News & Analysis

Key British Columbia school board elections

Municipal election day in British Columbia will take place Saturday November 15th. CLC is watching two important school board races, where parental rights and the well-being of children are at stake. In the Vancouver School Board election and the Burnaby School District 41, there is a stark difference between the candidates.

Vancouver School Board

In Vancouver's public school board race, two candidates stand out in defense of parental rights in education. They also oppose at least some elements of a harmful sexual agenda in the Vancouver School Board. On the board of 9 trustees, 7 are rated by CLC as "Not Supportable" while only 2 trustees (Ken Denike & Sophia Woo) are classified as being in favour of parental rights.

In 2012, Trustees Ken Denike and Sophia Woo did the right thing when they spoke out against the gay-activist Out In Schools organization, an alleged "anti-bullying program" which directed students to view explicit gay pornography. Denike and Woo jointly created a video pointing out the inappropriate graphic sexual content linked to the so-called "anti-homophobia" program. They called for the school board to reclaim greater oversight over school-sanctioned programs.

Instead of being applauded by their fellow trustees, Denike and Woo were attacked by the board, slandered as "homophobic" and officially censured. To learn more about the grossly inappropriate nature of the Out In Schools program, click here. (Caution: material is disturbing).

In 2014, Trustees Denike and Woo held a press conference in which they criticized an upcoming policy change by the Vancouver School Board which would allow biological males to use the girls' washrooms. All that would be required to permit this practice is for the boy to claim that he has an interior "feeling" of being a woman inside his mind, or vice-versa for girls.  

It is of great concern to the well-being of children that the policy would encourage children who struggle with sexual-confusion to self-label as "transgendered", "transsexual" or some other variant of gender identity disorder. Furthermore, the policy apparently requires that teachers and principals hide this information from parents, under the guise of student "confidentiality". Learn more about this shocking violation of parental rights here and here.

Trustees Denike and Woo pointed out that local realtors feared this Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation Policy would affect property values in the area, due to the fact that many of the families of international students do not agree with such a radical social engineering experiment. Again, Denike and Woo were attacked by the other trustees for daring to question the policy, which clearly is motivated by sexual politics rather than any genuine desire to benefit students. In June 2014, their party, the NPA, kicked them out of caucus.  

If you're an eligible voter in the Vancouver School Board, please take the following actions:

#1. Vote for the pro-parental rights candidates, Ken Denike and Sophia Woo.
     (Tip: to increase their chances of winning, do not vote for any of the other non-supportable candidates, even though you're allowed to choose up to 9 candidates on the ballot)
#2. Ask all your friends, relatives and neighbours to vote for these candidates.
#3. Contact the other candidates rated as "unknown" on CLC's candidate comparison web page here, and ask them the 3 questions below. Then, report their answers back to CLC so we can update their rating and inform other Vancouver voters.

      a) Do you support or oppose the board's Gender Identity & Sexual Orientation policy which, under the guise of 'confidentiality' keeps parents in the dark about their children's behaviour in school related to gender identity dysphoria or sexual confusion?
   b) Will you defend the inherent right of parents to be notified in advance regarding any lesson, speaker or presentation involving controversial issues such as abortion, contraception and homosexuality?
   c) Do you agree that parents should have the right to withdraw their children from classroom lessons or presentations involving controversial issues such as abortion, contraception and homosexuality?

 

Burnaby School District 41

Over to the east, another key race will be in the Burnaby Public School Board, District 41.  In the 2010 municipal election a key issue for traditionally-principled families was the board's implementation of an anti-family "homophobia" policy which had the effect of stigmatizing all families who believe in the true definition of marriage and slandering them as somehow being "homophobic".  Parents were also concerned that the curriculum changes would undermine the religious and moral values they teach their children at home about marriage and human sexuality. 

Unfortunately, the anti-parental rights trustees retained their seats in the 2010 election.

In 2014, CLC has identified two candidates who respect parental rights in education. They are Mr. Elias Ishak and Mrs. Franca Zumpano-Luango.  There are other candidates currently rated as "unknown" by CLC because they have not answered our survey questions, but could potentially be supportable. 

If you are an eligible voter in Burnaby School District 41, please take the following actions:

#1. Vote for the pro-parental rights, candidates Elias Ishak and Franca Zumpano-Luango.
      (Tip: to increase the chances of them winning, do not vote for any of the other non-supportable candidates, even though you're allowed to choose up to 7 candidates)

#2. Ask all your friends, relatives and neighbours to vote for these candidates.

#3. Contact the other candidates rated as "unknown" on CLC's candidate comparison web page here, and ask them the 3 questions below. Then, report their answers back to CLC so we can update their rating and inform other Burnaby voters.

      a) Do you agree that parents, not the state, have the inherent right of primacy in education of children? 
   b) Will you defend the inherent right of parents to be notified in advance regarding any lesson, speaker or presentation involving controversial issues such as abortion, contraception and homosexuality?
   c) Do you agree that parents should have the right to withdraw their children from classroom lessons or presentations involving controversial issues such as abortion, contraception and homosexuality?

 

Thank you for protecting children and parental rights with your vote!