Anti-SOGI protests banned near B.C. schools

Police can ticket or arrest people

A new law will allow police to arrest or ticket anyone impeding access, disrupting educational activities or attempting to intimidate anyone within 20 metres of public school grounds in B.C.

On Wednesday, B.C. Premier David Eby said the legislation was aimed at preventing disruptive behaviour, including aggressive protests, on school grounds.

“While everyone has a right to freedom of expression, disrupting or scaring kids while they're learning in schools should be, and soon will be, illegal,” said Eby.

“During the pandemic, when hospitals and health-care workers became the target of anti-vaccine protests, we took action so doctors and nurses could get to work and patients could access care.

“As schools increasingly become the target, we're taking similar action to ensure classrooms are safe for kids.”

In 2016, the provincial government introduced a school program called sexual orientation and gender identity that provides resources on these two topics at schools.

WIDELY EMBRACED

While widely embraced, the SOGI program has also angered some parents who are religiously opposed or who argue it could encourage children to change genders.

This in turn has led to protests outside schools and at school board meetings.

As recently as last September there were duelling clashes in Vancouver and Victoria between those in favour of SOGI and those opposed, leading to three arrests.

In those cases, the protests were held in downtown Vancouver and in front of Parliament House.

However, there have also been protests at schools.

Eby said there had been 18 major displays of protest at B.C. schools since the start of the 2023 school year, all aimed at SOGI. Of those, 10 were at elementary schools.

Eby said that in October there was extensive disruption at some schools in West Vancouver and North Vancouver that led to parents calling on the government to provide a protest bubble zone around schools.

Asked about the proposed bubble zones during an unrelated press conference in the legislature Wednesday, B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad said “people have a right to be able to protest, but they do not have a right to be able to interfere with people's lives and don't have a right to be able to spread hate.”

However, he said it's “curious” that the B.C. NDP government “seems to be focused on parents who are concerned about their children in schools.”

Rustad said if he becomes premier in the next election, he would do away with sexual orientation and gender identity policies in schools.