By Frank Stirk

THE TIME has come, say some Christian activists, for British Columbia parents who do not want their children taught in school subjects they consider immoral or contrary to their religious beliefs, to be more assertive in standing up for their convictions.

“Parents will have to make it very clear to the school districts that they are determined,” says Sean Murphy, the Powell River-based western regional director of the Catholic Civil Rights League (CCRL). “We render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s – and our children do not belong to Caesar.”

Concern among people of faith that public school authorities will try to undermine the rights of parents is not new. But this time, the Ministry of Education has drafted a new teachers’ guide that Murphy and others believe poses an unprecedented threat.

Making Space, Giving Voice would revise the entire curriculum from kindergarten to grade 12 to include mandatory instruction on diversity and social justice issues, such as sexual orientation. Even mathematics would be taught differently.

This means that parents would no longer be able to respond by pulling their children out of a class while certain topics are being taught. Instead, Murphy – who has written a detailed analysis of the guide – warns they will more likely be presented as “a series of much more subtle things happening at different times through the course of the school year.”

Gone too, according to Murphy, will be any attempt, as with the Career and Personal Planning (CAPP) program, at fostering a tolerance of diverse opinions and lifestyles.

“The current trend is away from that,” he says. “Instead they’re moving to the position that you must affirm, you must celebrate, and so on. And they’re becoming much more openly authoritarian in their approach.”

The guide, for example, instructs teachers not to treat every point of view equally. On the contrary, it states that any opinion expressed “that is ignorant or hurtful or that can be readily construed as a perpetuation of oppression or injustice should not be a part of classroom discourse and will need to be addressed if it arises.”

Writing on the Vancouver Sun weblog, James Chamberlain with the Gay and Lesbian Educators of B.C. welcomed this proposed approach as long overdue.

He wrote:“When I went to school in the 1970s in Abbotsford I never ever saw positive representations of people of colour in any book. My teachers never talked about racism or any other form of oppression. Racist, sexist and homophobic slurs flew around the school yard, classrooms and hallways. Sometimes they were within the earshot of teachers, many times not.

“Kids are still learning about hate and negative myths and stereotypes about different groups of people at school. Without age appropriate, positive information to counter that, we are doing all students harm.”

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The genesis of the teachers’ guide was a complaint filed by Murray and Peter Corren, a married same-sex couple, with the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal in 2004 against the Ministry of Education. As Murray Corren told The Vancouver Sun at the time, they felt the absence of “queer issues” in the curriculum amounted to “systemic discrimination through omission and suppression.”

In 2006, the two sides reached a settlement between themselves.

In return for dropping their complaint, the ministry hired the Correns to review the entire curriculum and recommend priority items “for revision in light of sexual orientation issues.” What they came up with is essentially Making Space, Giving Voice.

The ministry had given British Columbians until the end of April to give their feedback to the document, but Surrey activist Len Remple doubts that it was genuinely interested in hearing from most of them.

“It’s one thing for us to send an email or a letter to the ministry, but they don’t want to meet with us in person,” he says, “whereas the Correns have privileged access to review and recommend changes. . . . There’s no balance. And we want balance.”

Remple is president of the Parents for Democracy in Education Society, which has 500 names in its database. The list “of concerned people all across the province” is growing, he said.

Remple insists they have “no quarrel” with the Correns or their agreement. “We don’t even discuss that. All we want is for parents to have equal rights,” he says.

“We’re going after the Ministry of Education, because they’re the vehicle that is implementing all these changes.”

The society and the CCRL are part of what Murphy calls “a loose and happy framework of groups working together, and we hope to see that number expanded.” Also on board is B.C. Parents and Teachers for Life, among others. Remple has also met with leaders of the Muslim, Sikh and Hindu communities, all of whom he says have expressed concern.

The groups plan to stage a rally in Victoria when the Legislature is in session, but so far no date has been confirmed.

 Remple is also urging parents to take up the issue with their local MLAs and their children’s educators. “We would like to see the principal’s office have a line-up of people daily . . . in each school to protest this. And school boards too,” he says.

Murphy believes parents will have to “become much more aware of how to provide the kind of education at home that will have the effect of nullifying what they’re attempting to do in the public school.”

“If you want to teach your kids certain things at home regarding homosexuality or marriage or whatever, by all means do it,” he says. “That’s what you’re supposed to do as a parent.”

Education Minister Shirley Bond has so far not indicated when she will announce her decision on the proposals contained in Making Space, Giving Voice.

“She and policy staff,” says a spokesperson for the minister, “are going to have to take some time to review all of the input to be able to make an informed and meaningful decision.”

May 2008