Pencils, notebooks, sexual health education: YWCAs launch Alberta-wide reminder about new sex ed. opt-in law for students

The YWCAs of Alberta have launched a campaign to remind parents to opt-in to sexual health education. CTV News Edmonton's Miriam Valdes-Carletti reports.

The YWCAs of Alberta have launched a campaign to remind parents about opt-in sexual health education this school year in the wake of new provincial legislation.

Starting Sept. 1, the province will follow an opt-in framework, meaning parents must give consent for most gender and sexual orientation-related teachings on behalf of their child.

• The information you need to know, sent directly to you: Download the CTV News App

As the new school year ushers in a busy time of parental decisions, YWCAs covering Edmonton, Calgary, Banff and Lethbridge launched “Opting In: Informed Choices for Healthy Futures.”

“What we want is a friendly reminder about the importance of sexual education and how integral it is to ensuring the health and safety of our children and our community,” said YWCA Edmonton CEO Katherine O’Neill in an interview on Tuesday.

To O’Neill, the reminder for this brand-new law comes hand-in-hand with reminders to stock up on pencils and notebooks.

“We know parents have a lot on their plates, so this is a public service by the YWCA to bring that reminder to folks in our communities,” she added.

The new policy falls under Alberta’s Education Amendment Act, which received Royal Assent in December 2024.

According to the provincial government’s website, school authorities must make parents aware of how to opt their children into any lessons that deal “primarily and explicitly with gender identity, sexual orientation and human sexuality.”

Previously, schools operated on an opt-out policy, wherein parents could pull their children out of sexual health education courses for extenuating circumstances.

‘It’s a preference’

O’Neill said the concern is that some parents who would otherwise allow their children to receive sexual health education may forget to keep an eye on how to opt in now that the courses aren’t an automatic guarantee.

She added that the move might also give parents room to reconsider the value of sexual health education, which she said the YWCA cares “deeply about.”

According to data from Open Alberta, 2024 saw the youngest birth age of a mother in the province in 23 years.

Public data shows an 11-year-old girl gave birth last year. There were also six births attributed to 14-year-old girls.

“The YWCA has been around for more than 100 years, and we look at the evidence, we look at the research, and it is crystal clear about how important sexual education is for the health and safety of our children,” O’Neill said.

“When you have good sexual education as a youth, you’ll protect yourself against things like STDs, teen pregnancies and also help build healthy relationships.”

Some parents, of course, are already thinking about the role of sexual education in schools, both Catholic and public.

Arlene Seegerts, a retired teacher, told CTV News Edmonton on Tuesday that she believes certain things need to come from the family.

“Families will all have different cultural, spiritual, religious perspectives that they want to pass down to their children,” Seegerts said, noting that the increasing mix of cultural differences means that blanket education isn’t always the solution.

Seegerts said her family is one that honours and accepts people’s choices but notes that “acceptance is very different from imposition.”

AJ Onubog told CTV News Edmonton on Tuesday that he respects a parent’s decision but personally has no problem with opting into sexual health education on behalf of his children.

“It’s a preference … When it comes to it being in the curriculum, I should be aware of what exactly they are being taught,” he said, adding that different conversations need to be held at different stages of a child’s life.

“I can’t speak for other parents who don’t want to have those conversations, but I feel at some point in their life, kids are still going to be exposed to all those things, so I feel like easing them into that part of their life is only proper,” he said.

‘Fully informed and engaged’

The province believes parents should be “fully informed and engaged” in their child’s education and that the changes are meant to “strengthen parental involvement,” it said in a statement to CTV News Edmonton.

Press secretary for the Ministry of Education and Childcare Garrett Koehler noted in the statement that Alberta parents already had the right to excuse their children from these topics.

Koehler added that a list of approved learning and teaching resources will be available on their new website by the end of August and will be updated quarterly.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Miriam Valdes-Carletti