P.E.I. sex-ed curriculum should be updated faster, says minister

P.E.I.'s minister of education and lifelong learning says the province is working to update its sexual health curriculum and he wants to see if the process can be accelerated.

'There's a lot that has changed in attitudes and the world in general'

Sarah MacMillan CBC News Posted: Jun 19, 2019 7:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: June 19, 2019

The province says it will renew sex education in classrooms across the Island and plans to begin piloting a new curriculum for grades 1-3 during the next school year.

P.E.I.'s minister of education and lifelong learning says the province is working to update its sexual health curriculum,and he wants to see if the process can be accelerated.

Brad Trivers spoke about the province's plansafter Green Party MLA Karla Bernard put forward a motion calling on government to develop a newcomprehensive sexual health curriculum. Bernard's motion received unanimous supportTuesday evening.

"I heard from many high school teachers that the curriculum is really outdated. It still defines the family as, you know, the mum, the dad and the children," said Bernard, who is the opposition education critic.

"Those gender roles are so outdated. And that language is very outdated as well."

A motion indicates support, but does not tie government to action.

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Consent, relationships, gender

Trivers saidhe's heard concerns about out-of-date curricula, and he agrees improvements are needed.

Green Party MLA Karla Bernard introduced the motion during the evening sitting of the legislature Tuesday. (Legislative Assembly of P.E.I.)

"Our teachers are fantastic, and so I think they probably take that old curriculum and update it themselves," he said. "But we need to have a standard across the board, and so that's what we're working towards."

Bernard saidshe would like to see sexual health curriculum that introduces students to issues likeconsent, healthy relationships,and the fluidity of gender and gender roles.

She said she believes comprehensive sexual health education can help students physicallyand emotionally.

"Let's say there's a student who's struggling with their gender, they're struggling with their identity, and if they're sitting in a classroom that talks about that and normalizes that, well then they're not going to feel so alone and isolated in this," said Bernard.

"They're going to feel that, 'Hey, this is normal, there's other people that feel like me.'"

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Province already working on updates

Triverssaid the province is already working to update curricula with different implementation timelines over the next few years for different grades from grades 1 to 9.

Brad Trivers, minister of education and lifelong learning, says he wants to see if the province's sexual health curriculum can be updated more quickly. (Legislative Assembly of P.E.I.)

After the discussion on Bernard's motion, Trivers said he wantedto consult with the Department of Educationto see if it's possible to accelerate the development of the curricula, and also to find out about a timeline for updating the curriculafor grades 10 to 12.

"When it comes to the development of youth and children, their sexuality is a big piece of that," he said.

"There's a lot that has changed in attitudes and the world in general from the last time the curriculum was done."

Bernard said she was glad to hear the enthusiasm and support from Trivers.

"Given the new spirit of collaboration, I'm going to choose to really believe that," Bernard said.