100+ Red Deer Catholic students bused to Edmonton for anti-abortion event

“This includes supporting students to be active in causes and events that matter to them. Parents or guardians were made aware and were supportive of students participating in this event.”

Their participation came less than a week after Premier Jason Kenney called out Alberta students for walking out of class to protest the UCP’s proposed Education Act, which some say will reduce the safety of students who are LGBTQ+.

“It’s great to see young people taking an active interest in issues,” Kenney stated. “I’d suggest better for them to do rallies or protests after school hours and not during them. We want to make sure young people are actually learning in class instead of doing politics.”

The UCP have not made any statement regarding the presence of students at the recent ‘March for Life.’

An anti-abortion protester carries a sign which reads ‘There is no such thing as unplanned’ at an event in front of the Alberta Legislature on May 9. (Paula Kirman)

There was also a counter-protest that day, though it isn’t clear if students were involved.

Lauren Johnson, an abortion doula, runs a Facebook page called Red Deer & Area Pro Choice. She says the lack of response from the United Conservatives is hypocritical.

“It’s incredibly frustrating especially with the political climate the way that it is. Youth were chastised for walking out in support of GSAs for 20 whole minutes,” she says. “But now the Catholic school board has seen fit to go 130 km out of their way on an activity that actively seeks to remove women’s and uterus holder’s bodily autonomy.”

Johnson adds that although Kenney has stated on the record he won’t re-open the abortion debate, she’s not holding her breath for abortion policy to improve whatsoever so long as the UCP holds power.

However, she’s also concerned about what could happen with sexual education in schools.

“The more religious the backing, the less comprehensive the sexual education supports are within schools. One hundred per cent of the best ways to avoid abortion are to have serious, open, liberal, valid conversations about sexuality and sex with youth,” she says.

“The biggest fear that I have is they want to remove a right, and (Education Minister) Adriana LaGrange has been a very loud member of the Alberta pro-life society, and now she has her hands in what our children are going to be learning.”

A counter-protest to the ‘March for Life’ took place at the Legislature on May 9. (Paula Kirman)

LaGrange has not been made available for comment on this and other issues as the government continues to transition. She did, however, release a statement following the Alberta-wide GSA walkout which did not criticize students for their protest.

Meantime, the Alberta Teachers’ Association Red Deer Public Local President Kelly Aleman says if taxpayers’ dollars were used to bus students to Edmonton, and he surmises that they certainly were, it’s entirely inappropriate.

“It’s curious. Kenney spoke of supporting students speaking for what they believe in, but in the same breath didn’t support them being out of the classroom for that, and now he says nothing of students being bused up, again, using tax dollars,” Aleman laments.

“The difference between the two things is that one was supported by the school division whereas the GSA walkout had nothing to do with teachers. It was all student directed and at no cost to the taxpayer. They went out on their own.”

Aleman says teachers are supposed to encourage activism and student voice without taking a side, which is what he believes Red Deer Catholic Regional Schools has done.

by Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

100+ Red Deer Catholic students bused to Edmonton for anti-abortion event

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