Parents Increasingly Speaking Out About Gender, Sexuality in Canadian Schools

Some have formed groups informing parents about what’s being taught in schools, some organize delegations for school board meetings, and some arrange protests.

A sign for Emily Stowe Public School is seen with the pride flag in the background in Norwich, Ont., on May 3, 2023. The Canadian Press/Nicole Osborne

Jodi Doary, a mother in the small town of Lorette, Manitoba, now pre-reads all of the books her Grade 9 son is assigned at school after discovering some short stories included the mention of prostitution, smoking, and drinking and contained bad language.

His teacher sent home a book in November, knowing that Ms. Doary would screen it. The teacher spoke highly of it and expressed no qualms about the content.

The book, “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian,” by Sherman Alexie, includes a passage where the main character speaks in detail about masturbation. He peppers his soliloquy with references to God.

“The teacher never once mentioned the profanity or the sexual inappropriateness or any of the racial slurs that are in it, just that she thinks that it has a really good message and that she'll be sending it home for me to preview,” Ms. Doary told The Epoch Times.

“I read that book in like two hours, and I was a mess. I was so sick to my stomach,” she said.

Every couple of pages, she would find a profanity or “something that’s really yucky in it, ” Ms. Doary said. She found out her elder stepson had the book read aloud to him in class in a previous year. He told her it was “awful” and he was uncomfortable with it.

Ms. Doary has also discovered that her 12-year-old stepdaughter has transitioned genders at school. The teachers started using a different name and different pronouns for her without informing the family.

“It’s just the constant secrets from the parents,” Ms. Doary said. “Before, they wanted parents to be involved. Now they’re trying to hush things up and teach them things that you’re not comfortable with.”

Ms. Doary first shared her story in a Facebook group called 1 Million March for Children, which builds off the parental rights protests of the same name that spread across the country in September. It’s one of several parent groups in Canada that have gained momentum on this issue over the past few months.

“These groups have been a place of hope and encouragement for me and others, a place where we know we are not alone, because ’the system' or the schools want us to feel like we are the difficult and odd ones out there,” Ms. Doary said. “There are many of us. Support and communication with others is a huge part of making change.”

In Waterloo, Ontario, a group of hundreds of parents has formed Educating Minds: Parents of Waterloo Region (EMPOWR). Some of them submit access-to-information requests related to what’s being taught in schools. Some organize delegations for school board meetings, some work on informing parents about what’s being taught, and some arrange protests.

Cristina Bairos Fernandes is one of these parents. She’s helping to organize an information night for parents on Jan. 8 to discuss different school options. She said some parents are turning to homeschooling, some to homeschooling co-ops, and some to alternative schools, including private schools, forest schools (which focus on hands-on learning outdoors), and microschools (similar to the old one-room schoolhouse).

For those who want to stay in the public system, she said, the open house will provide guidance on how to stay aware of what’s being taught and how to have conversations with teachers and principals about it.

Her children, ages 7 and 9, are in the Waterloo Region District School Board. She has challenged educators in the board about how gender and sexuality are presented to children, and it’s tough work, she said. But she finds hope in a recent event.

Hope, Understanding

Her children’s principal asked her to speak with students about the Christian faith ahead of Christmas. Many Christian parents, such as Ms. Bairos Fernandes, feel they are under-represented in schools, where other faiths are sometimes discussed but rarely Christianity.

She was encouraged to see the Christian perspective welcomed in a public school, and also to see that her relationship with the principal and teachers can remain positive.

“You can stand for what you think is right and still have really great relationships,” she told The Epoch Times.

A father in Ottawa who prefers to go by a pseudonym, William, to protect his child’s privacy, told The Epoch Times he sees hope from a change at his daughter’s school.

“They took down the sign I complained about—‘no hate allowed here’ with a bunch of political flags—and put up my recommended signs, ‘All Are Welcome,’” he told The Epoch Times via email. “I still don’t think we need these so-called ’safe spaces,' but at least it’s a step in the right direction.”

