Minister defends swift reaction to Planned Parenthood incident

Last week, Education Minister Dustin Duncan suspended Planned Parenthood from doing presentations in classrooms – but he did so without anyone from his office speaking to the nonprofit group first.

“People can say that I overreacted. I think I acted appropriately,” Duncan said on Tuesday.

A pack of alphabet cards with explicit, tongue-in-cheek descriptions of sex acts as well as information on STIs was left with other materials in a Grade 9 classroom after a presentation about consent, STIs and contraception.

Planned Parenthood said the pack of cards was mixed in with other resources and was not part of the materials that had been approved by the school.

The same day he learned of the incident, Duncan sent out an order to school divisions suspending the group from doing presentations in schools while a review of its materials – as well as the ministry’s own materials – is completed.

That decision was made without first contacting Planned Parenthood to find out what happened, but Duncan said he doesn’t think the group should have been among the first calls made in the aftermath. He acknowledged the decision “happened very quickly,” but said he would respond the same way again if he was given another shot.

“I haven’t had a lot of time to think about if I would have done it different,” Duncan said. “At this point, I would say no. I’d do it the same way.”

The minister said his office contacted the school division to confirm the incident had actually happened and it wasn’t just something that was being shared on social media.

Duncan said it’s important to keep in mind that the decision was made with just four days left in the school year.

“It wasn’t going to have much of an impact in terms of programs that were being delivered by Planned Parenthood before the end of the school year, and my hope is that the work is done by the time the schools go back in in September, so there shouldn’t be much impact to their organization,” said Duncan.

The minister pointed to similar situations in other parts of the country, where it’s been reported that students got their hands on the same or similar resources.

“We seem to be having some mistakes, and so I just want to make sure that, as minister of education, that I’m comfortable and that we’re all on the same page in terms of how material gets reviewed, how third parties are brought into classrooms, how material that third parties (bring into) classrooms and that it is appropriate, so we don’t keep having mistakes,” said Duncan.