CPC leadership candidate claims that both have a similar “underlying principle”
Saskatchewan Conservative MP Brad Trost has recently stirred controversy after drawing a comparison between Ontario’s sex-ed curriculum and Aboriginal residential schools while speaking at a Queen’s Park protest on Sept. 21.
“Now, the most tragic violation, which I don’t think this one rises to that level, the most tragic violation in Canadian history, violation of parental rights, was the residential schools. So I think the underlying issue is the same,” said Trost, according to the National Post.
Following the event, Trost told Vice that, “It’s the underlying principle that I’m comparing here. Like I said, residential schools are the absolute worst case scenario, but you often work your way up when you start with [small issues].”
“It’s the underlying principle that I’m comparing here. Like I said, residential schools are the absolute worst case scenario, but you often work your way up when you start with [small issues].”
The debate about the Ontario sex-ed curriculum resurfaced when private emails revealed that the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario leader Patrick Brown was ready to officially oppose the curriculum last year. However, Brown wrote an open letter last week in response to the emails where he renounced his previous position. Brown, along with every other major party leader has accepted the curriculum.
According to the National Post, many of the protesters who were at Queen’s Park also made the comparison to residential schools.
Scott Brown, a teacher at a Toronto-based Christian private school, said, “Political parties across the spectrum supported the residential schools, and political parties, as we’re seeing across the board are not really differentiating themselves on the (sex-ed) issue.”
The Ontario sex-ed curriculum was introduced in February 2015, and it has since received backlash from parents who believe that it is too much too soon. The curriculum begins in elementary schools, and it includes lessons about the human anatomy, masturbation, and safe sex.
The Aboriginal residential school system went from the late 19th century into the mid-1990s, and it involved the abduction of 150,000 aboriginal children from their parents to boarding schools.
“However, unlike residential schools, Ontario parents are still allowed to exempt their kids from the bulk of the new curriculum.”
However, unlike residential schools, Ontario parents are still allowed to exempt their kids from the bulk of the new curriculum. There are exceptions that parents cannot object to, such as lessons on anti-bullying, different family types, and acceptance of LGBTQ+ peers.
Trost believes that the curriculum violates civil rights and should involve a federal jurisdiction.
“The federal government does have the ability to step in,” said Trost, according to CBC News. “And from my perspective and the perspective from the people here today, the provincial government is overstepping their boundaries and interfering with people’s rights—the fundamental right to educate their children as they see fit.”
Trost is currently running for leadership of the Conservative Party and has raised controversy for his positions against same-sex marriage, despite the fact that the Conservative Party has recently abandoned its opposition to same-sex marriage.
Last week, Trost was criticized for his campaign ad that showed two fingers beside each other with the message, “Marriage is the union of one man, one woman.”