Several organizations held a joint press conference Friday, Dec. 12 afternoon to demand further consultation on the updated sex education curriculum the Ontario Ministry of Education plans to implement next fall.
"We demand transparency," said Mirtha Coronel, a member of Citizens for Good Education, consisting of more than 200 multi-faith, multi-ethnic community groups, during the press conference held at North York Christian Community Church. "Take the fall 2015 implementation plan off the table."
The group asked the provincial government for "true consultation with parents" to be held rather than the online survey administered in November to be answered by about 4,000 parents – one from every elementary school across Ontario selected by the school principal or Parent Involvement Committee (PIC) chairs.
Citizens for Good Education members said that wasn’t sufficient and demanded the draft curriculum be made widely available immediately, both online and in print, so that all parents can read it at their own pace.
"Let’s do this properly and plan for 2016 instead," Coronel added.
In 2010, plans to update the curriculum were shelved by then-Liberal premier Dalton McGuinty when a similar controversy arose with religious and other interest groups arguing the updated sex education curriculum wasn’t age-appropriate for grade school students.
The revised curriculum then outlined teaching Grade 1 students about genitalia with the correct terminology such as penis and vagina, Grade 3 students about homosexuality, and Grade 7 students about how to prevent sexually transmitted diseases including HIV.
Rev. Dominic Tse of the Jubilee Centre for Christian Social Action noted one issue is that the curriculum assumes that talking about sex is value-neutral.
"It is not value-neutral. It has to with morals and values," said Tse, encouraging more guidance and discussion of values in an age-appropriate way.
"We’re not against revision," he added. "We just want in. We want participation."
In response to the press conference by Citizens of Good Education, Minister of Education Liz Sandals repeated that students need to have the best information possible to make informed decisions about their health and well-being.
"In our increasingly interconnected world, students often get information from unreliable and inaccurate sources. That is why an up-to-date, relevant and appropriate health and physical education curriculum is needed now more than ever," Sandals said in a statement.
She also reiterated that a parent in every elementary school across Ontario was given the opportunity to provide input.
"This means that we heard from parents with children in elementary schools across the province, and from all four of our publicly funded boards," she said. "The input we received from parents, along with expert advice and research, and extensive consultations with students, teachers, faculties of education, universities and colleges, including consultations conducted between 2007 and 2010, as well as input from other organizations and stakeholders, will assist the government as it finalizes the curriculum. We look forward to implementing an up-to-date curriculum in schools for the 2015-2016 school year."
The updated curriculum is expected to be available in the new year.
In the meantime, Citizens for Good Education started a province-wide petition campaign demanding transparency and an "honest, meaningful consultation process."
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