LONDON, ONT. - Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty pulled the plug Thursday on a controversial new sex-education curriculum for elementary school children in Ontario.
“It has become pretty obvious to us that we should give this a serious re-think,” McGuinty said of the revised physical-education and health curriculum that has been posted on the Ministry of Education website since January.
His announcement, made during an Earth Day tree planting ceremony at London, Ont.'s Tecumseh public school, was met with a mix of appreciation and skepticism.
“We have a very diverse province in so many different ways and I think it is really important that as a government we listen carefully ... especially when it comes to sex education in our schools, something that touches our children directly,” he said.
Insisting the province was not giving in to demands from religious groups that had vowed a May 10 boycott of schools over the issue, McGuinty said he has heard plenty of criticism about the curriculum during the past 24 hours.
He acknowledged the province did not consult enough groups or take enough time to prepare parents for the changes.
“What we are doing is listening,” he said.
But Conservative MPP Christine Elliott said the government is only listening because “they got caught,” trying to sneak the curriculum through.
“Here we have press releases on this, and this, and this, but when you are going to make a very significant change to the sex-ed curriculum, you try to bury it,” she said.
Although the revised curriculum was released in January, and teacher training was to begin as early as Friday in some boards, the changes went mainly unnoticed until Charles McVety, president of Canada Christian College, criticized them.
Since then, several faith-based groups said the curriculum, which included topics such as same-sex parents and masturbation, would expose young children to inappropriate material.
The chair of the London Islamic School cautiously welcomed McGuinty’s sudden reversal Thursday.
“I think it’s positive and it reaffirms the democratic nature of our society that governments are people, and if people are speaking loudly about a concern they have, governments should listen,” Dr. Wael Haddara said.
He said he hopes McGuinty is sincere about consulting with groups across the province.
“For something as fundamental in people’s lives as education, there should have been a much broader process of public consulting.” John Van Dommelen, religion and family life co-ordinator for the Catholic board, said Catholic boards across Ontario were working with the government to make sure the curriculum aligned with the teachings of the Catholic church.
McGuinty said it was too early to say when the curriculum would be updated.
The current 12-year-old program remains in place until then.
McGuinty’s change of plans came as a surprise at Queen’s Park, where Liberals had been vehemently defending the new curriculum just hours earlier during question period.
Acting premier Sandra Pupatello asked Opposition critic Christine Elliot why she was opposed to teaching children in Grade 1 the proper names for their body parts.
“We want those children taught properly,” she said.
The Premier’s Office even released a letter from the Ottawa Catholic school board Director James McCracken Thursday in support of their position.
-With files from Antonella Artuso, QMI Queen’s Park bureau chief Jennifer.obrien@sunmedia.ca randy.richmond@sunmedia.ca
