September 21, 2016
Hi! My name is Queenie Yu. It was an honour to represent your views in the Scarborough-Rouge River byelection last month. Prior to the byelection, I didn’t do much to for today’s cause. I signed a petition and voted for Patrick Brown in his leadership race because he said that he would repeal the curriculum. But I never donated a penny, never attended a protest and never volunteered. I’d like to tell you why I ran in the byelection and why I stayed in the race until the end.
Speaking Out and Defending Others
Every day of my campaign, I had my parents in mind. Let me tell you a bit about them. They immigrated to Canada and worked in factories and restaurants. They experienced injustices in their jobs but continued working and saving every penny because they needed to support my sisters and me. My mom would come home tired from work and would tell me to take school seriously so I wouldn’t experience the injustices that she was experiencing. I encouraged her to speak out but she didn’t because she was afraid of losing her job. As a child, I told myself that one day I would speak out and defend others.
Children Are Worth More
When I grew up, however, I didn’t do much speaking out. There have been so many times when I didn’t want to rock the boat and risk losing my job or friends. But 6 weeks ago, I woke up and realized that our children are worth so much more so I agreed to run in the byelection.
Parents Know Their Kids Best and Have Final Say
I am not a parent but I have 4 adorable nephews and I have unofficially adopted all the children in Ontario. About 2 years ago, Ethan and Matthew would always ask me to tell them scary stories. Of course I’d do it and we would have a blast. Each time I saw them, I’d tell them more scary stories until I got in trouble with my sister because the kids were having nightmares. I thought: “There are so many scarier movies that other kids watch.” But my sister knows her children best. And since she’s the parent, she gets final say so I stopped telling my scary stories.
It’s like that with Wynne’s sex-ed curriculum. Just because children reach a certain grade, it doesn’t mean they are ready to hear about certain subject matters. Parents know their kids best so they are the ones who should decide when, what and how much to tell their kids about sex.
Love Separated from Sex
Wynne’s sex-ed curriculum doesn’t mention love or marriage. When you separate love from sex, you get broken hearts which means trust issues and superficial relationships. That leads to emptiness and depression because life is miserable without meaningful relationships. I want to protect our children from that kind of nightmare.
An Entire Army was With Me
There were some challenges during the campaign and I wanted to give up on a few occasions. Fortunately, the number of encouraging comments I received electronically and by snail mail exceeded the amount of hate mail I got. During difficult moments in the campaign, I would read and re-read those encouraging comments; I’d look at the list of people who gave a donation; I’d think of all the volunteers and all the people who ever attended a protest or signed a petition. Thinking of everyone who was supporting the cause in one way or another, I’d be inspired to continue the fight because I knew that I had an entire army with me. All of you kept me going when I wanted to give up!
Victory
There’s more to school than marks; there’s more to work than money; and there’s more to an election than votes. I didn’t get the largest number of votes but all of us have been responsible for making sex-ed the central issue of the byelection and it continues to appear in the media now! Most importantly, we have stuck to our principles of defending parental rights and protecting children.
You heard me mention that prior to the byelection, I didn’t do much for this cause. But because of your example, encouragement and support, I have become an advocate. Your role isn’t over because you will inspire many others to take action just as you have done with me.
Joining Your Army
Abraham Lincoln said: “The ballot is stronger than the bullet.” I will not stop this fight until Wynne’s sex-ed curriculum is repealed. Thank you for inviting me into your army. Thank you.