Angry in the Great White North

For the purposes of full disclosure, let me say that I think psychics are peddling snake oil.  Whether they are doing it deliberately or whether they have managed to convince themselves that they are honestly gifted with precognition or the ability to view at a distance or any of that hogwash, the fact remains that it is nonsense.  No scientifically rigorous test has revealed even an inkling of legitimacy.

And if I might cast the gaze of my third eye to pierce the veil that hides the future from the rest of you, I predict no test ever will.

Having said that, this story is all the more shocking.  In Barrie, a psychic told a teacher that a child with a name that started with a "V" was being sexually abused.

Before you could say "Amazing Kreskin", the mother of an autistic little girl was confronted with allegations that her daughter was being molested:

On May 30, [Colleen Leduc] picked Victoria [11-year-old girl who is autistic and non-verbal] up from school, where she's enrolled in an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) class with several boys around the same age. When Leduc returned home, there was an urgent call asking her to return to the Livingstone Street East school.

Frightened, Leduc rushed back to the school. She and Victoria entered a room where they were met by the principal, the vice-principal and the teacher.

Leduc said they advised her that Victoria's educational assistant (EA) had visited a psychic, who said a youngster whose name started with "V" was being sexually abused by a man between 23 and 26 years old. Leduc was also handed a list of recent behaviours exhibited by her daughter.

Does this teacher routinely consult psychics in the hope that his Ouija Board will reveal the next family to be terrorized?

But what is almost amusing about all this is that the school admitted to the Colleen Leduc that the information was delivered via a psychic reading!  Did they really expect that Leduc, when told that the information was psychic in origin, would give the allegation more credence?

I wonder if they told Leduc right away about the allegation, or if they opened the conversation with a question like, "Is there a man who has access to your daughter, between the age of 23 and 26?  What is his name and where does he live?"

You know, get the name of perpetrator out there in the open, before revealing that the Magic 8-Ball was making the accusation.

Thankfully, Colleen Leduc is no fool:

But Leduc said information gleaned from a psychic shouldn't be the impetus for the board to launch a CAS investigation.

"First of all, what were they doing taking a psychic's word? Then they correlated that with (Victoria's) behaviour to design a theory," Leduc said.

And indeed an investigation was launched.  Based on the psychic's prognostications, and without first checking with Colleen Leduc, the school decided that the information was solid enough to call in the authorities:

School principal Brian Tremain -- who referred phone calls seeking comment to the board -- advised Leduc that the CAS had been contacted.

"That's when I got sick to my stomach," she said. "I was shocked the whole meeting."

Once the Children's Aid Society was involved, I bet Leduc's life became a nightmare.  According to the school board, the suspicion lingers, even as Leduc is demanding an apology:

The mother of an autistic girl says the public school board was "completely unprofessional" to formulate a theory that her daughter was being sexually abused based on a psychic's perception.

Barrie resident Colleen Leduc wants an apology from the Simcoe County District School Board, which called in the Children's Aid Society (CAS) to investigate.

According to the board, the case is still under investigation, although Leduc says it was closed.

Here are some predictions:

• The principal will not suffer any repercussions.
• The teacher will not suffer any repercussions.
• The psychic's identity will never be revealed.
• Colleen Leduc will not get any help from the school board in placing Victoria in another program.
• The phrase "For Entertainment Only" will remain on the shingle of every palm reader, tarot card reader, and psychic, a warning that didn't protect Colleen Leduc.

[Big roundup at I Speak of Dreams]