Education minister calls for review into ministry sexual education materials
CBC
Education Minister Dustin Duncan has ordered his ministry to review documents pertaining to the adolescence curriculum, and plans to direct school boards to suspend any upcoming presentations with Planned Parenthood Regina.
He announced the directives Thursday afternoon after being made aware that a Grade 9 student picked up some sex ed material left behind by Planned Parenthood after members of the organization presented to their health class.
"The material in question — as Minister of Education, frankly as a parent — is completely inappropriate to be in a classroom," Duncan told reporters Thursday.
"We want to make sure that material is not going to be a part of the resources that will be provided to students … I want to make sure that the Ministry of Education, also, is undertaking a review of our own information to ensure that it is appropriate — and age-appropriate in particular."
Planned Parenthood, a sexual health clinic that offers community programming, among other things, visited Lumsden High School last Monday to present to a Grade 9 health class, a Prairie Valley School Division spokesperson told CBC News.
The presentation aligned with the curriculum, the spokesperson said.
The curriculum touches on many aspects of sexual health that teens ought to know, such as sexually transmitted infections and safe sex.
Planned Parenthood executive director Julian Wotherspoon told CBC News the presentation was vetted by the teacher, but they brought along other resources, such as pamphlets, that they would bring along to any other presentation. Those resources were left on a side table after the presentation.
One student picked up a copy of a card set titled Sex from A-Z. The cards have cartoon illustrations and explain various topics, including some identities and sexual acts.
A spokesperson from the AIDS Committee of Toronto (ACT), the creator of the set, says the cards are to be a resource for gay, bisexual and queer young people aged 18 to 29, to make up for a lack of sexual education for non-heterosexual people.
The cards are to act as a guide to help youth stay safe while experimenting, the spokesperson said.
The school division and Wotherspoon each said the resource was unrelated to the actual presentation.
Duncan took issue with how explicit the cards were, reading several examples to reporters.
The division has followed up with Planned Parenthood, asking to remove the resource from future school presentations. Wotherspoon says they have accepted the feedback.
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