During Question Period on June 13th, a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) made false statements on the public record about Parents for Choice in Education (PCE).

PCE has submitted a letter to the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly formally requesting that the MLA issue a public retraction of the inaccurate representation of our organization and that a correction be made in the record of the Assembly regarding the mission, principles and advocacy work of PCE.

A PDF of the letter is available by clicking the image below.

Devastating outcomes should not be ignored

During the Question Period exchange in which PCE was specifically mentioned (see Alberta Hansard, page 805), the MLA for Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood aggressively questioned Education Minister LaGrange regarding those who were consulted in relation to Bill 8, and whether those consultations were limited only to those who were in agreement with the Minister.

PCE would ask the exact same question of the MLA for Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood, and all other members of her NDP caucus: Have they limited their consultations only to those who agree with them, or have they taken time to consider the first-hand experiences of students, parents, principals and school staff who have already experienced devastating impacts of the poorly-written legislation that their party continues to defend?

• A student, taken off school property during school hours, was told that “his mother would not know if he attended a GSA conference and miss all of his classes” and he was provided with materials including 153 condoms and a graphic sexual flip book that explicitly showed step by step illustrations for sexual activity. (Calgary Herald, Dec. 4, 2018)
  
  
• A student with autism almost died from suicide after living a double life as a boy at school and a girl at home, leaving the parents “pleading with Rachel Notley’s NDP government to ‘not shut parents out of their children’s lives’ and ‘to bring some nuance’ into Bill 24”. (Calgary Herald, May 7, 2018)
  
  
• A principal of a Catholic Francophone school was abruptly suspended from his position when students made allegations against him regarding how he had dealt with their GSA.  The legal fees for the school board are over half a million dollars so far. (Edmonton Journal, March 14, 2019) Additionally, concerns have been expressed that students were removed from school property without parental knowledge or consent. (St. Paul Journal, May 9, 2018)

We urge all MLAs to do their homework and engage in genuine consultation before they make comments on the public record in the Legislative Assembly.

As always, PCE welcomes dialogue with any of Alberta's elected representatives who wish to engage in respectful and reasonable discussion in order to more accurately understand our mission and principles, as well as the important work we do to support Alberta students by advocating for excellence in education through maximum parental choice.