The media has reported immensely on politicians’ reactions to the current Ontario government’s decision to repeal the 2015 sex education curriculum. Since Premier Doug Ford took office, there has been endless debate at Queen’s Park on how this repeal might affect Ontario students.
Some things are certain. The updated 2015 health and physical education curriculum has been repealed by Ford’s Progressive Conservative government. It will likely be replaced by an older version, at least temporarily.
Opposition to this decision has been led by the other major political parties in Ontario, along with educators, scholars, and various organizations. There have been numerous articles on politicians’ and larger organizations’ reactions to the repeal.
The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) has been one of the leading opponents of the curriculum repeal, and said it fully supports the rights of educators to teach the 2015 curriculum.
With so much confusion and misinformation, how can Ontario create an empowering and engaging conversation surrounding sex education?
Rather than focusing on the partisan debates occurring at Queen’s Park, we should be talking about how the government and media can assist in increasing civic, social, and political participation surrounding sex education in Ontario.
The government must first acknowledge its role in failing to provide up-to-date sex education for Ontario students. This conversation must also include the previous Liberal government, which withdrew from passing the curriculum in 2010 after pressure from social conservative groups.
A few weeks ago, over 20 organizations in LGBTQ+ advocacy, community and sexual health, and other relevant areas, wrote an open letter to Thompson and Ford. These groups included LGBTQ+ Youth Line, the Canadian Indigenous Nurses Association, and the Ten Oaks Project. Instead of hearing from these organizations, the conversation has focused too much on the politics occuring at Queen’s, turning this into a hyper-partisan and polarizing issue. However, individuals from across a multi-partisan spectrum, including some conservatives, are against the repeal.
Instead of the media covering the sex education repeal from a partisan viewpoint, Ontario citizens must hear how over 140 organizations and 700 students consulted for the 2015 curriculum are affected by this repeal.
Global News recently ran a story covering 14-year-old Rae Perry, a transgender student who expressed concerns about the 1998 curriculum, which ignores topics such as gender identity. Perry said he fears the curriculum change will cause ignorance of LGBTQ+ issues to spread, making it more difficult for LGBTQ+ youth to feel comfortable at school. The media must continue to provide a larger platform for Ontarians to hear from these students and organizations, who are directly affected by this repeal.
When Ontario students return to school in September, the sex education curriculum might be different. But, as the 2015 sex-ed curriculum states: “Schools and communities can be powerful allies in motivating students to achieve their potential and lead healthy, active lives.”
Those with power must be supportive allies, accept responsibility towards previous failures, and provide a non-partisan landscape for students to engage with sexual education.
We can do better—we must do better.
