Despite Dalton McGuinty's insistence that all schools must follow the province's revised sex-ed curriculum, which was recently shelved, Ontario's Education Ministry was working with Catholic educators to develop an alternative course.GEOFF ROBINS
Ontario's Education Ministry has been in quiet negotiations with Roman Catholic officials to provide funding to help separate elementary schools develop their own sex-education curriculum, one that deviated significantly from the program the province developed.
Premier Dalton McGuinty insisted last week - just one day before he pulled the plug on his government's revamped sex-ed curriculum - that Catholic schools in Ontario could not opt out, even if it goes against their religious beliefs.
But behind the scenes, Catholic officials are drafting their own version of the curriculum - with the full knowledge of bureaucrats in the ministry's curriculum branch. The officials made it clear during talks that they were not prepared to introduce children as early as Grade 3 to such topics as homosexuality, Sister Joan Cronin, executive director of the Institute for Catholic Education, said in an interview.
The gender-identity portion of the ministry's new curriculum is "quite controversial," she said, and children in separate schools would not be taught about homosexuality until Grades 7 and 8.
"We would not bring those concepts to such young children," she said. "When it comes to matters like faith and morality, the denominational rights accorded to the Catholic schools supersede any Ministry of Education policy directive."
It is not clear whether Education Minister Leona Dombrowsky or her predecessor, Kathleen Wynne, were aware of the institute's views on the new curriculum, which was to be rolled out next fall. Michelle Despault, a spokeswoman for Ms. Dombrowsky, said all curriculum reviews, including the one on sex ed, are ministry initiatives. As part of an effort to keep politics out of the process, ministers do not sit in on consultations with schools boards and other officials, she said.
A spokesman for Ms. Wynne referred all questions to Ms. Dombrowsky's office.
The Globe and Mail has reported that Mr. McGuinty had not been briefed on the new curriculum and was unaware of its contents until a Christian group led by evangelist Charles McVety issued a statement complaining about it.
The controversy over the now shelved curriculum revived memories of the 2007 provincial election campaign, when the Progressive Conservatives pledged to fund all religious schools, not just Catholic ones. Mr. McGuinty, a Catholic, rejected the plan, saying all schools that receive government funding must follow the Ontario curriculum, a stand he repeated last week when asked whether Catholic schools could opt out of the new sex-ed curriculum.
"They're part of the publicly funded school system here in Ontario and this is part of our curriculum," he told reporters.
Sister Joan said the institute, which works with the Ontario Conference of Catholic Bishops in tailoring the ministry's curriculum to separate schools, was in the process of revising its own family-life education program, known as Fully Alive, but within a Catholic framework.
It was ministry officials who invited the institute to come up with its own supplement that would align the expectations in the new curriculum with Catholic beliefs, Sister Joan said. The institute has completed a first draft for Grades 1 to 7.
The institute was to receive $75,000 in government funding to help implement the revised Fully Alive document, but the funding has been cancelled until the government reintroduces its sex-ed curriculum.
In Question Period on Monday, Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak accused the Premier of a "spectacular flip-flop" in shelving a curriculum that had been in the works for two years.
"We understand that Dalton McGuinty believes that he knows best what is best for our kids," he said. "We believe parents do."