NDP Leader Andrea Horwath
The provincial NDP leader supports students who walked out of classes on Friday to protest the 1998 sex-ed curriculum.
Andrea Horwath says students recognize they deserve to know about topics like cyber-bullying which were included in the 2015 lesson plan.
“I have a lot of respect for those young people who have taken up the charge to fight for education that’s responsive to their needs in this day and age, not from the last century, but for this century.”
She feels the demonstration shows students know they and others “deserve to know about the dangers of the internet, deserve to know about cyber-bullying, deserve to understand the concept of consent,” along with what she says is students’ right to control what happens to their bodies.
Horwath also voiced her support for LGBT students who are suing the province on allegations of violating their human rights by rolling back the curriculum.
The NDP leader criticized the PC government for rolling back the curriculum, claiming it’s catering to what she calls radical social conservatives.
The PC government has stated it will come out with an updated health and sexual education curriculum covering consent, gender identity, and cyber safety.
