Comparing Alberta’s Proposed Sex-Ed Opt-In Policy with Other Regions

September 23, 2024 TruthUSA

Sex education has been a contentious issue in Canada for nearly a decade as school boards increasingly incorporate gender ideology into their curriculums.

The issue was brought to the forefront by Alberta’s plan to introduce legislation this fall to prevent children from learning about gender identity, sexual orientation, or human sexuality at school without parental consent.

If the legislation passes, Alberta will be the first province in the country to have an opt-in sex education and gender identity policy for schools.

While the specifics of how schools teach sexuality and gender identity varies by school board, many of the remaining provinces have policies in place allowing parents to either request lesson exemptions or an alternate method of learning for sex education.

Here’s a look at the provinces that allow opt-outs, those that do not, and what options are available to parents in each region.

Alberta

Sex education is currently a mandatory component of studies from Grade 4 to Grade 9 in Alberta, but parents have the right to exempt their child from instruction.

That opt-out format would change if Premier Danielle Smith’s legislation is approved. If made law, it would require parental approval for children to participate in any sex- or gender-related instruction.

“When it comes to classroom instruction on subject matter involving gender identity, sexual orientation or human sexuality, we will be requiring parental notification and an opt-in requirement for each instance a teacher intends to give formal instruction on these subjects,” Smith said in a video posted to social media earlier this year.

All Kindergarten to Grade 12 third-party teaching materials and presentations related to gender identity, sexual orientation, or human sexuality will also need to be pre-approved by the Ministry of Education “to ensure the materials are age-appropriate,” Smith said.

Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides told The Epoch Times the proposed changes are based on feedback that parents “want to be more involved and have more say in their child’s education, especially in respect to sexual education.”

Ontario

Ontario parents have the right to request exemption from sexual health instruction for their children, including the sexual orientation and gender identity teachings that were added to the province’s health curriculum by the Liberals in 2015.

The opt-out provision, which was added in 2019, is applicable to all students through Grade 8.

The policy requires school boards to develop a strategy that “allows for students to be exempted at the request of their parents” from gender identity teachings and other sex education-related topics without academic penalty.

The opt-out applies solely to instruction related to the Human Development and Sexual Health expectations in Ontario’s curriculum. That means students could potentially be instructed in gender ideology issues as part of other subjects.

A leaked email from the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (OCDSB) sent to staff last May showed that could be the case in the region’s 115 elementary schools.

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