Greater Toronto Catholic Parent Network

I trust many of you are aware of Premier Dalton McGuinty’s plans to undermine

and dissolve traditional standards in Ontario’s school system. See also our August

website articles.

By Patrick B. Craine

government’s equity and inclusive education strategy “represents a violation of parental

rights and religious freedom,” according to a trustee candidate for the York Region

District School Board who is demanding the strategy be repealed. At the same time, a

Catholic trustee in the Toronto Catholic District School Board says he believes the

Allan Tam, a public school board candidate from Markham running in the

the government’s “equity” agenda in a press release earlier this week. He says the “overreaching”

Ministry of Education is “abusing its power by imposing a homosexualized

curriculum in the name of equity and inclusivity.”

“It will lead to children being taught that homosexual unions are the moral

equivalent of heterosexual marriage,” he warned, saying this “is something that the

majority of parents do not want.”

The strategy, which was launched by McGuinty’s government in April 2009,

requires every school board in the province to develop an equity policy by this month that

outlines their commitment to inclusion based on the grounds listed in the Ontario Human

Rights Code, including “sexual orientation.” The boards are then expected to revise all

policies and practices to align with this commitment to “equity.”

Critics point out that the Ministry’s documents recommend, for example, that

homosexual clubs such as gay-straight alliances.

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Tam says that the controversial new sex-ed curriculum pulled by McGuinty’s

government in April, which had eight-year-olds learning about “sexual orientation” and

twelve-year-olds discussing oral and anal intercourse, was simply one component of the

broader equity strategy. This strategy, he says, is “aimed at promoting a new sexual

revolution via the classroom.”

Tam believes that the government’s “unjust power grab” springs from a 1997

change to the school funding formula, known as Bill 160, that made it so that all school

funds are now dispensed by the province.

“This method of funding allocation has had the unfortunate consequence of

making it easy for the provincial government to take into their own hands, the authority

to make educational policies,” he says.

John Del Grande, a trustee for the Toronto Catholic board running for election,

says he believes the strategy seeks to “erode Catholic teaching” in the separate schools.

“I think we as Catholics and school trustees need to be more cautious with these

documents because we got burned the last time,” he said, referring to the recently-pulled

sex-ed curriculum. “Although we got on board later, we should have been the ones

raising the flags upfront.”

Del Grande said he is concerned that the Ministry is using the strategy to promote

openness to homosexuality in the schools, noting that it began under former Education

Minister Kathleen Wynne, an open lesbian. “My understanding is that it is driving the

homosexual agenda into our schools and through our children,” he said.

“This document is really about putting the government’s spin on [equity] and

limiting us later,” he added. “It’s almost anti-Christian and anti-Catholic. I’m sure that’s

where this came from.”

Many Catholics have rebuffed criticism against the strategy by emphasizing the

fact that it includes lines indicating it should be implemented with respect to the

denominational rights of the Catholic schools.

“I think we’ve been fooled by this before,” said Del Grande, however. “If we’re

not diligent, just because we say we reserve the right to keep consistent with our teaching

and religion, it’s just not enough. We have to be diligent to make sure that we totally

ingrain [our faith] in everything we do, in all of our policies, not just a preamble

statement.”

“You’re going to have a lot of parents objecting to some of the materials that

could be brought in, because the Ministry drives all the curriculum and materials,” he

warned. “I think they’ll start to slowly insert [objectionable material] in there under the

guise of this policy. They’ll do it really subtly to start and it will get worse as time goes

on.”