A sexual education organization, previously banned from New Brunswick schools by former Progressive Conservative Premier Blaine Higgs over “inappropriate” content, is set to return to classrooms in the province.
Montreal-based HPV Global Action is expected to resume sex-ed presentations in New Brunswick schools under the newly elected Liberal government of Susan Holt, who has
criticized former premier Higgs’s approach to the province’s sexual education curriculum.
In the spring, Higgs suspended HPV Global Action from presenting at any school after receiving photos and screenshots from parents of “clearly inappropriate material” used by the organization in at least four high schools, he said in a May 24 social media
post.
A photo attached to the post shows several questions displayed by the group on a board, including “Is it normal to watch porn like people watch TV series?” and other comments about sexual acts.
The then-premier said the presentation was not part of the provincial curriculum, and that parents had not been notified of its content. “This group will not be allowed to present again at New Brunswick schools, effective immediately,” Higgs wrote, adding that “children should be protected, and parents should be respected.”
HPV Global Action
was founded in 2006 with the stated purpose of “spreading inclusive information on sexual and reproductive health.” It
offers academic programs, delivered in the form of school presentations, including a puberty program for Grades 5 to 6, a pre-adolescent program for Grades 7 to 8, and comprehensive sessions on sexual health and relationships for secondary and post-secondary students.
The Epoch Times reached out to HPV Global Action, but did not hear back by publication time.
In mid-2023, Higgs’s government
became the first in Canada to implement a
policy change that required teachers to obtain parental consent before using the preferred first name and pronoun of a transgender or non-binary student who is under 16. He said the policy was needed to ensure parental rights and protect children, and that there had been “an erosion of what we might have always considered standard.”
In response to Higgs’s announcement of his policy review, Holt said in a
statement that the provincial government was putting LGBT students and teachers “at risk for targeted harassment, violence, and left them wondering if they will have a safe place in our education system.”
Holt has said her newly elected government is working to make changes to the province’s gender policies.
The Canadian Press and Matthew Horwood contributed to this report.
