Thorncliffe Park in Toronto’s Don Valley area has an interesting history as a racetrack, an area of low-rise apartments and now as an area of high density living. Hidden by the high-rise buildings is Thorncliffe Market Place which started life as a rather ordinary North American shopping mall and has more recently acquired many characteristics of an Arab souk—a typical middle east shopping area. It is in this environment that much of the protests of Ontario’s new sex education proposals are being created.
And a major problem is that arguments over the new course of studies are not helping race relations in the province. When a thoughtless television reporter recorded a gentleman saying that he would take his children back to Pakistan rather than subject them to this teaching, you can imagine the comments in reply. The obvious majority of Muslims among protestors has also embarrassed and annoyed many of the better-educated in the Ontario Muslim community.
What many of the protestors do not understand is that they brought their families to North America for the opportunities that Canada offers. They have to accept the fact that they are now living in a much more varied and accepting community. They find that most Canadians are fair and welcoming to them and are tolerant of their religion. And Canadians have the right to expect the same fair and tolerant view of their society.
There is nothing political or religious about the need for children in our society to be taught a common understanding of human sexuality and relationships. In a society that exposes children early to nudity and sexuality, it is critical that they have an understanding of what they are seeing. And we already have enough religious blue stockings and repressed conservatives to fight with without importing people from deeply repressed societies to add to the clamour.
Ontario educators have had to fight every step of the way to get to a point where students can call a penis a penis and a vagina a vagina. It is a little ridiculous to have people growing up calling their genitals their pee-pee. And that was not so many years ago.
Parents who say they will do the job with their children are in the minority and, if they really do, their children will benefit from both home and school teaching. Children need positive reinforcement in the home to appreciate what they are learning in school.
And people new to this country need better role models in their communities than those who think they can campaign against openness and freedom for all.
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Copyright 2015 © Peter Lowry
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