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“It’s not nearly the same level of seriousness (as residential schools) but the underlying principle is the same,” he said of the perceived violation of parents’ rights during the roll out of the province’s new sex-ed curriculum.

Unlike residential schools, which saw kids as young as four pulled from their families and forced into boarding schools from the late 19th century though the early 1990s, Ontario parents are not forced to send their children to publicly funded schools. They are also allowed to exempt their kids from the bulk of the new curriculum. However, some parents object even to the parts kids aren’t allowed to skip — equity and anti-bullying education that discusses things like different types of families and accepting LGBTQ peers.

[np_storybar title=”Read Ontario’s sex-ed curriculum for yourself” link=”http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/read-ontarios-new-sex-ed-curriculum-for-yourself”]

It’s officially called the Health and Physical Education Curriculum, but the pages about sports and healthy eating aren’t what’s stirred controversy in Ontario for years. Read the elementary and high school teaching guidelines here for yourself to find out what all the fuss is about.

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Ontario’s revamped sex ed was unveiled in February 2015, almost five years after the Liberals scrapped an earlier version over parents’ concerns. The new teaching guidelines include lessons about anatomy in grade 1, discussions of consent and masturbation in later grades and warnings about the dangers of sexting and sharing intimate photos online.

Many parents say the document teaches “too much, too soon.” The government and experts counter that, in the digital age, teaching safety online and personal autonomy is important even in early primary grades.

The vocal opposition to the curriculum hasn’t died out in the 18 months since it was introduced, but it has waned somewhat. The few hundred people on the lawn of Queen’s Park Wednesday afternoon were a fraction of some of the earlier protests, but it was just as passionate, if not more so. At one point, the crowd started chanting, “no justice, no peace” — an appropriation of the chant common to demonstrations against the police killing of unarmed black men in Canada and the United States.

Political parties across the spectrum supported the residential schools, and political parties… are not really differentiating themselves on the (sex-ed) issue

Trost said that “the provincial government is overstepping its boundaries and interfering with people’s rights, the fundamental right to educate their children as they see fit.”

It’s that perceived encroachment that prompted several speakers to compare sex ed to residential schools.

“I’m sure some people will be offended, but as I say I’m a Mohawk so I speak with a considerable amount of passion on the subject,” said Scott Masson, a critic of the curriculum and teacher at a Toronto-based private Christian school. “Political parties across the spectrum supported the residential schools, and political parties, as we’re seeing across the board are not really differentiating themselves on the (sex-ed) issue.”