fbpx
Monday, July 21, 2025

LEVY: TDSB survey asks elementary kids if they’re trans and know about breast binding

By
Sue-Ann Levy
-

The Toronto District School Board (TDSB) will spend the month of November administering a highly intrusive survey which reaches far beyond simple demographics of its student population to ask students questions about their sexuality, their knowledge of transgender issues and more. 

The confidential census for Grades 4-6 and 7-8 – copies of which were obtained by True North – has a heavy focus on feelings, mental issues, racial and ethnic identities and sexuality.

The composition of the questions demonstrate all the more that the TDSB has descended into this kind of woke social science experiment that is focused on victimhood, critical race theory and gender ideology.

It is so far removed from the mission of school boards to teach students to write, read, add, subtract, divide, multiply and to think critically it is hard to look at it without despair.

The existence of the census came to light a few days after the trustee elections — suggesting that education director Colleen Russell- Rawlins and her administrators may have held it knowing it would be controversial.

A research document released last week claims the census was one year in the making and was peer reviewed by 12 academics, most of them social justice warriors. Wayne Martino, who lists his teaching interests as queer, gender and transgender studies in education, was one of them. As was Ann Lopez, from Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, whose teaching focus is decolonizing education.

The research document makes it very clear that the census framework is rooted in “anti-racist (and critical race theory) anti-oppressive, anti-colonial and community-based” research methods.

The latter is described as a process where power is collectively shared between researchers and community members, whatever that means. These people speak in tongues.

Nevertheless, these principles come out loud and clear in the line of questioning.

The census for Grades 4-6 students is 15 pages with 65 questions.

Kids as young as nine years old are asked not just if they identify as Indigenous and learn about Treaty Lands but whether they are Indigiqueer.

Under racial groups, there are four different characterizations of Black from which to pick while white is relegated to nearly the last pick before six different characterizations of Indigenous.

On pg. 8 of the survey, Grades 4-6 students are asked to describe their “current gender identity” in their own words and then pick from from several categories that include non-binary and trans – as if most would know at that age.

Question 55 asks students to determine whether they feel unsafe or afraid in 14 different spaces including all-gender washrooms. 

One of the last questions asks whether students felt comfortable, confused, happy, heard/seen, uncomfortable or upset/sad answering the survey. 

I’d be curious to know how many kids would be “confused” by or “uncomfortable” with some of these highly sophisticated and sexualized concepts.

The Grade 7-8 census is 26 pages with 97 questions, as if students failing math and literacy have nothing better to do.

The census hones in on mental health, identity and ethnic groups in the same way but compared to the one for the younger grades, takes a far more sexualized focus.

When the survey gets to the question on gender identity, students can select more possibilities including Genderfluid, Genderqueer and Indigiqueer.

They are also asked whether they identify as LGBTQ2QSIA+ and specifically whether they are bisexual, transgender, queer/gender-expansive, intersex, asexual or pansexual.

For heaven’s sake, these kids are probably just discovering their sexuality let alone being pansexual or gender-expansive.

This downright freakish portion of the survey also asks students whether they’ve learned about non-gendered menstrual products (presumably for trans men), binding (their breasts), packing, tucking or padding options.

It outrages me as a lesbian to read how the TDSB would endeavour to ram such concepts down the throats of vulnerable students.

The questions are intrusive, highly personal and what I believe to be beyond the mission of educators.

Schools are not a social science experiment. Kids are there to learn academics, not to have highly sexualized and in many ways, fringe, concepts shoved at them.

Parents should be outraged. The one saving grace is that the census is voluntary.

It would serve Russell-Rawlins and her administrators right if no one answered it.

TDSB Gr 4-6 Student Census 2022 by True North on Scribd

TDSB Gr 7 to 8 Student Census 2022 by True North on Scribd

Are you a Toronto parent who has concerns with this survey? Are these agendas being pushed in your kids’ school or classroom? Email us at [email protected]

One in five Canadians skipping meals to deal with inflation

By
Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
-

One in five Canadians are skipping meals to save money due to skyrocketing prices at the grocery store. 

The data was reported in a new survey produced by the Canadian Hub for Applied and Social Research (CHASR) at the University of Saskatchewan. 

Researchers found that a majority of people were resorting to coupon-hunting and other methods to cut down on the cost of food.

