The War on Parental Rights: Are You Losing Your Say in Your Child's Education?

Canada has long been viewed, both by its own citizens and by many in the world beyond, as a land of peace, opportunity and freedom. That freedom included the opportunity to raise a family, and in the process, pass on our values and beliefs, and those of our parents before us, to our children. Many still assume this is the case but that assumption may be overly optimistic.

In 1948 the world was just beginning to recover from the two most horrific conflicts in human history. The memory of the terror, not only imposed by the enemy, but also by secret police who enforced thought control on their populations, was still very real. Whether by Hitler's Brown Shirts or SS, or Stalin's dreaded NKVD, literally no one in those regimes felt safe.  Schools became places where the values and philosophies of the group in power were imposed upon students. 

On the 10th of December 1948, the General Assembly of the recently formed United Nations was meeting in Paris. At that meeting it passed Resolution 217A, The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The authors of this resolution had experienced or were profoundly aware that of recent date, totalitarian regimes had used schools to brainwash children into accepting philosophies and beliefs that were diametrically opposed to the belief structures, cultural or religious, of their parents and grandparents. As the state usurped the role of parent, it often turned children into their own parents' betrayers. Hence the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights had in mind, among other things, the intent to ensure schools could never again be used to brainwash children into accepting ideas opposed to the beliefs of their parents. 

The Government of Canada and that of the United States added their signature to this document in 1948, fundamentally agreeing to the content therein. When considering the family and the education of children, two clauses are notable:

The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State (Article 16.3).

Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children (Article 26.3).
(www.un.org) 

Despite the fact that our governments have agreed to these statements, we now see our respective school systems in overt violation of these principles. Not only are schools abandoning a strong knowledge-based curriculum in favour of a weakened "progressive" format, but over the past decade, especially in all of the Anglo-Saxon world, they have become tools for social activism, fully attempting to shape the minds of children into accepting and promoting ideas and philosophies which are, in many cases, contrary to what is taught at home. 

One may ask: Where has this been leading?  In an article published in Canada's national newspaper, the National Post (Jan 14, 2023), the writer referred to a "seismic change" that has taken place in Canadian schools over the last few years. 

'Kids were being taught to lie to parents,' said a Calgary mother whose child's Grade 6 class was told by a teacher that the gender identity of a classmate must be kept from that student's parents. In another instance, a Toronto mother complained that her child's school changed her kid's name and pronouns without ever consulting her. (NP View: Schools trampling parental rights in the name of affirming gender identity, National Post)

The article goes on to fully implicate The Public Health Agency of Canada in this campaign of violating parental rights:

The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) also advises schools to implement a "simple, one-stop procedure" for students to change their names and gender on official transcripts and not to "talk to anyone about (a student's) identity, including parents/caregivers, to whom they have not already disclosed their gender identity." Instead, staff are told to, "Discuss with them the possibility of rejection, harassment, verbal abuse, physical abuse and sexual abuse" (ibid).

Health authorities or school systems who make default policies to conceal some of the most sensitive and vital information to parents about their own children are betraying a trust to those parents and violating the UN Declaration to which the nation is a signatory.  
The same article tells the story of a father who was horrified to find out his daughter , who was identifying as a boy at school, was assigned to a room with three boys in a hotel while on a field trip. Fortunately the father found out and rectified the matter.  Also referenced is the fact that if a parent exercises their right to have a child opt out of  sexual education classes, events like "Gender Splendor" weeks with guest speakers are conducted, and include that student, without parental knowledge or consent. 

Executive Director John Hilton-O'Brien of the Alberta-based Parents for Choice in Education, an organization for the protection of parental rights, comments on who is really behind these student choices: 

When somebody introduces us to her vegan cat, we all know who is making the 
choices. . . .When an adult who is not the parent encourages alternative sexuality in a minor while encouraging them not to tell their parents, alarm bells go off.

This is happening in Alberta right now. Calgary's Metta gender identity clinic is accepting referrals of children as young as five years old, from teachers. Parents don't need to be in the loop. In fact, Canada's Public Health Agency enjoins teachers not to "out" such kids to their parents.
(www.parentchoice.ca)

It is interesting how neo-Marxist social activism can be permitted to destroy centuries of parental rights which are in fact ensconced in law. It is also worthy of note that in addition to the UN Declaration on Human Rights, most nations in the Western world have also signed The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The Canadian Government signed this on May 19,1976, and the Government of the United States in 1992, becoming part of the law of the land under the supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution.  It guarantees protection of the family as well as the right of parents to teach their religious and moral convictions: 

The States Parties to the present Covenant undertake to have respect for the liberty of parents and, when applicable, legal guardians to ensure the religious and moral education of their children in conformity with their own convictions (Article 18.4).
(www.ohchr.org)

How is it then that groups of activists are allowed to usurp the rights of parents to raise and influence their children, and to choose the kind of education that they will receive? 

What are your children being taught? You have a right to know and a right to make choices for your child, correct and courageous choices, especially if those choices include raising a child in accordance with a way of life that aligns with traditional Biblical principles—values which will long outlive the present societal madness.  

Please take time to check out of Viewpoint entitled: Freedom of Thought: The Goal of Modern Western Education.