To Protect Alberta Children
1. Bill 10, the Alberta Government’s Best Practices Education Guidelines, and the fact sex education and curriculum on the whole is now getting a rewrite is reason to be concerned. Read the Education Guidelines for yourself. Read Bill 10 . Read Bill 7.
2. Sign the parent notification form and deliver it to your school in September 2016.
3. Contact your own MLA with your opposition to the Education Guidelines. Request that a protocol be written into education legislation that requires the notification of parents when children are counselled or attend a club for the purpose of group support and counselling unless there is reason to believe a child is at risk. If parents are circumvented (which should be rare) then the protocol must have an expectation that a second outside resource be provided to a child (example: medical care or social services) and proper documentation of the care must be added to the child's records. Request that notification must be given to parents prior to any curricular or extra curricular education that discusses sex, sexuality, or gender studies. To find your MLA go to: Find Your MLA.
4. Call both your MLA’s local constituency office as well as the Legislature Office in Edmonton.
5. Email your MLA. Write your own personal message, or send materials produced by groups like Parents for Choice in Education (parentchoice.ca) which explain why the Guidelines and Bill 10 are harmful to children. The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (www.jccf.ca) also has helpful information, e.g. published columns found under “In the news”, such as “Parents simply must have the final say” and “The NDP’s genderless utopia.” There is no harm, and no shame, in asking your MLA to read materials produced by Parents for Choice in Education and other groups, especially if you feel that you yourself cannot articulate your concerns as well as you might like. More columns and information can be found HERE.
6. When emailing your MLA, copy:
Education Minister David Eggen: [email protected]
Education critic WR Mark Smith: [email protected]
NDP Leader Rachel Notley: [email protected]
Opposition Wildrose Leader Brian Jean: [email protected]
PC Leader Ric McIver: [email protected]
7. Request a meeting with your MLA to discuss your concerns about the Guidelines and Bill 10. If possible, go with a friend or family member (even is she/he does not live in the same electoral district as you). If you are truly not able to make time to meet with your MLA, then as a minimum be sure to phone and email your MLA.
8. Contact your School Board Trustee: Catholic or Public. Share with her/him the same concerns, and the same materials, that you share with your MLA. Request a meeting with your school board trustee, or, as a minimum, phone and email her/him.
9. Mobilise your network to take all of these steps; ask your friends and family members to do what you are doing (or have done). For example: phone, email, Facebook, or tweet, and tell them: “I just called/emailed my MLA to say "NO" to removing parental rights from my child's education”, and ask them to do the same. Copy this document and share it widely.
10. Plan to attend our yearly peaceful rally to protect Alberta children, by upholding parental rights. We will stand together every May to remind the Alberta Government that we believe excellence in education can only be achieved if parents have choice!