are part of a national campaign hosted at LetKidsBe.ca and were funded entirely through donations from three local ARPA Canada grassroots chapters in Southern Ontario.
Mayor Siscoe’s actions follow just weeks after the Mayor of Hamilton, Andrea Horwath, ordered the same billboard to be taken from a billboard that stood on city property. ARPA is taking Hamilton to court over Mayor Horwath’s move.
“What is particularly troubling about Mayor Siscoe’s actions is that it shows that even billboards on private property are not safe from political censorship,” ARPA Canada’s Executive Director Mike Schouten commented. “The City isn’t even responsible for the property these billboards are located on, yet Mayor Siscoe still went out of his way to stop people from sharing this important message.”
“This campaign is about protecting vulnerable children,” Mike Schouten said. “The decision to silence this message under pressure from activists and political leaders is deeply concerning. Instead of shutting down dialogue, we should be engaging with the evidence and listening to those who have been harmed by these interventions.”
The Let Kids Be campaign is rooted in compassion for children experiencing gender distress, calling for counselling and supportive care—not hormones or surgeries—as the safest and most responsible approach.
For more information about the campaign, visit LetKidsBe.ca
-30-
For media inquiries, please contact:
Mike Schouten
[email protected]
Tel. (778) 321-2457
