Consent at heart of sex education
Students’ sexual health, safety a critical issue
Students with a clear understanding of consent are better able both to make decisions about sexual activity and identify sexual assault and abuse when it happens to them. – Cristina Stasia
Addressing gaps in Alberta Education curriculum revisions is the raison d’être of Accessing Information not Myths (AIM), a group of community stakeholders.
Since April, AIM’s focus has been on the lack of requirement in the Edmonton public school board’s wellness policy for medically accurate, comprehensive, LGBT2S (lesbian, gay, bi, trans, two-spirit) consent-based sexual health education.
On July 11, the Edmonton board responded to media reports on the human rights complaint filed by the Dawson family by temporarily suspending the Pregnancy Care Centre’s access to its classrooms. EPSB has indicated it doesn’t want to foster divisive discussion on this issue, but rather to seek input from parents and other interested parties on a way forward.
Unfortunately, this only comes after AIM board members twice presented to EPSB, most recently at the final reading of the “revised” policy on June 17. In an effort to present them with a way forward, AIM asked then that EPSB policy be expanded to ensure the complete wellness of students. AIM asked that the wellness policy include five clear parameters:
1) Information presented must be medically accurate and evidence-based.
2) It must be inclusive of LGBT2S sexuality.
3) It must include the teaching of the meaning of sexual consent.
4) Parents must be provided with a consent form that specifies who will be teaching sexual health to their children.
5) Organizations that provide sexual education must provide judgment-free, agenda-free comprehensive sexual education.
EPSB responded by revising the policy to “encourage teachers to refer to Canadian Guidelines for Sexual Health Education.” We require stronger language than “encourage” to ensure that groups that promote an anti-choice, anti-queer agenda are restricted from teaching medically inaccurate information to students. We asked — and during this time of the EPSB seeking feedback, continue to ask — that “encourage” be changed to “required.”
We are not alone in this request. AIM also submitted letters of support for our five parameters from a diverse range of community stakeholders, concerned citizens and parents, including: numerous pediatricians and pediatric infectious disease specialists; MLAs including Raj Sherman and Laurie Blakeman; the YWCA; Sexual Assault Voices of Edmonton; the Gender and Sexual Diversity Centre at the University of Alberta; the Universalist Muslims; and professors with expertise in this area. We continue to receive letters of support from community service providers, politicians, parents and others. It is incumbent on the EPSB not to ignore these voices.
One critical aspect we want to underscore is the teaching of sexual consent. Teaching sex ed without teaching consent is like teaching driver’s education without teaching what green and red lights mean.
Students with a clear understanding of consent are better able both to make decisions about sexual activity and identify sexual assault and abuse when it happens to them. It is critical that the EPSB act to ensure public schools are the place where students are given accurate information about the meaning of sexual consent.
Edmonton public school board has a significant opportunity to continue to be a leader in Canada when it comes to ensuring students’ health and safety, including sexual health and decision making.
We hope they take it. And we will continue to work to ensure Alberta Education follows their lead.