David Krayden: New Poll Suggests ‘Million March For Children’ Parents Are the Majority

Participants march near the grounds of Queen's Park in Toronto during the cross-Canada "1MillionMarch4Children" protest on Sept. 20, 2023. The Canadian Press/Spencer Colby

Commentary

A new survey suggests that people such as the hundreds of thousands to millions of Canadians who recently marched in solidarity for parental rights and against gender ideology indoctrination in the schoolroom are not part of any radical fringe group that is dislocated from current thinking or political norm.

They are the majority.

This is all very interesting because that is precisely the point that the #1MillionMarch4Children made on Sept. 20. I attended and reported on the Ottawa march, where at least 10,000 people demonstrated in favour of parents and in defence of children. It was a happy, enthusiastic crowd of Muslims, evangelical Christians, Roman Catholics, Sikhs, Hindus, and others.

There were people there from many political persuasions, and I interviewed many of them. I also interviewed the march’s organizer, Kamel El-Cheikh, about two months ago when he first announced his intention to mobilize parents of all faiths and politics to defend stop the gender ideology madness in the school system.

The protest was met by a counter-protest in Ottawa and at other sites across Canada. These groups were significantly smaller in number, and were at least in part the result of a now infamous video conference call on Sept. 15 that brought a variety of Ontario union leaders together on company time to work for the LGBTQ forces.

The counter-protesters accused the parents of being hateful and labelled them as fascists, as if caring about what your child is taught in the classroom can ever be described as hatred. And apparently not knowing that it is fascist, Nazi, and communist regimes that insist upon the state—and not parents—rearing and educating children.

The Angus Reid survey says 56 percent of Canadians define a person as either a male or female, and that people cannot wake up one day and simply decide that they have changed their gender any more than they can decide to change their race or ethnic origin. In other words, most Canadians still believe in a principle called objective truth.

The poll also found that the phenomenon of biological men deciding to be women and then being used as some sort of ideal representative of womanhood is disconcerting.

Only 35 percent of Canadians agreed with the concept of gender fluidity—that biology really doesn’t matter and sex is just a state of mind.

There wasn’t widespread support for biological men competing in women’s sports either, with only 31 percent saying this should be a policy. The remainder are divided between banning transgender athletes in women’s competition and those who insist it should depend upon the sport in question

There was virtually no approval for gender hormone “therapy” or chemical castration for “trans youth,” with only 20 percent of both parents and the general population supporting such intervention. Although 69 percent of parents said they would accept their child’s desire to change his or her gender, they clearly want to know about any such decision and the opportunity to approve or disapprove it.

The survey also found Canadians are weary of Orwellian language—or what is termed as “gender neutral language—being used to describe something that anyone can identify. Whereas the language Gestapo wants us to use words like “birthing people” to describe a pregnant woman, a clear majority in the survey reject this mendacious and misleading description.

Despite the Million March for Children attracting the monumental numbers that it did, and apparently despite the poll cited in this column and others like it, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was quick to condemn the protest and smear the parents as haters.

He said it all with this post on X: “Let me make one thing very clear: Transphobia, homophobia, and biphobia have no place in this country. We strongly condemn this hate and its manifestations, and we stand united in support of 2SLGBTQI+ Canadians across the country – you are valid and you are valued.”

Clearly, the Liberal government is waging a cultural war against Canadians on a variety of fronts: from an expanding euthanasia program euphemistically entitled “Medical Assistance in Suicide” to accelerating internet censorship that will culminate in an Online Safety bill that will prosecute “disinformation” on social media. Although gender ideology is being pushed in the schools via provincial governments and local school boards, the federal government emphatically aligned itself with this policy and its objectives.

Trudeau should be uncharacteristically prudent and listen to parents and to accurately appraise the mood of the nation of this issue.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre clearly is doing just that. Although he did not join the parental rights march—Peoples Party of Canada Leader Maxime Bernier and Christian Heritage Party Leader Rod Tayor did—and despite disappointing many for doing so, he is clearly listening to the grassroots, or at least has the political wisdom to read polls.

On Sept. 22, Poilievre responded to Trudeau’s post about various phobias and noted on X: “Justin Trudeau always divides to distract from all he has broken. This time, he is demonizing concerned parents. Parents should be the final authority on the values and lessons that are taught to children. Trudeau should butt out and let parents raise their kids.”

Yes, he should because these are vital issues that engender consequential decisions for children and parents and these concerns should never be dismissed out of hand and unnecessarily excoriated by this Liberal government.

Provinces like Saskatchewan and New Brunswick have introduced legislation that says parents must know and provide their permission if children under 16 decide to change their gender, and Manitoba’s premier has promised to do the same if re-elected.

Even Quebec is banning “gender-neutral” bathrooms.

It’s time the federal government also listened to parents.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.