Opposition The new curriculum received significant opposition among some sections of the Ontario population, especially among right-wing and conservative religious groups, leading to a number of protests. Some opponents argued that the curriculum introduced "too much, too soon," with some conservative parents stating that they would pull their children out of public schools in response to the URL Opponents to the new curriculum also argued that the government had not sufficiently consulted parents. On 14 April 2015, a demonstration opposed to the new curriculum was held in Queen's Park, attracting several thousand URL Political parties During the 2015 Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario leadership election, the eventual winner Patrick Brown pledged to repeal the new curriculum. However, by 2016, he stated that he was in favour of the new curriculum, but criticised the government for a lack of URL Wynne defended the curriculum against charges that her government hadn't led sufficient consultations, stating that "Parents were consulted. Psychologists, psychiatrists, police, people who live in communities and are concerned about the safety of young people were consulted. The way the curriculum was developed was not by politicians. It was developed by people who are educators and who understand child development and who understand what’s appropriate." In October 2016, the Stop the New Sex-Ed Agenda party was founded by Queenie Yu as a single issue party with a platform based on being in opposition to the new curriculum. It ran one candidate each in the 2016 by-elections in Ottawa—Vanier and Niagara West—Glanbrook, finishing with 1,3\% and 0,2\% of the vote respectively. It ran three candidates in the 2018 Ontario general election, none winning their races. After the 2018 election, the party came under some controversy surrounding their use of the tax credit on political donations to channel funding to lobbying URL Homophobia Significant amounts of the criticism against the new curriculum centered on the inclusion of LGBT+ issues, leading to many supporters of the curriculum accusing opponents of homophobia and URL Benjamin Levin allegations Federal MP Cheryl Gallant attacked the government of Ontario over the curriculum, alleging that it had been written by former Deputy minister (Canada) Benjamin Levin, who had been charged (and was later convicted) of three charges relating to making and distributing child URL The allegations gained some traction among opponents of the curriculum, pointing to several 2009 memos and interview where Levin had stated that "I was responsible for the operation of the Ministry of Education and everything that they do; I was brought in to implement the new education policy." 2018 General Election and aftermath During the 2018 Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario leadership election, several of the candidates led attacks against the 2015 curriculum update. Former Toronto city councillor and eventual winner of the leadership race Doug Ford argued that parents should have the final say on education, stating that "the sex-ed curriculum should be about facts, not teaching Liberal ideology," and accused former PC leader Patrick Brown of preventing the party from debating the curriculum. Runner-up Christine Elliott also stated she wished to change the new curriculum, stating that "I would open the curriculum up again, listen to what parents have to say." However, Caroline Mulroney, who finished in third, stated that she wouldn't attempt to make any URL During the 2018 Ontario general election, Ford continued to campaign against the 2015 curriculum, the Progressive Conservatives' platform pledging to "restore Ontario’s previous sex-ed curriculum until we can install a new one that is age appropriate and based on real consultation with URL During the election, Tanya Granic Allen, who had campaigned in the 2018 PC leadership election on an anti-sex ed platform, was dropped as the party's candidate for Mississauga Centre after a number of videos surfaced of her making homophobic and islamophobic statements. Reactions to the 2018 interim curriculum The government's move to scrap the 2015 curriculum was widely condemned by public health experts, who argued that reverting to the 1998 curriculum put Ontario sex education severely out of date and risked jeopardizing the health of Ontario students. In early August 2018, a petition signed by over 1800 medical professionals in the province was presented to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario calling on the province to reinstate the 2015 curriculum. The petition was also endorsed by a number of organizations, including the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario, the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, the Nurse Practitioners' Association of Ontario, the Association of Ontario Midwives, Canadian Women in Medicine, the Ontario Association of Social Workers, the Ontario Medical Students Association, and Planned URL LGBT+ rights groups and activists in the province denounced the scrapping of the curriculum, noting that there would now be no mention of sexual orientation or gender identity in Ontario sex education and warning that it put LGBT+ youth at increased URL Protests against the Ford government featured in the 2018 Ottawa Pride parade, with marchers chanting "Sex ed saves URL At the 2018 PC party conference, a resolution was passed calling to "remove the teaching and promotion of 'gender identity theory’ from Ontario