The One Million March 4 Children
And those who oppose it.
Hate is a strong word. My parents always told me that. It's not a word that you want to just casually fling around. In a world where 17 flavours of ice cream is awesome (though I don't recall ever seeing anyone standing there awestruck while they ordered their Heavenly Hash) and math is racist, I suppose it's not shocking that the word “hate” is lobbed at fellow citizens with so little thought.
While the rise of hate crimes in North America has been on an ever-increasing trajectory for years, this rise is only superceded by the ever expanding lexicon of things being called “hate”, which is to say, anything trans activists disagree with.
So with this in mind, I'd like to take this opportunity to welcome Canada's newest “hate group”.
Hands Off Our Kids is the group responsible for putting together the One Million March 4 Children which will be happening this Wednesday, September 20th, 2023 in every major city across Canada.
According to their website, the mission of Hands Off Our Kids includes “safeguarding children’s rights, nurturing their growth in a safe environment, and promoting critical thinking through quality education.”
Sounds pretty hateful to me…
The fact that this organization consists mainly of parents with school-age children who are concerned enough about their well-being to take a day off work in the middle of the week only serves to underscore the pervasive and systemic nature of hatred in Canada.
Or so we're told…
It's become so tiresome hearing the unending diarrhetic flow of BS from groups that have no defense of their insane ideas but to call people names. If there was a debate to be had, you'd think we'd have had it long ago. In truth, debate is the last thing these people want. Bullying and rhetoric are so much simpler, and evidently much more effective. Until recently, anyway.
The main point of this group, and those taking part in the One Million March 4 Children is summed up in this statement from the About page of Hands Off Our Kids:
It’s the parents that are responsible for their children’s morals and upbringing, NOT politicians and that is why it is our duty to speak up and have our voices heard.
What makes this protest so interesting is that it really is a grassroots campaign by regular parents who are concerned about their kids. It seems to be a culmination of the many parent-led protests we've seen recently against gender ideology in schools.
It's as if we're seeing this movie for about the fourth time but now it has the tagline:
This time it’s personal.
As I've been mentioning over the last few weeks, the policy in Canadian schools is that if a student wishes to change his or her name or pronouns in school, it's none of the parents business. In fact, in many school districts, teachers are required to find out from the student how the student should be referred to in the presence of the parents in case it is different than how the student is known in school. If you think this sounds like outright deception, you're absolutely correct. Yes, it appears that the schools actually believe that they know better than parents how to raise other people's kids. This is not just a scary story that far-right-wing parents tell each other at bedtime, it's a fact.
As I mentioned here, most people had no idea these policies even existed, but thanks to Premier Blaine Higgs of New Brunswick, and Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe, people are now beginning to take notice. This is the reason for the One Million March 4 Children. Parents really are getting sick of the bullshit - and it's long overdue.
In the face of this are the counter protests being planned by various groups, most notably several unions including the Ontario Federation of Labour and the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE). What's also interesting about this deal is that the unions somehow think they need to be involved in making this right. I get that they may be “concerned” for their members, but given that CUPE is by far the country’s largest union, I wonder how many of its members are going to be marching in that protest that CUPE is going to be counter-protesting. Just a thought.
Anyway, it's astounding to me how little it takes to be labelled a hateful person today. Not by most people, mind you - just the ones that preach inclusion and love. And our Prime Minister of course. It's laughable the way the unions refer to these protesters. They call them “fascists” and “fundamentally racist”. They say their ideology is based on hate. They refer to “parental rights rhetoric”, as if parents are completely clueless and redundant. Really?
Part of this protest involves parents pulling their kids out of school to participate in the march. You may or may not agree with that part of it. I have mixed opinions about involving kids in political demonstrations, but like it or not, the school has already involved them in it. Regardless of my personal opinions about that aspect of it, I'm more than willing to give this movement the benefit of the doubt.
As I said in last week's piece, if you thought the Freedom Convoy was a big deal, you ain't seen nothin’ yet. At least, I certainly hope that proves to be accurate. Time will tell.
Whether this march makes big headlines or not, I'm very confident of one thing: parents in this country are sick and tired of the bullying and the rhetoric coming from schools and government and the activists they're listening to. This isn't going away. If our leaders refuse to listen this week, they'll be offered another chance, and then another one after that and eventually they won't have a choice. It's one thing to take someone's livelihood. That’s what the Freedom Convoy was about. It's entirely another thing when kids and family are involved.
This time it's personal.
Further reading:
Are Canadian Schools Really Attempting to Hide Students' Gender Transitions From Their Parents?
There's been quite the hullabaloo in Canada since the Angus Reid Institute released its report in August which found that around 80% of parents would like the schools to notify them if their child is changing genders or pronouns in school. These results were fairly consistent among all demographics throughout the country (even those identifying as Liber…
Justin Trudeau Suggests 78% of Canadian Parents Are Aligned with "Far-right Political Actors" and Haters
Because I realize nuance and humour are difficult to convey and very often outright lost in print, and because I know there are some readers who are just waiting to pounce on any perceived inaccuracies in what I write, please allow me to offer the following disclaimer:
The Silent Majority Has Become the Cowardly Majority
Democracy is not "majority rules". It was never intended to be. In our part of the world it's the law that rules. I guess this is supposed to somehow keep the mob at bay, but as always, we seem to have learned how to game the system. Now small minorities with weird, toxic views have learned how to influence the even smaller minority that makes our rules…
For the record, I'll state that I'm quite thankful for the teachers we have here in rural Manitoba - we have a fair number of really good ones. But if you think that means we as parents can just sit back and let stuff happen and expect it all to turn out alright, you have never been more wrong.
The Million March for Children 2024 just happened again last week. And you can read below what happened just a few days later. One of the reasons for that march was precisely because of garbage like this. These schools in the Toronto area and Ottawa area are a big part of the reason parents all over the country are suspicious of their schools. And seeing as these are the schools that literally surround our federal seat of power, I'm a little tired of people acting as though parents have no reason to be skeptical in this country.
Every teacher and administrator who was involved in this fiasco should be fired immediately. And parents need to do much more than they have been doing to make their voices heard.
https://torontosun.com/news/local-news/students-attending-protest-told-to-wear-blue-to-mark-them-as-colonizers
Ontario's Minister of Education has apparently had enough:
“School boards must also ensure they respect intellectual diversity and open dialogue of staff, designed to create school environments that advance freedom of expression, respect for our differences, and the safety of every child from every walk of life,” Lecce said.
https://torontosun.com/opinion/columnists/lecce-looks-to-put-controls-on-speakers-at-ontario-schools