British Columbia played host to protests and counter-protests over school resources meant to counter bullying against LGBTQ2 students in schools on Friday.
Turnout to what was billed as the “1 Million March 4 Children” in B.C. was sparse in comparison to previous years. Similar events were staged across Canada.
About 100 people protested in Surrey in opposition to SOGI, the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity resource package, on Friday.
Just a handful of people turned out in Coquitlam and Kelowna, while protests failed to materialize at all in Victoria or Vancouver, though counter-protesters turned up.
Opponents claim the tools “sexualize” children and are a form of indoctrination.
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“If you wish to learn about these ideologies or concepts, people should have the right to do so,” protester Graeme Flannigan said in Kelowna.
“But when the children’s mind is still forming at such a young age we believe they cannot comprehend what is being instructed to them.”
The turnout was in stark contrast to demonstrations in previous years, which saw massive turnouts on both sides of the issue and where debates over sexual orientation and gender identity have at times grown heated.
In 2023, demonstrators and counter-protest packed the Vancouver Art Gallery protest where tensions flared, while in Victoria the crowds grew so large police asked people to leave the legislature grounds amid escalating tensions.
In 2024, the same locations saw no anti-SOGI protesters at all, while a handful of LGBTQ2 supporters rallied at both.
In Kelowna, LGBTQ2 rights advocate and president of Advocacy Canada Wilbur Turner said the situation in B.C. reflected low turnouts across Canada.
“People are walking away disgusted because of the hate that is coming from the speakers. I really think their message is something Canadians don’t want to hear,” he said.
Turner said the acrimony over SOGI was being spurred by misinformation about what the resource package actually does.
“There is misinformation out there that it is about sex education, which it totally isn’t. It’s just resources to create safe classes for everyone,” he said.
“Teaching kids to accept each other even though there are differences.”
While passions appeared to have cooled on Friday, the issue could still become an issue in B.C.’s upcoming provincial election.
The BC NDP remain strong supporters of the program, while BC Conservative Leader John Rustad has vowed to scrap it, calling it a “failure” that has “become a distraction” and is “divisive.”