ONTARIO SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHERS' FEDERATION
Sex Ed changes backward, dangerous and divisive, says OSSTF/FEESO President

Speaking in Toronto today, Harvey Bischof, President of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation (OSSTF/FEESO), repeated his opposition to the Ford government's decision to repeal Ontario's 2015 Health and Physical Education curriculum and revert to a curriculum that dates back to 1998.

Addressing more than 400 delegates and guests at OSSTF/FEESO's annual Leadership Conference, Bischof said, "The premise for this backward step is false from the outset. This is not about consultation. It is a political pay-off that jeopardizes students' health and well-being while pandering to a certain kind of extreme intolerance, consequences be damned."

"We will work with whomever we can," he said, "to oppose this backward, dangerous, divisive initiative."

"We know that we have members who feel trapped between their obligation to follow employer direction and their ethical imperative to keep students safe," continued Bischof. "We will defend to the hilt any member who, in the good faith exercise of professional judgment, strays outside the confines of the 1998 curriculum in her or his students' best interests."

Bischof stated that OSSTF/FEESO remains open to establishing a productive relationship with the government. "We are entirely willing to establish a meaningful dialogue through which to advocate for the interests of OSSTF/FEESO members and the interests of publicly-funded education. Should the Ford government wish to listen to the advice of professionals in the field, from JK to University, we will work with them. But we will be absolutely firm and resolute in the defence of those interests should the government move in any direction that poses a threat."