TORONTO, July 23, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – As evidence mounts regarding the influence former Ontario Deputy Minister of Education Dr. Benjamin Levin exerted in developing the province’s temporarily shelved “sexual diversity” sex-ed curriculum, it has been revealed that the alleged child pornographer also criticized criminal background checks for adults working with school children.
In the cover story of the June 2013 Literary Review of Canada, Levin argued that “all adults working with students” should not have to “undergo criminal record checks.” The essay, titled Getting to Better Schools, appeared only days before his July 8 arrest.
Levin mentioned in the essay how schools could provide a better education experience for students if they partnered with community groups. He said, however, that such partnerships “can be made more difficult by various rules with good intentions but sometimes bad consequences, such as the requirement that all adults working with students must undergo criminal record checks.”
“Imagine if a bishop said that? Imagine if a conservative said that,” said James Doak, a concerned Ottawa parent who has fought to preserve traditional values in the school system, to LifeSiteNews.com (LSN).
“Where is the criticism from the mainstream media, the educrats, the politicians, the school board trustees? None!”
Doak said that the silence surrounding the high profile case of Dr. Levin indicates the apathy “the establishment” has towards protecting vulnerable children from sexual predators.
“Who really cares about stopping sexual abuse of children? Not the establishment apparently,” he said.
Jack Fonseca of Campaign Life Coalition told LSN that Levin’s essay “sets off bright red flags and very loud alarm bells.”
“It's hard not to read a sinister motive into that statement, given the allegations. Is it beyond the pale to think that alleged pedophiles might want to avoid criminal record checks so that it’s easier for them to seduce and have sex with kids?”
Gwen Landolt, national vice-president of REAL Women Canada, said that it was “in keeping with his propensity” that Levin would criticize background checks.
“Such people want to have access to children,” she said. “The whole name of their game is to sexualize and have access to children.”
“If you have any propensity to — or background in — child pornography, or luring of children, then you don’t want that to be exposed, because you would be cut off from your source of having vulnerable children at your disposal.”
Fonseca called Levin’s criticism of background checks “one more warning sign” about the Equity & Inclusive Education curriculum that he oversaw as Deputy Education Minister between 2004-2009.
The sex-education curriculum, developed with an underlying “sexual diversity” agenda, included teaching children about gender identity, homosexuality, masturbation, and oral sex. In a 2009 letter, Levin, as Kathleen Wynne’s deputy minister of education, called the sex-ed strategy a “priority for our Minister of Education Kathleen Wynne and me.”
While the curriculum was shelved by then-Premier Dalton McGuinty in 2010 after strong backlash from outraged parents, Premier Kathleen Wynne has vowed to resurrect it.
“We are going to evolve the physical health and sex education curriculum,” Wynne said on January 27th, according to Xtra. “We have developed curriculum in this province for decades, and we have done it in a way that has integrity.”
The 61-year-old Levin was arrested earlier this month in the wake of an international child pornography and child exploitation sting that led to his doorstep. He was charged with making child pornography, distributing child pornography, and agreeing to or arranging for a sexual offense against a child under 16. Added to those charges were possessing child pornography and accessing child pornography.
The University of Toronto announced Friday that it has released Levin from his research and teaching duties at the University’s Institute for Studies in Education, citing the “gravity of the charges”.
“The charges against Prof. Levin are extremely serious,” the university said in a written statement.
The formerly tenured professor has since been released on $100,000 bail, with a date in court set for August 8.
Editor's note: The headline for this article originally identified Benjamin Levin as education minister rather than deputy minister. We regret the error.