Last spring, I raised concerns about the inability of school divisions and school administrations to address serious, sometimes violent incidents in schools, including allegations of sexual assault. Parents then told me how little involvement they were allowed in their own children’s school, that it was in fact discouraged.
Recently, on the cusp of the 2023-24 school year, then Education Minister Dustin Duncan announced new parental inclusion and consent policies for Saskatchewan schools, particularly addressing sexual health instruction. It requires Boards of Education to ‘pause’ involvement with any third-party organization, such as ARC Foundation and the SOGI 1 2 3 Program.* This followed weeks of pushback after a disturbing incident at Lumsden last June in which pornographic ‘alphabet cards’ were made available to grade nine students.
The new policy is an effort to prevent special interest groups from pushing certain sexual agendas to children without parental knowledge and/or consent. A recent survey determined at least 86 per cent of Saskatchewan people support this move.
It is these same Saskatchewan people that deserve the credit for forcing this government to stop the hijacking of our taxpayer-funded public schools to promote those agendas.
I say stop, because according to a news release from the Saskatchewan Teacher’s Federation, “even representatives from the Ministry of Education, have been working together with an organization called the ARC Foundation to plan a pilot program for some Saskatchewan schools utilizing their resources in a program called SOGI 123 (Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity).” **
It was the people of Saskatchewan who began holding town hall meetings to try to hold their MLA’s and School Boards to account. It is the people who have been contacting my office to alert me to these issues and ask me to bring pressure to the government to act on the agendas that go beyond sexual health instruction.
In the aftermath of this new announcement, my inbox is being flooded with cc’s of emails to the government, grateful for introducing the Parental Rights policies. Almost all of those emails are asking the government to go even further with statements like, “Therefore, I respectfully request that you take the necessary further steps to publicly announce that SOGI 123 learning resources and Planned Parenthood will be fully banned permanently.”
It is the people, that deserve credit for changing the course of education in Saskatchewan.
Interestingly, this groundswell is comparable to when people were betrayed and outraged about the mandates forced on them by the Moe government only two years ago.
At that time, there was a massive protest by Saskatchewan people from across the province at the Legislative Assembly. Emails and calls to government were constant in the weeks following, yet Premier Scott Moe refused to hear the people. In his insulated bubble, Premier Moe dismissed the voices of the people he is supposed to serve.
As a result, the voice of the people has grown louder. Saskatchewan people are now connected more than they have been in decades. They are watching and analyzing the workings of government and government agencies.
Today, the people are taking back the power they entrusted to this government which had become accustomed to rule without challenge.
Bravo, people of Saskatchewan!
“Multis E Genibus Vires – From Many Peoples Strength”
** https://www.stf.sk.ca/about-stf/news/dangerous-saskatchewan-government-policy-harmful-to-students/
