TORONTO – A parent revolt is swelling.  “They bend to the wishes of the lobbyists for promoters of sexualized identities, but they refuse to meet with delegations of parents with children in the schools. We have had enough. We have had enough of their distortions of the curriculum that damage our family values. Let our kids be kids!”. 

That is Nicole, who reached out to Corriere Canadese to express outrage at what government-financed lobbyists have induced their school board to do.

It was not always so. A French language School Board in Southern Ontario, Csc Mon Avenir,  announced its name change with great fanfare on May 10, 2017 – with justified expressions of ambitions and hope. As its name indicates, the Conseil scolaire catholique MonAvenir aims for an education at the highest level, “based on the Catholic faith and a Francophone living environment”.  Parents felt that it properly recognized their students as the very reason for its existence.

Ministry documents (to be updated to state “actuals” as of March 31, 2023) indicate a level of success their mere existence reflects in a largely competitive, English-language, education market in Southern Ontario. The Csc Mon Avenir received $156, 836, 492 to provide quality education to 16,092 students (11,985 of them at the elementary level), in this current academic year, 2022- 23. No family is compelled to send their children to that scholastic, cultural environment. 

Now, frustrated parents are expressing [grave] concerns about the directions the Administration has been pursuing. These are seen as inconsistent with the recommendations of very active parent school committees and parish councils.

Parents object to the insertions of sexualized ideologies and texts into the curriculum of their elementary school aged children in the name of “inclusion”. Principals, Superintendents and now trustees are bending to the will of vocal minorities whose demands – the imposition of an “ideology on human sexuality” – are displacing all parental efforts to provide a nurturing environment for their children.

They are fighting back. What started a few days ago as a petition by parents at a couple of elementary local schools has exploded (as of Thursday) into list of signatories numbering more than 1,000 families, and growing. Considering that the Average Daily Enrollment (ADE) is 16,092 registered children (11,985 in elementary schools), that suggests an impressive 9.3% of families have already expressed their willingness to be associated with those concerned parents who have now converted their anger into an action email contact: alarmedparent@outlook.com.

Nicole, and other parent members of the school and parish councils, want to withdraw their children from from these “sexualized lessons” and other paraphernalia (flags, imagery and books) that legitimizes sexual behaviour for which children are not at a level of maturity to understand, appreciate or judge, she said. “Let our kids be kids’, she implores, “some of them have not yet reached the age of reason, let alone the age of consent – legal and otherwise.”

Helene, another parent on those councils with Nicole, is even more furious. She insists that “parents have been lied to from the beginning of the introduction of the Wynne Government’s new Health Curriculum: parents would be consulted prior to any changes and they could withdraw their children from classes when they did not agree with the content. The current government is not enforcing that commitment.

Instead, parents who disagree are targeted for ridicule on social media. When their children don’t agree with the content it is worse. “If a child says ‘I am a boy’ in lessons on transgender ideology, he is reprimanded. Little boys are told they can “take medication to become little girls […] little girls are informed about puberty blockers”. Both parents ask how a text like MOI CALVIN, which advances these practices, is permitted in their schools.

Helene goes further. “What training did the teachers get to qualify them to teach this material? Was it medical, psychological? Who gave them permission to disseminate this culture to our children? […] they are planting seeds of confusion in our kids… one of mine is only six years old!”

They are adamant that their group is tired of being called “homophobic or transphobic” by the lobbyist for the Pride flag because they are caring for their children. Parents voted as a block, as recently as last year, to not fly that flag.

Now their decision is being ignored by Csc MonAvenir‘s trustees and Administration. Rhetorically, they ask, “do they know better than we parents or care more for our children than we who gave them life and who care for them 24/7?

The bishop of the Diocese of London issued a letter [click here to read it], May 24, wherein he states that he does not endorse the flying of the Pride flag. The alarmedparent@outlook.com is still looking for allies.