By Tanya Granic Allen

Kathleen Wynne, who seems intent on controlling all decisions regarding our children’s education, has another item she can tick off her agenda.

After it was brought to Wynne’s attention by a reporter that high school students in Hamilton are earning their required volunteer hours by participating in pro-life activities such as 40 Days for Life, Wynne saw her opportunity and seized it.

These students are no longer allowed to earn volunteer hours by participating in social justice activities that run contrary to Wynne’s worldview.

“That is the first I’ve heard of that, and I will just say that was never the intention of the 40 hours of volunteer work,” Wynne told the reporter.

Her government is now “looking into the matter,” according to Education Minister Mitzie Hunter. In other words, it won’t be allowed.

Minister Hunter recognizes that school boards are expected to develop a list of approved activities in consultation with parent councils and other committees. Students have been doing pro-life volunteer work for years with parental knowledge and consent but Minister Hunter says “providing these credits for such use does not seem to be what these community involvement activities were designed for.”

Kathleen Wynne and her government couldn’t be more ideological. It’s okay, of course, for students to earn volunteer hours volunteering at Planned Parenthood, or for any number of social justice issues that promote her anti-family agenda. For Wynne, parents’ views and values don’t matter; and now, neither do those of students.

And, it doesn’t matter that the students were only following school policy. Chair of the Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic District School Board, Pat Daly, says the required 40 community service hours can include “pro-life activity similar to many other types of social justice issues.”

Unless we take action, our rights will be continually stripped from us. Our elected officials should represent our views but they either remain silent or vote with Wynne. If we want others to speak out, we must lead by example. That’s why Queenie Yu and I are training supporters to respond to attacks against our children and values.

If you’re interested in being trained or to invite us to speak to your group, please email me at tanya@pafe.ca. To help us train more people, please make a donation to PAFE today.

To take advantage of a generous political tax credit, you can donate to Queenie Yu's Stop The New Sex-Ed Agenda by clicking here. Queenie works towards the same goals as PAFE so we're on the same side! A donation of $400 costs you approximately $100 because of the 75% tax credit.

For the family,

Tanya Granic Allen
President 

PAFE (Parents As First Educator)