City
Lauren O'Neil
Posted on September 21, 2018
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sex-ed walkout ontario

Toronto students stage mass walkout over sex-ed curriculum

City
Lauren O'Neil
Posted on September 21, 2018
Report Inaccuracy
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As many as 40,000 Ontario high school students are cutting class on Friday afternoon to protest the province's reintroduction of sex-ed lessons from 1998.

They may not be old enough to vote, but they want to make it known that they don't consent to the PC government's education policies — which is fair, given that they're the ones most impacted.

"Doug Ford has taken away our sex education, our LGBTQ+ education, and our Indigenous education," reads an event listing for the planned demonstrations.

"He has put hundreds of thousands of students in jeopardy and ignored the advisory of hundreds of experts, teachers, unions, and school boards," it continues.

"Many groups have shown their opposition for these actions, but now it's time for the students of Ontario to show Ford that we do not consent."

More than 100 schools are participating in the protest, according to organizers, in an effort to reinstate both the indigenous curriculum and more modern sex-ed lessons introduced by the Liberal government in 2015.

At present, teachers are mandated to use a version of Ontario's sex-ed curriculum from 20 years ago — written before iPhones, Facebook and legal same-sex marriages even existed in Canada.

Students, parents and teachers alike have spoken out against the move, calling the government's decision irresponsible, discriminatory and reckless.

"The Ford government has thrown the system into uncertainty," said Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario president Sam Hammond at a press conference on the first day of school this year.

"The actions of the government to rescind the 2015 curriculum undermines the very safety and well-being of Ontario students and families."

The EFTO, one of several bodies that have sued Ontario since Ford took the helm in late June, is still seeking an an injunction to keep the 2015 curriculum in place and squash the PC government's anonymous reporting line for teachers who won't return to the older curriculum.

Today's protests, organized by the student-led groups March for Our Education and Decolonize Schools, are taking place between 1 and 3 p.m.

Participants are encouraged to use the hashtag #WeTheStudentsDoNotConsent and wear purple.

The students appear to have mobilized through social media and the use of Google Docs, where instructions and information are being shared between protest organizers.

It's not only high school students participating, either. Footage from active protests are coming in from elementary schools as well. The curriculum affects students from Grades 1 to 12.

Same goes for Ontario universities.

Some school administrators have reportedly discouraged students from participating, but on the whole, adults seem very supportive of what these young Ontarians are doing.

The yutes, ladies and gentlemen. They're pretty cool.

Lead photo by

Stephanie Donaldson
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