Parents are demanding answers after they say students at a school division powwow celebration in southwestern Manitoba received condoms and sexually explicit materials.
Malina McCann’s two sons, aged 10 and 12, attended the Mountain View School Division event at Selo Ukraina south of Dauphin on Thursday. Her boys didn’t come home with inappropriate material, she says, but their friends and other children did.
“I just feel like it’s wrong, and there’s a lot of kids with questions,” McCann said. “Children are asking questions, and us parents, we’ve got to explain to them … when they’re not ready for the big talk.”
The school division has apologized for the incident.
Kaitlyn White, Brandon’s Sexuality Education Resource Centre program co-ordinator, says the condoms and a Safer Sex Guide booklet were part of a display hosted by the organization at the powwow.
“This resource is intended for adults, and we did not let any young children look at or take the resource from our table,” White said, apologizing for the incident.
The booklet, which includes a warning that it contains sexually explicit information and is meant for a mature audience, can be viewed here.
Created by the Canadian AIDS Treatment Information Exchange, it contains information on sexually transmitted diseases and infections, consent and overall sexual health. It uses slang for some sex acts, accompanied by images of cartoon animals in sexually suggestive poses.
Crystal Homeniuk says someone tried to give her eight-year-old son condoms and other items at the powwow, making him uncomfortable. He gave the items to an adult.
“He was really upset … [and] distressed,” she said. “He couldn’t understand why they would be giving them bad stuff.”
Homeniuk says accountability is needed, pointing to parents usually signing permission slips for their children to receive sex ed.
She says there should have been more control over how materials were handed out at an event for kindergarten to Grade 12 students.
McCann agrees, saying that while she’s all for sexual education, the powwow was not an appropriate place because families and people of all ages were there.
“Most vendors I always hear of at powwows are crafting supplies, traditional supplies and food vendors,” McCann said. “Never sex ed.”
The resource centre promotes sexual education, health and safety and has the Safer Sex Guide on hand as a resource.
Not intended for ‘younger audience’
Mountain View School Division invited the resource centre to attend the event, White said. The organization was expecting to interact with older teens and adults as it had at past powwows, not younger children, she said.
“We certainly agree with everyone’s concern. Those are not resources that were intended for … a younger audience,” said White. “They certainly were not handed out by SERC staff.”
White questions whether the materials could have come from an older sibling or were taken from the resource table during lunch, when the display was unattended and students were with supervisors.
The resource centre has attended the graduation powwow in the past, usually engaging with much older youth and adults, White said. For younger students, staff members confirm their grade levels, handing out appropriate resources that align with the Manitoba Education Learning Outcomes.
While the organization has not heard from any of the affected families, it is encouraging any parents whose children came home with items to reach out, White said.
The resource centre is looking at protocols for future events to prevent similar incidents. It’s also in conversation with the school division, offering information to be shared with the school board and parents, White said.
CBC News called and emailed Mountain View but did not receive a reply prior to publication.
The division posted a statement on social media and emailed families saying it was aware a “community organization distributed sexual health materials” to students of all ages at the powwow.
In the post, superintendent Suzanne Cottyn apologized for the incident and encouraged parents to check their children’s bags. Cottyn also apologized in person at a school board meeting Monday night.
“We will be talking about … next steps that we can take as a division to earn back the trust that we know that many of you have felt has been broken through this situation,” she said at the board meeting.
Mountain View will be conducting an investigation into the situation with the community organization involved, the post says.
Community and family conversation
Jessica Wood of the Sex Information and Education Council of Canada says the booklet in question is a tool from a credible source. However, community conversations about where and how youth are accessing sexual health information are needed, Wood said.
“It is critical that [youth] have access to credible sources of information so that they aren’t getting information that … might not be well informed, or it might be misinformation or disinformation,” said Wood, “especially when it comes to making informed decisions about their sexual health and safer sex.”
Indigenous sexual health facilitator AnakwudwabisayQuay — Swan Flies Through the Cloud Woman — says that in her view, if a child is old enough to ask a question, they’re old enough to receive an accurate and non-judgmental answer.
“It might make them more curious, but that just means we have to each take responsibility for … the sexual health of all the children around to be in a good way,” Anakwudwabisayquay said.
“The real harm and fear is that the adults don’t know what to say or do.”
Some southwestern Manitoba students who attended a Mountain View School Division powwow celebration last week came home with condoms and sexually explicit materials. The division has apologized for the incident, but parents are asking how it happened.
