WATCH ABOVE: Three teens watch and react to the new sex-education ad unveiled by the Ontario government.
TORONTO – Students at Ontario’s second largest school board won’t be exempt from learning about gender issues and gay families as part of the province’s newly revamped sex education curriculum, says Peel District School Board Director of Education Tony Pontes.
According to a speech delivered Wednesday morning at a staff rally in Brampton, Pontes said the board will not allow religious accommodation to be used as a reason for a student to miss lessons on inclusion and safety — although parents still have the right to keep his or her child home.
“Where the work in the classroom is about inclusion—whatever form that inclusion may take—any of the protected grounds in the Human Rights Code—we will not provide religious or any other accommodation,” said Pontes.
“Some have used this issue for their own purposes—raising fear, generating untruths and building constituencies of protest based on false information. I find that unconscionable.”
READ MORE: What Ontario’s new sex ed curriculum teaches in Grades 1 through 12
Many parents object to the updated curriculum, which is set to launch at the beginning of the school year, based on religious grounds.
Opponents argue that the new program, which will teach students about concepts including gender identity, sexual orientation and masturbation, does not mesh with their values and is inappropriate for school-age children.
Pontes says the board’s position may not be accepted by some parents and is willing to accept the consequences.
“Some in our community may not like this. They may choose to switch school systems in fact. If so, that is a price we must be willing to be pay,” said Pontes.
READ MORE: Education ministry releases sex ed ad, calls curriculum ‘dangerously out of date’
Recently, the Peel school board has put into action several initiatives to bolster its outlook on inclusiveness and gender equality.
The new Credit Valley Secondary School will have the board’s first gender neutral bathroom and a new Gender Identity and Gender Expression Guideline will also be rolling out.
Ontario hasn’t updated its Health and Physical Education curriculum since 1998 and the Wynne government argues that the changes are necessary to bring sexual education in line with other provinces.
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