Falcon and Rustad vote against protecting students and teachers from harmful protests

In the legislature last night, Kevin Falcon’s BCU and John Rustad’s BC Conservatives both voted against legislation to protect school communities from targeted, hateful protests. The legislation is in response to 17 recent aggressive anti-SOGI protests at BC schools.

“We all support the right to protest, but targeting kids and teachers at schools and disrupting the school environment crosses the line,” said Rachna Singh, BC NDP Education Minister. “It’s so disappointing that both Kevin Falcon and John Rustad opposed this straightforward legislation in an attempt to appease their far-right supporters.”

The law passed over the opposition parties’ objections, and will give the government the ability to establish 20 metre bubble zones around schools when they are being targeted by protests.

“It’s clear that John Rustad and Kevin Falcon are more concerned with Trump-style culture war than on protecting students from harmful and disruptive attacks,” said Kelli Paddon, Parliamentary Secretary for Gender Equity. “David Eby and our team will keep working to ensure schools are safe and inclusive spaces for our kids and teachers.”

SOGI123 is a set of anti-bullying resources that were brought in by the BC Liberals in 2016, including John Rustad, and resources that promote safe, caring, and inclusive schools continue to be supported by the BC NDP government.