Canadian free speech activist Lindsay Shepherd wrote a book based on her experience as a teaching assistant, when she was reprimanded for showing students clips of a lecture about pronouns and transgenderism. (Photo: vasiliki/Getty Images) Canadian author and columnist Lindsay Shepherd’s message to Americans is simple: Defend free speech or risk losing it. In 2017, Shepherd, then a teaching assistant at Wilfrid Laurier University in Ontario, Canada, played for her class a series of clips in which psychologist and author Jordan Peterson talked about personal pronouns and transgenderism. Afterward, Shepherd was called into a meeting with her supervisor and a representative from the college’s Diversity and Equity Office. She was accused of creating a toxic environment for students and threatened with punishment if she did something similar again.