Another 20% said they were even skipping meals and cutting down on portions to save money. Cutting down on meals was reportedly the most frequent habit among Canadians living in the Prairies with 27.8% reporting that they engaged in the practice. 

“I looked into what might be causing this, and there wasn’t a clear answer. What was clear is that it’s not just a finding in this survey but it’s also in other surveys pretty consistently, that Alberta and Saskatchewan have among the highest food bank use rates,” said CHASR’s survey research manager Jessice McCutcheon.  

“Some people might not admit it, but people having to go to such extremes paints a stark picture.”

The poll follows a concerning report released by Food Banks Canada that found visits by Canadians were at an all time high. 

A total of 1.5 million people visited food banks in March of this year. 

“There has likely never been a more difficult time for food banks in Canada,” read the Food Banks Canada annual report. 

“Across the country, more people are turning to food banks than ever before in our history. Many people are visiting for the first time, making the difficult choice to ask for help because their money simply isn’t stretching far enough to cover their expenses.” 

On Oct. 30, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre blasted the Liberal government over the latest economic statement. 

“Paycheques don’t go as far as they used to. Canadians are cutting their diets. We recently learned that Canadians visited food banks 1.5 million times in a single month,” wrote Poilievre in a news release where he called for an end to tax hikes and spending by Ottawa.  

Premier Smith says cabinet, unlike caucus, won’t have free vote on Sovereignty Act

By
Rachel Parker
-

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says members of her cabinet will not have a free vote on the Alberta Sovereignty Act, unlike the rest of her caucus. 

She made the comments in Sunday’s episode of The Andrew Lawton Show.

“The question will be for people that are not supportive of the (Sovereignty Act), is it going to be a whip vote or a free vote?” Lawton asked.

Smith said she will have the support of cabinet to move forward with the proposed legislation. 

“All of the votes are going to be free votes,” she said, before continuing, “I think that in the Westminster parliamentary tradition we know that that cabinet has different, a higher standard of (needing) to be with the government agenda.”

The new premier said she’s spoken with her cabinet and they’re aware the Sovereignty Act is coming forward.

“I have no doubt that I’m going to get the support of my Cabinet and if there are still some lingering concerns within our caucus, I want to be able to address those,” she told Lawton. 

Smith’s proposed Sovereignty Act was a hallmark of her leadership campaign, pitched as a way to assert Alberta’s autonomy in the face of a hostile legislative agenda from Ottawa.

During the leadership race, Smith said the Sovereignty Act would give MLAs the opportunity for a free vote on a special motion about whether a federal law or policy violates Alberta’s jurisdictional rights under the Canadian Constitution or Albertans’ Charter rights.

All Smith’s United Conservative Party (UCP) leadership opponents except Todd Loewen came out against the Sovereignty Act during the leadership contest. Runner-up Travis Toews, now Smith’s finance minister, said it would create economic uncertainty and chase away investment.

Now, all the former candidates are in Smith’s cabinet except Leela Aheer, who’s since announced she won’t run for the party in the spring general election. 

Smith told Lawton it’s her job as leader to address caucus concerns about the Sovereignty Act before it’s tabled in the legislature. 

“We will be working very hard over the coming weeks to make sure that we can address all of those concerns and I would hope that everybody will come on board with the approach that I intend to take,” she said. 

At the UCP annual general meeting on Oct. 22, the premier said she’s asked for the Sovereignty Act to be ready when she takes her seat in the legislature. 

“When Ottawa announces policies and laws that attack our economy or violate the rights of our people or when Ottawa seeks to take control of our sovereign areas of provincial jurisdiction, our UCP government will not enforce those laws and policies in this province, period,” Smith told party members. 

Smith is running in the Brooks-Medicine Hat byelection and could have her seat as early as November 29, if successful. 
Watch the full episode of The Andrew Lawton Show here.

UK MP blasts Trudeau govt for depriving civil liberties during pandemic

By
Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
-

A British parliamentarian slammed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government for violating the civil liberties of Canadians during the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Tory MP Danny Kruger made the comments during a debate in Westminster Hall on Covid-19 vaccine safety on Oct. 24. 

Kruger described Canada as being among “the worst offenders” alongside communist China when it came to violating rights.

