Families launch rights case around sex ed
Say repeal of 2015 curriculum discriminatory
TORONTO — The Ontario government is discriminating against LGBTQ students by repealing a modernized sex-education curriculum that gave teachers and children the tools needed for an inclusive classroom experience, parents and lawyers said Thursday as they announced plans to launch a human rights case over the issue.
The Progressive Conservatives are replacing the curriculum with a version developed in 1998 while they carry out consultations for a new lesson plan. The move, announced soon after Premier Doug Ford took power in June, was the fulfilment of a hot-button election campaign promise.
Six families plan to file a case with the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario in the next week, noting that the old version of the curriculum makes no mention of issues such as gender diversity or the rights of LGBTQ students.
The government’s decision to repeal the modernized curriculum violates the province’s human rights code and should be declared unlawful, their lawyers said.
“That’s going to have a huge impact on, particularly, LGBTQ students,” said Mika Imai, one of the two lawyers shepherding the case through the tribunal process.
“We see that as discriminatory and contrary to the (human rights) code.”
The lead applicant in the case is an 11-year-old transgender student due to start Grade 6 in September. Submissions from parents and other students will also be included.
Imai said the province’s modernized curriculum, implemented by the then-Liberal government in 2015, made a noticeable difference for students.
Lawyers said that although issues around gender expression did not surface in the curriculum until Grade 3 and were not directly discussed until Grade 8, the mere fact that they were present sent a concrete message of acceptance to LGBTQ students of all ages and instilled greater empathy in their peers.
The curriculum also gave teachers tools to answer questions, guide discussions, and otherwise provide support when issues related to gender or sexuality arose, Imai said.
Parents noticed an immediate difference in their kids when the modernized curriculum, which also tackled issues such as sexual consent and cyberbullying, came into effect, Imai said.
“Before this curriculum came in place, their kids were getting bullied, no one knew what to make of them,” she said. “There was a real sea change when the 2015 curriculum came into place. Suddenly these conversations had to happen.”
Jake Somerville, a parent from Guelph, Ont., credits the 2015 curriculum for making his daughter’s gender transition almost “seamless.”
“All the other children had questions right away, so (teachers) pulled out some children’s literature that would address my daughter’s transition,” he said.
“It was great because we found immediately that the children understood what was going on and no longer had really serious questions. They kind of became instant allies to her.”
Education Minister Lisa Thompson did not directly comment on the pending human rights case, which Imai said she hopes to expedite in order to have it heard before the school year begins.
But Thompson defended the old curriculum as adequate to prepare students for “the realities of today” and said the government’s parental consultation process will allow anyone with concerns to weigh in.
The families behind the human rights challenge are the latest to speak out against the Tories’ decision to revert to the 1998 curriculum.
More than two dozen school boards in the province have expressed concerns about the government’s plan, with some saying teachers will continue to discuss the issues included in the modernized curriculum in their classrooms.