Sex in Canadian Classrooms

Sex in Canadian Classrooms

Jacob McMakin

     Two weeks ago, Canadian teachers in Ontario took the federal government of Canada to court over the rights educators are enfranchised with when teaching children about reproduction.  A large uproar came from parents after children where apparently learning about inappropriate topics in sex ed.  These include sexting, LGBTQ relationships, and gender assignment.  These lessons came from a sex ed bill passed in 2015, many conservatives calling it smut, while liberals vehemently praise it as educational.  With a new "snitch-line" that the Canadian government produced, parents' can now post anonymous complaints over there child's sexual curriculum.  When it first opened, it was flooded with over 1600 complaints coming mostly from religious and conservative groups.  Some have started to take a bold stance by calling for the government to revert to its 1998 bill.  Many liberals disparage this bill for being excessively modest, and not being applicable to todays new society.  With the use of iPhones and social media, the face of sex has changed, many not ready for this brave new world, while others feel its long over due.  Education over reproduction is human, but how it was taught was very discriminatory and bland.  More than anything, the previous bill didn't do enough to protect teachers from becoming targets, who when teaching such topics graze a very fine line.  With the new suit by teachers against the government, hopefully there will be more clear outlines of what, and how, sex should be taught. 

     This event feels very similar to the trails that took place during the late 19th and early 20th centuries that helped define the laws of separation of Church v. State in the states.  With many of the complaints coming from religious groups for the 2015 Canadian Sexual Education bill, its hard to define where education fits into region, visa versa.  Especially this parallels into the 1940 court case Cantwell v. Connecticut, that found the state guilty of letting political leaders determine the extent of religious values being put into affects as law. Similar to the way the Canadian government is deciding what should be taught. It important to hear everyone's views on the topics to make the most unbiased decision possible.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/teachers-challenge-ontario-over-sex-ed-curriculum-snitch-line-1.4246529