Commentary by Ted Hewlett, President, British Columbia Parents and Teachers for Life
February 13, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Pro-homosexualist activists are celebrating the news that the Abbotsford School Board in British Columbia has approved the offering of the Social Justice 12 elective course for students who have their parents’ permission.
The decision by the Fraser Valley community’s school-board follows after the Correns (Murray and his partner Peter) lodged a complaint with the BC Human Rights Tribunal against the Board for refusing to approve the teaching of the course soon enough to allow some students to take it. One school had offered the course before approval by the board (according to a board spokesperson) and students had signed up for it. When the board refused to allow the course to begin without its further consideration, the Correns launched their complaint to the Tribunal.
The Social Justice 12 course is the result of the settlement agreement made by the British Columbia government with Peter and Murray Corren, under which the Correns agreed to withdraw action against the government, and the government agreed to institute a course demanded by the Correns, as well as to allow them special rights in the approval of all courses as they are revised. This meant, among other things, that organizations named by the Correns as having expertise in sexual orientation matters would be guaranteed consultation privileges.
Our opinion as a result of analyzing the course is this: The Social Justice 12 course that was the first result of the Corren Agreement deals with many topics which most socially conservative people would find unobjectionable, but also allows for the use of the classroom as an instrument of propaganda for pro-homosexuality activists’ objectives.
It seems clear that Social Justice 12 will, for example, result in teaching students that the traditional definition of marriage, as being between a man and a woman, that held true in Canadian law until recently, was an injustice.
It is of great concern that students will be judged on their attitudes, and the question arises as to how students will fare who fail to develop the attitudes towards social questions that are mandated by their teachers.
In the wake of the Abbotsford School Board’s decision to allow the Social Justice 12 course to be offered, the “Social Justice Regional Conference” being sponsored by the BC Teachers’ Federation is likely to turn into a celebration of the Correns and the achievements of the pro-homosexuality propagandists. The conference is being held in Abbotsford on February 21st and 22nd.
In spite of the Board’s having approved the teaching of the course, the Correns are still insisting on the threat of continuing their action in the BC Human Rights Tribunal, that the Board “Write personal letters of apology to all those students who were denied access to the course,” and that “The Board access and participate in sensitivity training, at its own expense, that the Tribunal recommends.”