TCDSB trustees vote down motion to delay sex-ed implementation

TORONTO - A motion calling for the province to delay implementation of Ontario's controversial new sex-ed curriculum in Toronto Catholic schools has been defeated.

Trustees Angela Kennedy and Garry Tanuan tabled the motion before the Toronto Catholic District School Board June 11. It was defeated by an 8-4 margin.

"I am very disappointed that my trustee colleagues have chosen to accept the status quo over the demands of parents," said Kennedy. "When are we going to stop sitting back and allowing our religious freedoms to be violated without consequences?"

Kennedy said the delay would allow time "to view the adaptations to this contentious curriculum to ensure that everything is in accordance with Church teaching before it is implemented."

Catholic teaching resources for the curriculum will not be ready until October at the earliest, according to the timeline provided by the Institute for Catholic Education and the Assembly of Catholic Bishops of Ontario. By then, the curriculum will have already been implemented in Toronto Catholic schools.

The new curriculum has drawn the ire of parents across the province who feel it introduces sexual content that is age-inappropriate. In early June, the Canadian Families Alliance, which represents more than 200,000 people, presented a 185,000-name petition against the new curriculum to the provincial government.