“No space for hate” was a slogan used by counter-protesters in response to the 1 Million March. Expressing concerns about gender and sexuality in schools is often described as “hateful” by LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) advocates who say it hurts LGBT students. William says this isn’t about hating anyone, it’s about letting parents lead the conversations with their children on these topics when they are mature enough.

“These ideologies are still being thrust upon us on a weekly basis. For instance, Nov. 20, is now Trans Remembrance Day,” he said. “I had to send my daughter’s teacher an email to ensure that it was not planned to be part of her teaching for that day. I shouldn’t even have to worry that this may be taught to my seven-year-old.”

Nov. 13 to Nov. 19 was Trans Awareness Week, celebrated in many schools. For example, Aurora Grove Public School in Ontario, with students in JK to Grade 8, had a bulletin board display put together by the school’s Gender-Sexuality Alliance (GSA). Also known as Gay-Straight Alliances, GSAs are common in elementary and high schools across Canada. The display included information about using different pronouns and various phrases, including “non-binary is beautiful.”

The third Wednesday of October is celebrated as International Pronoun Day. October is LGBT history month. Oct. 10 is National Coming Out Day. The third Thursday in October is Spirit Day, another LGBT awareness day. The second Wednesday of April is International Day of Pink, a day against homophobia and transphobia. May 17 is International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia. June is Pride Month.

All of these are commonly celebrated in schools across Canada. The following is a snapshot of how these days are celebrated and how gender and sexuality are weaved into daily lessons on other days as well.

How LGBT Is Presented in Schools

A mother whose 8-year-old son attends a Catholic school in Mississauga told The Epoch Times that the principal picked her son to carry a pride flag around the school on Nov. 20, Transgender Awareness Day.

“The principal asked him if he felt like a boy or girl,” she said via text message. She preferred to remain anonymous to protect her son’s privacy. She is considering moving him to a private school.

Last year, on Day of Pink, a drag queen performed for high school students at York Mills Collegiate Institute in Toronto.

For October’s Pronoun Day last year, a Grade 1/2 teacher in Halifax read her class a book about pronouns, including zi/zer and ey/em, called “What Are Your Words?” She then had the students do an exercise stating their pronouns. She posted about it on the platform X.

Young GSA members in Brownridge Public School in Thornhill, Ontario, presented a book titled “Red, a Crayon’s Story” to their fellow elementary students at an assembly in November. The book is about a blue crayon mistakenly labelled as “red.” A teacher posted about it on platform X on Nov. 30.

A daycare in Kitchener, Ontario, called RisingOaks Early Learning, includes in its curriculum books that introduce homosexuality, such as “Worm Loves Worm,” as reported by the parental rights group Parents as First Educators (PAFE). The daycare has discussed with children the meaning behind the colours of the pride flag and engaged in a flag-raising ceremony, says PAFE.

A Catholic school in Essex, Ontario, École Élémentaire Catholique Saint-Ambroise, has a large pride flag hanging next to a statue of Jesus, as shown in a Sept. 20 Facebook post on the school’s page.

A teen in Valemount, B.C., shared in the 1 Million March Facebook group photos of a display in her high school, across from her locker, that’s topped with the words “gender” and “sexuality.”

One part has dozens of different flags representing these identities. Another part says “read the rainbow” and “watch the rainbow” and advertises books and movies that feature LGBT characters. One of the featured books is “Daughters of the Deer,” by Danielle Daniel, which features a mixed-race indigenous character who is “two-spirited.”  

“A lot of parents are scared still to protest, ... in fear of getting cancelled or being targeted at work,” Robyn Adamus, a parent in Waterloo, told The Epoch Times. “What I think is easier for some parents is to just pull their kids on certain days or during certain virtue-signalling weeks or months,” she added.

Shannon Boschy, a parent who has been active on this issue for years since his daughter transitioned, told The Epoch Times he’s hopeful that parents are becoming more organized in their advocacy for parental rights.

He gave the example of the Parents Rights Coalition of Canada that formed in July. Members of the group, along with other parent groups, recently met with the Durham District School Board in Ontario and “were effective in getting beyond the ’thought stopping‘ narratives and accusations of ’bigotry, hate, and transphobia,'” he said via email. “Successfully getting concerns to the table and having them heard is a big win.”