Our Liberal Government & Betrayal

Editorial Contribution – CASJAFVA

The Sell-Out

The BC Liberal government (“the Campbell government”) initiated and reached an agreement in April, 2006 (“the Correns Agreement”) with two homosexual activists (Murray and Peter Corren) in settlement of the Correns’ complaint with the BC Human Rights Commission.

Basically, the Correns’ complaint consisted of allegations that the BC government’s neglect to actively promote sexual orientation in the public school curriculum constituted discrimination. The Correns told the National Post as recent as September 2, 2008 that the “BC Education Ministry took active steps to suppress these issues from the curriculum. This was discrimination”. It is indeed difficult to see the logic that absence of promotion of “sexual orientation” in school has much academic or human rights relevancy. Be that as it may, the Corren Agreement essentially gave special rights to two individuals in dictating the contents of the curriculum for kindergarten to grade 12, and in policy of public education. Major media termed the Corren Agreement as “extraordinary” or “unprecedented” or “first in North America”.

The Corren Agreement’s uniqueness is all the more ridiculous in the context of the Correns not even having any children in the school system. By virtue of the Corren Agreement, parents’ rights in withdrawing their children from classes teaching sensitive materials are severely limited except in one course – Health & Career. It also gives the Correns unprecedented rights to be consulted (including individuals and organizations recommended by them) with respect to revision of all curriculum, and to dictate priority in promoting sexual orientation in the curriculum of all grades including kindergarten as well as a teachers’ guide. As if these rights and entitlements given to the Correns were not enough, an elective special over-arching course known as Social Justice for Grade 12 was to be implemented. It is a term of the Corren Agreement that it be kept under wraps until the end of May, 2006. With a stroke of its pen, the Campbell government through the Attorney General Mr. Wally Oppal and the Education Minister Ms. Shirley Bond, sold out parents’ fundamental right as primary educators of their children, students’ right to a balanced, objective and academically oriented public education, and the right of the public to have an accountable, open and responsible government. The secrecy stipulated in the Corren Agreement had a disgustingly deleterious effect on the parents’ and the public’s right to be consulted properly in such drastic alteration and deprivation of their rights. No doubt, the secrecy was intended by the Campbell government and the Correns to give as little time as possible to the public in order to limit any repercussions. With the teachers’ guide as a convenient propaganda tool to teachers who are politically correct, the dangerous impact on students, particularly the younger ones, should be quite obvious.

It is reasonably clear that the Campbell government did not need to sell-out parents’ and the public’s rights by initiating and settling with the Correns. The matter could have gone on to the BC Supreme Court if it had lost in the BC Human Rights Commission, to the BC Court of Appeal if lost in the lower court, and ultimately to the Supreme Court of Canada. Despite the fear that most of the judges are more or less politically active, the case would have gone on for several years and there might have been decent changes in this time. Additionally, the process itself would be an education to politicians, judges, and Canadians in the dangers and possible consequences of such propaganda in education. We were alerted by a reporter of the Vancouver Sun at the end of May, 2006.

The Struggle

Upon learning of the secret Corren Agreement, CASJAFVA immediately approached the Attorney General Mr. Wally Oppal for a meeting. There was a meeting with Mr. Oppal in June, 2006 at which Mr. Oppal promised to hold another meeting with Ms. Bond and us in July, 2006. Mr. Oppal failed to hold such a meeting with us. CASJAFVA held a 1,000 strong rally outside of Premier Campbell’s office in August 2006. As a result of the August protest, an official of the Education Ministry (Mr. Pierre Gilbert) did hold a meeting with CASJAFVA in October, 2006. There were two CASJAFVA protests outside of Premier Campbell’s office in January, 2007 and one in February, 2007. On March 1, 2007, CASJAFVA held a protest outside the provincial legislature in Victoria and more than 10,000 petitions demanding the same rights and entitlements as those given the Correns were presented to the provincial legislature through Mr. Richard Lee, MLA. On March 5, 2007, Mr. Oppal and Ms. Bond along with several senior bureaucrats had a meeting with CASJAFVA during which an agreement was reached (the “March 5, 2007 Agreement”). The March 5 Agreement gives CASJAFVA (a) the right to be kept informed by the BC government of the process and happenings in a timely manner with respect to the subject matter of the Correns Agreement, (b) the right to have timely response from the BC government to CASJAFVA’s inquiries, (c) the right to have meetings with the Education Ministry officials in a timely manner as and when requested by CASJAFVA, (d) the SAME RIGHTS & ENTILEMENTS as those given the Correns, (e) the assurance that the BC government has the final say in the subject matter of the Correns Agreement, (f) the promise that if sexual orientation is included, pros and cons will be included, and finally (g) the undertaking that the BC government has no intention of promoting sexual orientation as contemplated by the Correns.

