BC Conservative Leader Doerkson Says He Would Remove SOGI

BC Conservative interim leader Lorne Doerkson says the province’s sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) program has to be removed from B.C. public schools due to it becoming a source of conflict in the province.

SOGI guidelines and curriculum resources were introduced into B.C. schools starting in 2016 with the stated aim of teaching about different sexual orientations and gender identities in order to make schools more inclusive and reduce bullying.

However, the initiative has faced opposition from some school trustees and provincial politicians, as well as some parents who argue that they should have the right to decide how such matters are taught, if at all, to their children.

“SOGI has been a lightning rod for division in this province,” Doerkson said during a Sept. 25 interview on CBC. “I think that SOGI has to be removed.”

When asked to elaborate, Doerkson said there has been “some frustrating confusion around that program,” and said the initiative has become “something more” than it was intended to be when introduced.

“We talk about SOGI being an anti-bullying program. I think that it’s become something more in some of our schools throughout this province,” he said.

Instead of SOGI, Doerkson urged B.C. schools to focus on foundational academic subjects.

“I think the province needs to get back to teaching arithmetic and reading and things that I think most parents see to be very important,” he said, while adding that being against bullying is a given.

“There is nobody going to be supportive of anything like that. But I believe SOGI has become something potentially that it was never meant to be,” Doerkson said.

The B.C. Ministry of Education, which is led by the NDP government, says SOGI is a set of resources and lesson guidelines developed in collaboration with the on-profit ARC Foundation.

In one SOGI guidance resource for elementary school students, teachers are encouraged to answer children asking about why two men are holding hands with “maybe they are in love,” as well as to challenge student beliefs about who is a boy or a girl based on their appearance.

Party Positions

Former BC Conservative Leader John Rustad repeatedly called for SOGI resources to be removed from B.C. schools and made this part of his party’s 2024 education platform, as well as renewed calls for it to be removed at the party’s 2025 convention.

Like Doerkson, Rustad said schools should focus on core academic subjects, while also advocating an approach of zero tolerance for bullying.

OneBC also supports removing SOGI from B.C. schools.

The BC NDP and BC Green Party both explicitly support SOGI resources being in schools, with the BC NDP saying its prior government brought the materials into all 60 B.C. schools districts starting with a pilot project in 2016 in order to help create “safe, caring and inclusive” schools.

The BC Green Party has also stated support for SOGI, pledging to also expand the initiative in its 2024 education platform.

BC Election

Doerkson’s comments come as the BC Conservatives continue to assemble their slate of candidates for the Oct. 24 provincial election, which was called Sept. 22 by BC NDP Leader David Eby.

The party announced Sept. 25 that Caroline Elliott, who finished second to Findlay in the party’s May leadership contest, will be their candidate for the riding of West Vancouver–Capilano, a seat formerly held by BC Tory MLA Lynne Block.

The Conservatives said that Block will instead seek election in another riding, clearing the way for Elliott to run in West Vancouver–Capilano.