“Although many questions about our covid response need to be answered, the UK is by no means the worst offender,” said Kruger

“We are not Canada, New Zealand or China—places where Governments think they can exterminate covid by depriving their population of the most basic civil liberties.” 

As exclusively reported by True North at the height of the pandemic, data released by the University of Oxford’s COVID-19 Government Response Tracker showed that Canada had some of the most stringent lockdown policies.

Covid-19 measures implemented in Canada earned the country a stringency score of 75.46, only slightly behind China which had a score of 78.24. Scores took into account a range of variables including school closures, gathering limits and more. 

This is not the first time that the Liberal government has received criticism for heavy-handed crackdowns on civil liberties by a UK politician. 

When Trudeau decided to resort to using the Emergencies Act for the first time ever to crackdown on peaceful Freedom Convoy protestors, UK MP Marcus Fysh accused him of resorting to “authoritarian measures.”

“I am writing today to the Foreign Secretary to ask her what the UK is doing to discourage Canada from arbitrary & authoritarian measures against Canadian residents & their rights. We should do what we can to help our good friends there find a better way,” tweeted Fysh in February. 

While on a diplomatic visit to the UK in March, the prime minister was also met by freedom protestors outside of 10 Downing Street demonstrating against his presence. 

Mendicino’s office wanted to keep “crazies” in Freedom Convoy

By
Andrew Lawton
-

In a discussion between key aides in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s and Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino’s offices, Mendicino’s director of communications warned against statements that might compel Freedom Convoy organizers to “push out the crazies.”

The damning text messages were released Monday morning by the Public Order Emergency Commission. In them, Prime Minister’s Office issues and policy advisor Mary-Liz Power and Alexander Cohen of Mendicino’s office discuss ways to best exploit the “narrative” being peddled by many media outlets about “extreme” elements in the convoy.

“I think there could be an opportunity to get in on this growing narrative of the truckers,” Power wrote of the “more extreme comments (IE calling for a Jan 6 style insurrection)…getting more coverage in media.”

“I had an initial chat with my boss and he’s supportive, but wants to wait a day or two,” Cohen replied. “There’s a danger that if we come down too hard, they might push out the crazies.”

Power said it was a “fair” comment, and offered that “[G]lobal & others are working on stories, maybe we see how those land.”

Power also said that the Liberal Research Bureau, a taxpayer-funded office that supports the Liberal caucus, was researching the convoy’s “backers.”

The text exchange included several proposed talking points around which the government could craft its messaging. Included in the list was that the government “will always support the right to peaceful protest” and that “our democracy is something we need to nurture and protect every day.”

Power also included a talking point that organizers are making “concerning” comments, but added she “would need something to back this up.”

The text exchange was raised by convoy lawyer Brendan Miller in his cross-examination of former Ottawa police chief Peter Sloly.

Miller asked Sloly if this would constitute “misinformation,” which Sloly earlier testified was a persistent issue throughout the convoy protests.

“I’m sorry. I can’t really comment. There’s no context to know who these people are, what they represent, what information or influence they have,” Sloly said.

This is Day 13 of the Public Order Emergency Commission’s hearings into Trudeau’s invocation of the Emergencies Act. Convoy organizers – including Chris Barber, Tamara Lich, and Benjamin Dichter – are expected to appear as witnesses throughout the rest of the week.

LEVY: School board races finally exposed dangerous woke ideologies to parents

By
Sue-Ann Levy
-
Source:

Peter Wallace has “no regrets at all” that he didn’t win his campaign for trustee on the Trillium Lakeland’s District School Board.

He told True North a few days after the election he made a lot of connections “of like-minded people” both during his campaign and through blueprintforcanada.ca — the insightful and thought provoking website he created to help other candidates and parents understand what could be done to better public education in Canada.

He’s very humble about the website — calling it a “nice little project for the summer.” But it’s clear it was indeed a labour of love. He created a blueprint with common sense policies that reject the influence of the radical left and extreme right and which adopts a “centrist” approach to education.

His common sense ideas include more instruction in personal finance, computer skills and the sciences, a call for school boards to reverse the ban on police officers in schools and the need to address the concerns of parents in a non-judgemental manner.