The Betrayal

The BC government has breached the terms of the March 5 Agreement by:

1. making arrangement of meeting with CASJAFVA as difficult as possible, and when the Education Ministry’s officials did agree to meet with CAJAFVA, the duration of the meeting was intentionally and unilaterally cut short on various pretexts, and the officials present went through the meeting perfunctorily and in an extremely impatient and rushed manner, thus rendering such meetings meaningless;
2. incorporating the promotion of sexual orientation in curriculum for kindergarten to grade 12 in a one-sided propaganda fashion with misleading materials. It is reasonably clear that the aim is to use the illusive, yet coercive concept of social justice to instill acceptance of diversity and alienation from the family. The intent is to proceed from diversity and alienation to reception of sexual orientation, and finally from sexual orientation to approval of different sexual styles. This propaganda approach is present regardless of the relevancy of such materials to the academic subjects. In other words, it doesn’t make an iota of difference whether the course is dance, math, English, social studies or physical education;
3. allowing an arbitrary and unreasonably short period of time for public input thereby making such purported public consultations a window-dressing device rather than meaningful exchanges;
4. issuing a biased teachers guide known as “Making Space and Giving Voice”. This guide is in fact a one-sided policy statement and direction without any proper public consultations and input. CASJAFVA wrote to Ms. Bond on October 30, 2007 stating that the websites in the draft guide displayed strong partiality with only websites recommended by the Correns and some leftist organizations. No websites of conservative or faiths-based groups were included. The glossary of the draft guide was inadequate, biased and misleading. There were no references to traditional values, no mention of one man and one woman marriage and family etc. The definition of sexual orientation in the guide failed to include fetishism, sado-masochism, pedophilia etc. Various “ISMS” were included without definition which would give teachers too much room for propagating their own values. No health consequences resulting from different sexual styles were mentioned. Role models were linked to sexual orientation which is irrelevant and dangerous. Age-inappropriate resources were listed. Power politics was intertwined in the draft guide to alienate children from their families. Misleading information and propagandistic directions were parts of the draft guide (e.g. (1) “reduce the sense that only mainstream form of contributions, self-expression and appearance are desirable or acceptable”. (2) “Note to teachers — ensure students understand that homosexuality does not cause depression or suicide.”). Conscientious teachers are vital to the well-being of our students because of their authority, influence and discretion as teachers. With a draft guide like this and the persecution of Dr. Chris Kempling by the BC College of Teachers because of his conscientiousness, his courage and his vision to do the right thing by exercising his right of freedom of speech, freedom of religion and freedom of association through speaking the truths, conscientious teachers will be intimidated; and
5. not giving CASJAFVA (by extension, parents and the public) the same rights and entitlements as those given the Correns, because there have been no proper consultation, no meaningful meetings, and no due consideration of input on the subject matters of the Correns Agreement. The attitude displayed by the Campbell government in handling these education issues is nothing less than authoritarian, arrogant and unconscionable. These politicians’ promises and assurances amount to nothing more than lip service and window-dressing.

The Remedies

The Campbell government’s scheme is to make the implementation of the Correns’ agenda de facto reality by secrecy, delays, time-constraints, lies and schematic manipulation. Because of the repercussions from CASJAFVA and the public including organizations such as Parents and Teachers for Life, Parents for Democracy in Education, the Catholic Civil Rights League etc., the Campbell government has delayed the disclosure of the final version of the teachers’ guide “Making Space and Giving Voice” as well as some of the more sensitive curriculum. Although the elective Social Justice course for grade 12 students is not CASJAFVA’s major concern, because it is elective and it is for more mature students, but nonetheless it is a propaganda tool and it should be monitored. Strong public responses from parents and concerned members of the public have consequences. Abbotsford school district board decided to review the content of the social justice course and refused to allow schools in the district from teaching the controversial course. The board conveyed its concerns to Ms. Bond indicating that the course was better suited to university-level students and that high school teachers may not be trained to tackle the complexities of various laws covered in the course. The board’s view also included that the issues and topics covered were not only sensitive, but also encroached on areas of family values, beliefs and practices. “Some resources and related discussions may leave students feeling alienated or threatened rather than feeling accepted and respected for their opinions and perspectives” the board says. In other words, in the board’s opinion, the course is biased and misleading and is a propaganda tool to alienate students from their family values, beliefs and practices. Furthermore, the course’s aim is to force students to accept certain views and practices. It is also true to say that when even judges and lawyers frequently find various “ISMS” and laws difficult to be dealt with, how do we expect teachers to do an adequate job in these areas. It was reported in the Vancouver Sun (September 24, 2008) that the Correns were upset about Abbotsford school board’s action and they were even more upset about Ms. Bond’s failure to distribute to all schools a new guide for teachers (“Making Space, Giving Voice”). The Correns have decided to again use the Karagaroo court to achieve their aims by forcing the Abbotsford School District do their bid. The important thing for all of us to do is to stand united, to continue making our voices heard, to keep pressure on the Campbell government, to stage protests as necessary, to maintain our vigilance, and to commence organizing of election squads as the provincial election is not too far away (May 2009). We are all fully aware of the disastrous 10-year rule under NDP (the New Democratic Party), but the proper strategy should be to reduce the seats held by the Liberals at the next election as a warning to them, if they don’t listen to the voices of the majority of voters. We must bear in mind that united we stand, divided we fall. We have succeeded in doing our part to send a clear warning to the Campbell government through their loss of the two byelections (Vancouver-Burrard and Vancouver-Fairview in British Columbia). The Campbell government’s broken promises, the reckless carbon tax, the arrogance and dictatorial action in cancelling the fall session of the provincial parliament, the obscene increases of senior bureaucrats’ salaries and the refusal to cut PST, are but a few of the examples of the maxim — Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.