schools and its curriculum." A number of protests was held against the government's move to scrap the curriculum in July 2018, including in Toronto and in URL The father of Rehtaeh Parsons denounced the Ontario government, stating that "what happened to my daughter was preventable... it was preventable with a good sex education URL In September 2018, the Justice for Children and Youth legal clinic in Toronto announced that they would be bringing human rights complaints against the government on behalf of two transgender students, arguing that the government's removal of all LGBT+-related material from the curriculum constituted URL In October 2018, the Ontario Human Rights Commission joined a legal challenge against the government, stating that "the children most affected by the changes to the education curriculum are the same children who are at the highest risk of exclusion, harassment and URL The Grand Council of Treaty 3 also joined the legal challenge, arguing that Indigenous youth were particularly vulnerable and that the government was "perpetuating the disadvantage and risk this population already experiences." 2019 curriculum The first results of the Ford government's online consultation were obtained by the Canadian Press through a freedom-of-information request in late 2018, showing a large majority in favour of the 2015 curriculum, with only about two dozen out of 1600 responses supporting the move to scrap it. When questioned if he would respect the results of the consultation, Ford stated that he believed "certain groups" had skewed the URL The 2019 curriculum received generally mixed reactions, with supporters of the 2015 curriculum noting that it contained most of the same elements and introduced elements concerning vaping and concussions, while opponents of the 2015 curriculum applauding the fact that the government would allow parents to opt their kids URL However, some critics noted that the 2019 curriculum de-emphasised LGBT+ issues compared to the 2015 one, such as through moving lessons about gender identity up from Grade 6 to Grade 8. Other critics noted that the changes the government brought to the 2015 curriculum could've been accomplished within the frame of the curriculum and did not require the level of inflamed rhetoric and time spent on controversy by the government. Some political commentators characterised the 2019 curriculum as part of the Ford government's tendency to announce controversial measures, be faced with significant protests, and then backtrack, noting that the government had followed a similar pattern in other controversies, such as the 2019 Ontario Autism Program controversy and the 2018 Franco-Ontarian Black URL
Opposition The new curriculum received significant opposition among some sections of the Ontario population, especially among right-wing and conservative religious groups, leading to a number of protests. Some opponents argued that the curriculum introduced "too much, too soon," with some conservative parents stating that they would pull their children out of public schools in response to the curriculum. Opponents to the new curriculum also argued that the government had not sufficiently consulted parents. On 14 April 2015, a demonstration opposed to the new curriculum was held in Queen's Park, attracting several thousand protestors. Political parties During the 2015 Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario leadership election, the eventual winner Patrick Brown pledged to repeal the new curriculum. However, by 2016, he stated that he was in favour of the new curriculum, but criticised the government for a lack of consulation. Wynne defended the curriculum against charges that her government hadn't led sufficient consultations, stating that "Parents were consulted. Psychologists, psychiatrists, police, people who live in communities and are concerned about the safety of young people were consulted. The way the curriculum was developed was not by politicians. It was developed by people who are educators and who understand child development and who understand what’s appropriate." In October 2016, the Stop the New Sex-Ed Agenda party was founded by Queenie Yu as a single issue party with a platform based on being in opposition to the new curriculum. It ran one candidate each in the 2016 by-elections in Ottawa—Vanier and Niagara West—Glanbrook, finishing with 1,3\% and 0,2\% of the vote respectively. It ran three candidates in the 2018 Ontario general election, none winning their races. After the 2018 election, the party came under some controversy surrounding their use of the tax credit on political donations to channel funding to lobbying groups. Homophobia Significant amounts of the criticism against the new curriculum centered on the inclusion of LGBT+ issues, leading to many supporters of the curriculum accusing opponents of homophobia and transphobia. Benjamin Levin allegations Federal MP Cheryl Gallant attacked the government of Ontario over the curriculum, alleging that it had been written by former Deputy minister (Canada) Benjamin Levin, who had been charged (and was later convicted) of three charges relating to making and distributing child pornography. The allegations gained some traction among opponents of the curriculum, pointing to several 2009 memos and interview where Levin had stated that "I was responsible for the operation of the Ministry of Education and everything that they do; I was brought in to implement the new education policy." 