The good news

Last week, we wrote about four good bills in Alberta that enact Premier Smith’s promise to change the province’s approach to gender identity in health and education. Bill 26 in particular bans medical transitioning for minors under the age of 16, making Alberta the first province to do so. This is a huge development for which we thank Premier Smith’s government.

One of the bills – Bill 27 – addresses gender ideology in the classroom. It requires parental consent or notification (depending on the child’s age) for a school to adopt a child’s newly chosen name or pronouns. It also makes any instruction on gender and sexuality opt-in rather than opt-out, which will reign in indoctrination of children behind parents’ backs.

We give the province an A+ for having the principles and boldness to make these changes. In its over-arching objective, this legislation is great.

The bad news – overreach into independent schools

Despite the positives, Bill 27 also has problems that need fixing. It’s crucially important that Christians in Alberta speak up about these problems right away.

The main problem is that Bill 27 would establish government oversight over gender- and sexuality-related teaching in both publicand independent schools. Bill 27 says that all “learning and teaching resources that deal primarily and explicitly with gender identity, sexual orientation or human sexuality”, whether created by the school itself or any external party, must be approved by the Minister of Education.

The government no doubt intends to prevent inappropriate and ideologically loaded materials from being used. Such oversight may make sense, at least for government schools (although it raises questions about centralized control and could allow a Minister to ensure that all learning resources on sexuality and gender are ideologically skewed a certain way).

But it’s a particular problem for independent schools. If the Minister has oversight over how all schools teach gender and sexuality, parents who are displeased with how public schools do it might not have the option of getting something different from an independent school. That’s the reason that parents choose independent schools in the first place. They don’t want a centralizing authority like the Ministry of Education dictating what they can and cannot teach. Instead, independent schools are collections of parents who are passionate about educating their children in a certain way. They sacrifice time, money, and energy into creating independent schools.

Most independent schools are truly parent and community run organizations. The public school system and their publicly elected school boards used to be more like this, with school boards being responsive to local communities. But that local responsiveness has been undermined by decades of centralizing educational decision-making in the provincial Ministry of Education, eroding the authority of local school boards.

Requiring independent schools to submit their teaching and learning resources for government approval undermines the purpose of independent schools.

If passed, the bill would require Christian schools to submit their teaching resources on gender and sexuality to the Minister for approval. That means a Christian school’s ability to use, for example, the New Reformation Catechism on Human Sexuality, which is deeply rooted in scripture, would depend on the Minister’s permission.

This would impact ARPA, too. According to the legislation’s definitions, ARPA, as an external party, would be required to submit materials to the provincial government before giving any presentation on gender or sexuality in a Christian school. We’ve presented about the dangers of medical transitioning through our Let Kids Be campaigns in many Christian schools and encouraged our school clubs to distribute Let Kids Be flyers. Such activities would be subject to ministerial approval if this legislation passes.

Now, the drafters of the legislation likely thought that this wouldn’t be of concern to Christian schools. Bill 27 would not change Christian schools’ freedom to provide religious instruction in general, aside from the (likely unintended) impact on teaching about sexuality and gender discussed above. But the Alberta government likely doesn’t recognize how intertwined the Christian worldview is in all subjects in Christian schools. Our faith permeates all areas of our life and education. The government likely does not expect Bill 27 to require them to become the arbiters of religious truth in Christian school courses that deal with gender and sexuality.

More bad news – underreach regarding gay-straight alliances

A further problem is that the Ministerial oversight that is supposed to help keep inappropriate materials out of schools would not apply to gay-straight alliances (GSA) in schools. So, while the formal classroom instruction around gender and sexuality would be subject to ministerial approval, GSAs could organize LGBTQ events, materials, or presentations without oversight by the Minister. GSAs are not classes, but they are used to educate students regardless, including to give lessons and distribute literature, and should not be exempt from oversight. The existing Education Act is already too insistent on the allowance of GSAs. If any change should be made, it should be to make GSAs subject to the rules of other clubs, not extend further special exemptions to them.

Too much power for the Minister?

Essentially, this policy gives the government a weapon when it comes to exterminating bad teaching of gender and sexuality. Right now, the intention of this weapon is to point it against modern gender ideology. But, with a change in government, this weapon could just as easily be turned against traditional teachings about gender in both public and Christian schools. It is far better for this broad government power to be contained or removed from the legislation than risk it falling into the wrong hands, such as a less friendly education minister.

The legislature could address this problem by:

1. Removing the requirement for the Minister’s approval,
2. Narrowing the requirement so that it applies only to public schools,
3. Clarifying that any learning and teaching resources dealing with gender or sexuality that incorporate a religious perspective are exempt, or
4. Replacing the ministerial discretion to approve materials with a direct ban on teaching resources that promote gender ideology.

Taking Action

The idea that all learning and teaching resources related to gender and sexuality in all schools must be approved by the Minister of Education directly encroaches on the independence of Christian schools. Before this legislation passes, we need to use our voices to remind our provincial government that it is not appropriate for the government to approve or disapprove of Christian learning resources.

Although the purpose of Bill 27 – to get modern gender ideology out of schools – is excellent and the government of Albert deserves our praise for taking this bold and necessary step, there is still this significant problem in the legislation. So, we urge all of you, while the legislation is still being debated, to send an EasyMail to your MLA and the Minister of Education. Heartily thank him or her for the courage and intent of this legislation to get harmful gender identity out of schools and enhance the involvement of parents in their children’s education. But then highlight the danger of entrusting the provincial government with the authority to police all learning and teaching resources on gender and sexuality.