This is a follow up and update to my article on the August 1-15, 2018 issue of Balita, on the Liberal sex-ed curriculum.
The Canadian pro-life and pro-family group Campaign Life Coalition slammed Ontario’s elementary teachers union as “elitist” over its court action to keep in place a radical sex ed curriculum. Campaign Life Coalition called on Ontario Premier Doug Ford to crack down on the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) for “usurping parental rights” in its effort to block the Ford government from repealing the curriculum.

The pro-life group also urged Ford to scrap the Ontario Human Rights Commission, alleging it is a politicized “kangaroo court,” and to invoke the Charter’s “notwithstanding clause” if the courts rule against him. The ETFO announced Tuesday September 4, 2018 — the first day of school — it was seeking an injunction to block repeal of the Liberal 2015 sex-ed program, as well as to shut down a new website the government set up allowing concerned parents to report concerns about teachers refusing to implement the less radical, interim sex ed program.

The ETFO is also launching a human rights complaint against the sex-ed repeal, the Toronto Star reported.
“ETFO believes that the government’s actions are an abuse of power and are in direct conflict with teachers’ professional obligations, enshrined within the Education Act,” ETFO president Sam Hammond declared.

Moreover, the Ford government’s sex-ed repeal violates Ontario College of Teachers standards of practice, and is “in conflict with the Human Rights Code, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the professional obligations of teachers,” Hammond said. But Campaign Life Coalition (CLC) countered in a Tuesday statement the union is elitist and overlooking what parents really want.

It pointed out an Ipsos poll commissioned by Global News released that day showed a “strong majority” of Ontarians — 51 percent — support Ford’s decision to repeal the Liberal sex-ed curriculum.
“The ETFO’s tone-deafness and belligerence towards ordinary, everyday parents is an example of precisely why the Ford PC’s won such an overwhelming mandate,” said Jim Hughes, CLC national president.

“Here are union elites smugly dictating to parents what their children must believe in delicate matters of sexuality and morality, things that fall entirely within the realm of fundamental rights of parents,” he added.

CLC vice president Jeff Gunnarson echoed this. “We urge Premier Ford to draw the battle line,” he said. “Make a public announcement that he won’t allow parental rights to be usurped by union elites.”

If the courts ruled against the Progressive Conservative government, Ford should invoke the Charter’s notwithstanding clause, Gunnarson said. “Quebec has invoked Section 33 in the past to ignore court rulings it didn’t agree with. Ford should do the same,” he said. “Make it clear that if liberal judges are planning to play politics, their meddling will likewise be ignored, so don’t even try.”

Gunnarson also called on Ford “to implement a past campaign promise from former PC Leadership candidate, MPP Randy Hillier so as to prevent the misuse of the Ontario Human Rights Commission as a political tool for the purpose of stopping the repeal.” Both Hillier and Tim Hudak vowed in the 2009 PC Party leadership race they would nix the human rights commission and punt discrimination cases over to the courts.

“The OHRC ceased long ago being a defender of genuine human rights. It now serves primarily to advance liberal ideology, which in fact, replaces real human rights with fake ones,” said Gunnarson. “Premier Ford should abolish the kangaroo court known as the Ontario Human Rights Commission, stacked as it is with radical LGBTTIQ activists, far-left feminists and Marxist ideologues. Hillier had the correct idea then.”

Ford’s government is facing ongoing vociferous opposition, including from the official opposition NDP, to repealing the sex-ed curriculum that Kathleen Wynne’s Liberal government rolled out in 2015 in the face of unprecedented parental backlash.

Campaign Life says the Liberal sex-ed curriculum destroys children’s innocence by exposing them to sexual concepts at too early an age. It introduces homosexuality in Grade 3, masturbation in Grade 6, oral and anal sex in Grade 7, and teaches there are six genders rather than two biological sexes.

The Tories have directed schools to use the 1998 sex-ed curriculum while they set up wide consultations on revisions. As well as the ETFO, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association has launched a court challenge to stop the repeal, and six families announced last month they are filing a human rights complaint, with an 11-year-old transgender “girl” as the lead applicant. CLC is urging concerned Ontarians to contact their MPPs in support of Ford’s repeal of the Liberal sex-ed curriculum.