Teaching children the concept of consent in relationships is imperative to reducing sexual violence and an essential element in supporting survivors of sexual abuse. And yet comprehensive sexual health education, including consent education, is under attack. In Ontario, advocates have criticized the updated Catholic sex-ed curriculum as transphobic, homophobic and excluding an entire segment of the student population. Concerns have also been raised in Saskatchewan where sexual health classes have been scaled back.
The latest threat is Alberta’s Bill 27, which adds to and amends the province’s Education Act, and is set to become law after recently passing debate in the legislature.
Sexual violence is an epidemic that affects a substantial number of Canadians. The Canadian Women’s Foundation defines sexual violence as unwanted sexual contact or gender-based violence rooted in gender inequality and injustice. It includes both sexual harassment — remarks, gestures or leering — as well as sexual assault, which is described as “any unwanted act of a sexual nature that is imposed on another person without their consent.”
The foundation reported in 2022 that, nationally, 30 per cent of women 15 or older said they had experienced sexual assault at least once. And in 2021, the Alberta government said that an estimated 1.8 million Albertans had experienced sexual violence in their lifetime — more than 40 per cent of the population. Almost 35 per cent reported experiencing sexual abuse before the age of 18.
Much of the media coverage on Bill 27 has centred on how it would affect transgender and non-binary youth. But it also includes significant changes to sexual health education, including consent education.
It will make it mandatory for school authorities to notify parents of and provide them a chance to opt their children into — rather than out of — studies dealing with gender identity, sexual orientation or human sexuality. The current curriculum also covers lessons on puberty, prevention of sexually transmitted infections, relationships, consent and pregnancy options.
In effect, school staff will have to assume that all students are to be excluded from any form of sexual health education, unless teachers are explicitly told otherwise. This will create profound barriers in young people’s ability to learn about healthy relationships and the critical importance of consent.
A Statistics Canada report from earlier this year says more than half of teenagers between 15 and 17 look to their schools as a primary source of information on sexual health. Alberta’s pending legislation represents a threat to that critical education.
Teaching young people about consent is teaching them a life skill. They learn how to assert their boundaries and respect those of others — something necessary for fostering healthy relationships and preventing sexual violence. For children, this means learning that their “yes” or “no” matters. For teens, it means understanding the nuances of mutual, ongoing and voluntary consent — concepts that are crucial for maintaining respectful sexual and non-sexual relationships.
Consent education can also provide an understanding that when consent has been breached, harm has occurred, and it’s OK to seek support. However, despite the importance of this knowledge, 55 per cent of Canadians still lack a full awareness of consent. This gap highlights the need for mandatory consent education from an early age.
Sexual health education and teaching about consent have become increasingly challenged as debate grows on parental rights and the need to ensure children and teenagers are safe. It can be uncomfortable to admit that teenagers are having sex, let alone that teenagers can — and are — experiencing sexual violence. It’s particularly disturbing that statistics show youth under the age of 18 are experiencing this violence or, worse still, perpetrating it.
It is simplistic to base policies on an imagined reality where sex and violence only exist in the adult world. Consent education matters because sexual violence is pervasive and insidious — even among young people. A report in 2020 revealed that almost 35 percent of Albertans had been sexually abused before they were 18.
Consent education makes women safer
Along with statistics on sexual violence, there are ample studies on how to reduce it. In one U.S. study, young women who had been taught consent and sexual refusal skills in high school were half as likely to be sexually assaulted in college. Similarly, the results of research on a program rooted in consent teachings and offered to female undergraduate students demonstrated that it significantly reduced self-blame for sex assault survivors and for women who had not experienced a sexual assault of any kind.
Consent education cannot go back in time and undo sexual assault, but it can help survivors understand that they are not the ones at fault. There are instances when, even with the best education, sexual assault will still happen. Teaching survivors that they don’t need to blame themselves helps, even if it’s after the fact.
Education regarding the importance of consent also empowers survivors in seeking out legal measures after experiencing sexual violence. Many may not otherwise know that, in Canada, the law states there must be a clear “yes,” known as “affirmative consent,” to engage in sexual activity. Empowering survivors to feel safe in reporting an assault matters. As of 2019, only six per cent of sexual assaults were reported to police compared with 47 per cent of robberies and 36 per cent of physical assaults.
The government of Alberta has, in the past, made efforts to support survivors and has tried to create a culture of consent. Bill 27, now on its way to becoming law, flies in the face of these previous attempts.
Albertans needs a government that works to counter sexual violence and to support those who have lived through it. By neglecting consent education and ignoring these needs, the pending legislation lets students — and survivors — down.
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