In the area of gender ideology, his blueprint proposes that students be given a better awareness of the potential “catastrophic” physical and mental side effects of gender affirming medical care and procedures, particularly that given before puberty.

The blueprint does not mince any words when it says actively promoting gender affirming ideology to children is “abusive” and that Critical Race Theory generates “animosity, divsion and hate” and actively promotes anti-Semitism, anti-Asian and anti-Caucasian sentiment.

The trouble was that as soon as the activists and NDP-backed teachers unions started catching wind of the blueprint and the anti-woke trustee candidates supporting what should be common sense ideas, the hit pieces started coming.

Part of it, in my view, was that these dangerous ideologies were finally being exposed to parents who perhaps should have paid more attention to what was occurring in the school system long ago.

The legacy media chimed in with stories claiming —absurdly — that the anti-woke trustee candidates were “transphobic” and “racist” and a danger to the future of education.

Wallace said he wasn’t surprised to see hit pieces from the Canadian Anti-Hate network, which has received funds from the federal Liberals and is run by self-described human rights activist and leftist Bernie Farber, as well as Press Progress.

But other legacy media picked up the story, many decidedly avoiding mention of the blueprint website.

Wallace feels if more parents had reviewed it, they would have agreed with its policies.

Wallace said all of the teachers unions supported the “woke” trustees (even by rights they are supposed to be apolitical) as they are ideologically aligned with the NDP.

None of the anti-woke slate got elected — except for Dr. Weidong Pei who beat out Toronto District School Board (TDSB) chairman Alex Brown in Toronto’s Willowdale ward.

“I suppose the results were predictable in hindsight,” says Wallace, adding that the senior demographic that voted were probably the “least likely” to know what is going on in K-12 classrooms.

Chanel Pfahl, who ran for school trustee in Ottawa, was the subject of a concerted campaign on social media and in the press.

The accredited teacher was labelled “transphobic” many times even though she is a lesbian and not the least bit anti-trans.

She is still under review by the Ontario College of Teachers for a post she made on a private Facebook feed more than a year ago stating that kids should not be indoctrinated with CRT.

She told me she’s “really scared for society” considering that people just repeated erroneous information about her without doing their own research.

“There are no critical thinking skills,” she said over coffee. “It’s like a broken telephone game on steroids.”

Running for trustee was a great challenge and she likes to look at the results of her race as “hopeful” — even though the board composition is more “woke” than ever.

She says despite the fact that she was slandered in the media for months and she lives in a very Liberal area of Ottawa, some 2,200 people voted for her.

“I think in four years the tables are going to turn,” she said. “They’re waking up in the States.”

Musk says Twitter users suspended for “minor and dubious” reasons to be reinstated

By
Elie Cantin-Nantel
-

New Twitter owner Elon Musk says users who were suspended for reasons deemed to be “minor and dubious” will be reinstated.

Musk made the declaration Friday in response to a tweet by Mikhalia Peterson, the daughter of famed Canadian author and psychologist Jordan Peterson. 

She asked Musk if he could unsuspend her father, to which he responded, “anyone suspended for minor & dubious reasons will be freed from Twitter jail.”

Jordan Peterson was suspended by Twitter in late June after the platform claimed he violated their “hateful content” policy when he referred to transgender actor Elliott Page by their pre-transition name (Ellen Page) and suggested their breasts were removed by “a criminal physician.”

Jordan Peterson was told by the platform he needed to delete his tweet to regain full access to his account – something he has refused to do. He has been inactive on the platform ever since. 

Peterson is not the only one to face repercussions from Twitter over comments related to transgender issues.

Twitter suspended satire site The Babylon Bee in March after it named transgender Biden administration official Rachel Levine “man of the year.”

Fox News host Tucker Carlson was also suspended after he endorsed The Babylon Bee’s message. Carlson was however able to return to the platform.

Musk, who also heads Tesla and SpaceX, took control of Twitter last week, after he purchased the social media platform for $44 billion USD. 

His move to buy Twitter has been popular among conservatives, given his strong support of free speech, a principle Twitter has been accused of not respecting. It has however spurred strong negative reactions from progressives and many in the media.

Musk has announced that Twitter will form a “content moderation council” consisting of individuals who hold various points of view.

“No major content decisions or account reinstatements will happen before that council convenes,” said Musk.