2018 General Election and aftermath During the 2018 Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario leadership election, several of the candidates led attacks against the 2015 curriculum update. Former Toronto city councillor and eventual winner of the leadership race Doug Ford argued that parents should have the final say on education, stating that "the sex-ed curriculum should be about facts, not teaching Liberal ideology," and accused former PC leader Patrick Brown of preventing the party from debating the curriculum. Runner-up Christine Elliott also stated she wished to change the new curriculum, stating that "I would open the curriculum up again, listen to what parents have to say." However, Caroline Mulroney, who finished in third, stated that she wouldn't attempt to make any changes. During the 2018 Ontario general election, Ford continued to campaign against the 2015 curriculum, the Progressive Conservatives' platform pledging to "restore Ontario’s previous sex-ed curriculum until we can install a new one that is age appropriate and based on real consultation with parents." During the election, Tanya Granic Allen, who had campaigned in the 2018 PC leadership election on an anti-sex ed platform, was dropped as the party's candidate for Mississauga Centre after a number of videos surfaced of her making homophobic and islamophobic statements. Reactions to the 2018 interim curriculum The government's move to scrap the 2015 curriculum was widely condemned by public health experts, who argued that reverting to the 1998 curriculum put Ontario sex education severely out of date and risked jeopardizing the health of Ontario students. In early August 2018, a petition signed by over 1800 medical professionals in the province was presented to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario calling on the province to reinstate the 2015 curriculum. The petition was also endorsed by a number of organizations, including the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario, the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, the Nurse Practitioners' Association of Ontario, the Association of Ontario Midwives, Canadian Women in Medicine, the Ontario Association of Social Workers, the Ontario Medical Students Association, and Planned Parenthood. LGBT+ rights groups and activists in the province denounced the scrapping of the curriculum, noting that there would now be no mention of sexual orientation or gender identity in Ontario sex education and warning that it put LGBT+ youth at increased URL Protests against the Ford government featured in the 2018 Ottawa Pride parade, with marchers chanting "Sex ed saves lives!" At the 2018 PC party conference, a resolution was passed calling to "remove the teaching and promotion of 'gender identity theory’ from Ontario schools and its curriculum." A number of protests was held against the government's move to scrap the curriculum in July 2018, including in Toronto and in Ottawa. The father of Rehtaeh Parsons denounced the Ontario government, stating that "what happened to my daughter was preventable... it was preventable with a good sex education program." In September 2018, the Justice for Children and Youth legal clinic in Toronto announced that they would be bringing human rights complaints against the government on behalf of two transgender students, arguing that the government's removal of all LGBT+-related material from the curriculum constituted discrimination. In October 2018, the Ontario Human Rights Commission joined a legal challenge against the government, stating that "the children most affected by the changes to the education curriculum are the same children who are at the highest risk of exclusion, harassment and violence." The Grand Council of Treaty 3 also joined the legal challenge, arguing that Indigenous youth were particularly vulnerable and that the government was "perpetuating the disadvantage and risk this population already experiences." 2019 curriculum The first results of the Ford government's online consultation were obtained by the Canadian Press through a freedom-of-information request in late 2018, showing a large majority in favour of the 2015 curriculum, with only about two dozen out of 1600 responses supporting the move to scrap it. When questioned if he would respect the results of the consultation, Ford stated that he believed "certain groups" had skewed the results. The 2019 curriculum received generally mixed reactions, with supporters of the 2015 curriculum noting that it contained most of the same elements and introduced elements concerning vaping and concussions, while opponents of the 2015 curriculum applauding the fact that the government would allow parents to opt their kids out. However, some critics noted that the 2019 curriculum de-emphasised LGBT+ issues compared to the 2015 one, such as through moving lessons about gender identity up from Grade 6 to Grade 8. Other critics noted that the changes the government brought to the 2015 curriculum could've been accomplished within the frame of the curriculum and did not require the level of inflamed rhetoric and time spent on controversy by the government. Some political commentators characterised the 2019 curriculum as part of the Ford government's tendency to announce controversial measures, be faced with significant protests, and then backtrack, noting that the government had followed a similar pattern in other controversies, such as the 2019 Ontario Autism Program controversy and the 2018 Franco-Ontarian Black Thursday.
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