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Posts Tagged ‘sex ed’

Introductory Presentation – Greg Pavelich Memorial Public Forum on Education

October 1st, 2013 Comments off

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The introductory presentation delivered by Queer Ontario Chair, Nick Mulé, at the Greg Pavelich Memorial Public Forum on Education (October 1, 2013).

A downloadable version can be found after the embedded Scribd document.
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Downloadable Version:
QueerOntario-GregPavelichMemorialPublicForumEducation-Intro

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Support the Rescinded Ontario Health and Physical Education Curriculum

October 17th, 2012 Comments off

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Greetings,
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Queer Ontario recently supported Ophea’s report (released below), and its call to action to have the updated 2010 version of the Ontario health and physical curriculum implemented once again.
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This new curriculum would have included progressive LGBT-inclusive amendments to the sex ed curriculum, which was part of the ‘controversy’ that led to the Liberal government’s rescinding of the amendments soon after they were made public. As such, Ontario students are still being taught the outdated 1998 curriculum. An overview of the controversy can be read here: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2010/04/22/sex-ed.html
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Indeed, we encourage you to read the report and sign Ophea’s petition, here: http://www.ophea.net/timetomove
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In sol,
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Casey Oraa
Vice-Chair
Queer Ontario
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Original message from Chris Markham, Executive Director & CEO of Ophea (originally the Ontario Physical and Health Education Association)
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Hello everyone,
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As you are aware, Ophea has been working on advocacy related to finalization, release and implementation of the health and physical education (H&PE) curriculum for a few years now. Recently, our efforts have focused on the development of a report highlighting the state of child and youth health in Ontario, and the potential for H&PE to have a positive impact on the alarming trends.
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Today, that report was officially released and will be accompanied by a grassroots advocacy campaign encouraging members of the general public to read the report, sign an online petition in support of release and implementation of the curriculum, and send letters advocating for the release to their MPP and local newspaper. All of this can be found online at www.ophea.net/timetomove or www.ophea.net/fr/passezalaction. We encourage you to share this information with your networks, both professional and personal.
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I recognize that there are many competing priorities in the health and education sectors, but we firmly believe that H&PE has the potential to be the most significant health promotion intervention ever, impacting 2.1 million children and youth and their families. It is time for an updated H&PE curriculum.  If you have any questions or need further information, please do not hesitate to contact me at chris@ophea.org or 416-426-7126.
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Additionally, an exclusive article was published today (on page 10 in the front section) in the Toronto Star, titled ‘Ontario slammed for outdated sex ed and mental health curriculum’. You can find the article here (http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/1272563–ontario-slammed-for-outdated-sex-ed-and-mental-health-curriculum), as well as on the Toronto Star homepage.
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Thank you,
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Chris Markham
Executive Director & CEO
e: chris@ophea.org
p: 416-426-7126
f: 416-426-7373
www.ophea.net

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Ed Forum Thanks + April 28 GSA Strat Meeting + QO GSA Defense Fund

April 14th, 2011 Comments off

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Thanks to everyone who came out last night to “Sex Ed, GSAs and Religion in Publicly Funded Schools – an educational forum”! Over 100 people showed up, engaged, contemplated and discussed! Thanks to our sponsors, supporters and fantastic panelists! Lastly, thanks to you, the in house audience, as well as those following online for joining us and for supporting LGBTQ youth!

Moving forward, there were two important announcements made last night that we want to raise again here.

On Thursday, April 28th, Queer Ontario will be hosting a Community Strategy Meeting to discuss what we can do to support students in their quest to form Gay Straight Alliances. Come on down and join us from 6-8 PM at the 519 (519 Church St.) as we work together to ensure that these students rights to form a GSA are restored.

Secondly, we are pleased to announce the creation of the “Queer Ontario GSA Defense Fund”! This fund will be used to empower students in their struggles to get GSAs in their schools and is already growing thanks to the generous collective donations exceeding $300 took in at the Forum last night. If you’d like to donate to the fund, you can send a cheque to Queer Ontario, PO Box 822, Station A, Toronto, Ontario, M5W 1G3 noting in the memo that the funds are for the “QO GSA Defense Fund” or, you can donate online through PayPal – again, please make sure to note the donation is for the “QO Defense Fund” in the “Contact Details” section.

Thank you for your continued support and work around these issues and see you on the 28th!

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