FUREY: An authentic politician in Canada?

By
Anthony Furey
-

It is incredibly rare in Canada to see a politician that is authentic and consistent.

That’s why it is so refreshing to see new Alberta Premier Danielle Smith break the status quo.

During the UCP leadership race, Smith was unrelenting in her opposition to Covid lockdowns and mandates. Now, after winning the leadership and becoming premier, Smith has followed through and continued her message in support of freedom.

True North’s Anthony Furey says Smith is a breath of fresh air.

The Andrew Lawton Show | Danielle Smith on unity, sovereignty, and the rights of the unvaccinated

By
Andrew Lawton
-

Danielle Smith has been premier of Alberta for less than three weeks but has already made headlines around the world for her apology to unvaccinated Albertans and her Alberta-first approach to governing. In this interview with True North’s Andrew Lawton, Premier Smith discusses the process of unifying the United Conservative Party caucus, priorities for the fall legislative session, moving beyond vaccine discrimination, and more.

SUBSCRIBE TO THE ANDREW LAWTON SHOW

GUEST OP-ED: A troubling story about elections integrity in Canada

By
Rita Smith
-

Rita Smith is a long-time elections volunteer, and the publisher of Road Warrior News/Taxi News.

A healthy skepticism is a positive thing. It’s built into our Parliamentary system: taxpayers pay Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition to watch what the government is doing and hold them accountable.

Most police officers now wear bodycams, so that taxpayers can clearly see what goes on while they do their jobs, and prevent endless he said/she said court cases.

As part of our elections process, scrutineers and elections observers have traditionally been able to see, with their eyes, how votes are processed and counted. 

The presence of scrutineers doesn’t mean Canadians don’t trust each other: as in Parliament, or on a police stop, we think it’s a good idea to be able to see what’s happening.

“Trust but verify” are important words. 

Unfortunately, in recent years and particularly since the 2020 elections in the United States, the idea that interested parties want to exercise their right to “trust and verify” election results is regarded as some kind of Trumpian conspiracy theory. 

In Clarington, Ontario, we just finished our first “phone and internet” voting election, where there were no paper ballots. Voting started October 18th and was a full week long, yet voter turnout was still an abysmal 28%.

This isn’t a surprise, given the number of residents who did not receive their PIN (personal identification number), or who turned up at the local library to vote using its internet service and found the doors locked. 

One friend blithely noted, “I never received a PIN in the mail, so I voted using my boyfriend’s PIN.” She’s a sweet lady without a nefarious bone in her body; however, she clearly demonstrated how easy it is to use any PIN to vote. 

Perhaps people with actual nefarious motives are the reason many residents never received their PIN. I don’t know. I do know, asking this question means I risk being labeled a “conspiracy theorist.”

On June 2nd, I scrutineered the Ontario election, where I saw no ballots but was asked to sign off on the numbers printed from a machine I saw for the first time on election night. I declined. 

In October, I discussed the lack of scrutineer-able ballots with a Clarington candidate who told me, “I see it as a huge problem. The sitting Council rammed phone and internet voting through in the middle of COVID. No one has any idea how we will know if it is accurate.” 

“Why don’t you say that publicly?” I asked. He was aghast.

“I can’t! I’ll be called a ‘conspiracy theorist.’ People will turn against me!!” he exclaimed. 

I volunteered to scrutineer for two Clarington candidates, one a sitting Councillor. Both were happy to provide me a signed form to act as their scrutineer; however, neither of them had the remotest clue as to how to access the information a scrutineer would usually see. 

“The website says your scrutineer is allowed to access the ‘Candidates’ Portal’ to view the voting in real time, but the Town Clerk says only you have the PIN and I need to get it from you,” I explained. 

Neither of them had attended the training session, knew their PIN, or was able to provide it to me. I was not able to access the Candidates’ Portal; I have no idea how the vote count was tallied. Neither do these two candidates. 

Paper ballots and independent observers work, not only to ensure accuracy but more importantly, to build confidence in our electoral system. 

Because if ever people who do have nefarious intentions ever get a hold of the voting machines or access to the elections website, we will never even know. Canada will be over.

1...708709710...1,460Page 709 of 1,460

Related stories

© 2025 True North | Privacy Policy