NORTH BATTLEFORD - Battlefords and Area Sexual Assault Centre is getting support from the City of North Battleford in their efforts to convince the province to lift a ban on their organization presenting in schools.
BASAC Executive Director Amber Stewart was before city council on Monday, where she asked for and will be receiving a letter of support from the City, asking for an exemption for sexual assault centres to be able to resume their prevention presentations in schools.
BASAC was one of the organizations impacted by the announcement by the Ministry of Education in August which called for pause on any third-party organizations from presenting on sexual health education in schools. That pause came into effect following the controversial presentation by Planned Parenthood in which cards with age-inappropriate material were brought to a Lumsden high school.
In her presentation at City Hall, Stewart told council that schools were told to halt third party organizations delivering content “directly or indirectly related to sex, and/or gender.” She believes there may be confusion out there about what they do.
“We may have the word ‘sexual’ in our title, but we do not feel we should have been caught in his net with this policy, because our programming is child sexual abuse, prevention and education, not sexual health or gender identity programming.”
Stewart said their programs are focused on body autonomy and boundaries. She pointed to programs such as one used for kindergarten to grade three students called the Protect Yourself Rules.
This consists of six rules for kids to follow to protect themselves from abuse, including telling an adult, unsafe touches, smart choices, how it doesn’t matter who it is, how hitting is wrong and telling them to stop.
“None of these are sexual health or gender identity,” she said.
For the later grades, BASAC’s programs talk about emotions, image and self esteem, relationships, everyday consent and the laws around consent, human trafficking, and so on, and for even higher grades also discuss more age-appropriate topics such as the impact of drugs and alcohol. Stewart also made clear the programs are provided as part of the health curriculum, not the sexual health curriculum.
She said the presentations are done in line with the Saskatchewan curriculum and that they delivered over 3,000 presentations in the last school year, Stewart also said that parents are provided with consent forms outlining the content for their programs. Now, all their work has come to a halt, she said.
Members of council made clear were supportive of Stewart’s request, seeing it as a community safety issue.
“This makes perfect sense. We want our kids to be safe… this is one step in that direction,” said Councillor Len Taylor.
Councillor Kent Lindgren pointed to the alignment with the city’s Strategic Plan and its provisions on supporting safety and wellness. He also spoke in favor of third-party agencies in general who “enhance and really build upon the work that others are doing.”
In the end council voted unanimously in favor of BASAC’s request for a letter to the province.
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