Ontario’s sex-ed curriculum does not do an adequate job of teaching students about consent, Education Minister Lisa Thompson told a newspaper in her riding.The issue of consent was one of the biggest concerns parents spoke about during the provincial government’s recent, massive public consultations on education reforms, Thompson told the Owen Sound Sun Times. People said “loud and clear … we don’t talk about consent enough ... and that is one thing that you will see evolve and we’ll get it right once and for all,” Thompson, who represents Huron-Bruce, told the newspaper in an interview earlier this month.During last year’s election, Doug Ford promised voters a Progressive Conservative government would repeal the 2015 sex-ed curriculum and hold parental consultations — a move to appease social conservatives who opposed the updated lessons brought in by former premier Kathleen Wynne.Since taking office, the government has scrapped the 2015 curriculum and replaced it with one based on the one introduced back in 1998 — when there was no cyberbullying and sexting, years before gay marriage was legal and when gender issues were not taught. (The Ford government is now facing court cases from the Ontario Civil Liberties Association and the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario over use of the outdated lessons, as well as human rights challenges from families of LGBT youth.)Read more:Transgender girl says sex-ed repeal made her nervous about returning to schoolOntario sex-ed rollback puts transgender girl in harm’s way, tribunal toldOn sex-ed, Ontario government can’t have it both waysLast fall, Thompson launched online and telephone-town-hall consultations, which drew some 72,000 participants.“The data that we received is so rich — it’s going to inform every aspect of education for years to come,” she told the paper in the Jan. 9 interview.“I can’t eve ...
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