This report presents information on comprehensive sexuality education—what it is, why it matters, and why it is a human right all people are entitled to. In this report, Action Canada presents findings of the state of sex-ed across Canada and the impacts of sub-standard sex-ed. This report demonstrates why Canada must, as signatory to human rights treaties, exercise federal leadership on sex-ed to uphold the human rights of all young people across the country.
There is little information available that would give us a global snapshot of the state of sex-ed in Canada. What are students actually learning? How different is it from province to province? What is in each of the curricula? Who teaches sex-ed? How often is it being taught? What kind of support are teachers and educators getting? How is Canada doing in relation to national and international standards?
This lack of information makes it difficult to have a clear sense of the sex-ed young people receive in classrooms across the country and to evaluate the outcomes. It also means that we don’t have the information we need to make sure everyone gets the sex-ed they are entitled to and to demand better from our governments when it is sub-par.
To start a deeper national conversation, Action Canada scanned and analyzed all provincial and territorial sex-ed curricula. Action Canada, with support from local partner organizations, also hosted consultations to speak to young people about their sex-ed in Saskatoon, Fredericton and surrounding area, Ottawa, and Toronto. Additional round-tables have been planned for other parts of the country to keep up with changing contexts and to better understand what is truly taking place in Canadian classrooms. This report presents an overview of the evidence that supports the delivery of comprehensive sex-ed and a compilation of anecdotal analyses from young people in communities across the country speaking to their experiences receiving sex-ed.
It also begins to answer the question of why our national campaign #SexEdSavesLives is needed at this moment in time.