Opinion
Child Protection
Parents as partners, age-appropriate learning, and every child safe in the city.
Why I marched
On Wednesday, September 20, 2023, I stood with parents in towns and cities across Canada, from Calgary to Kingston, from Prince George to Mississauga. We left work, gathered our families and walked together under one name: the 1 Million March 4 Children.
I was proud to serve as a co-founder and national spokesperson for that march, and as a spokesperson for the Greater Toronto Area. I was there as a former mayoral candidate who had spent months listening to Canadian families, and I heard again and again what touched them most: their children.
It was not their children’s hungry stomachs that worried them most. It was their hungry minds, shaped by whatever is fed to them in schools.
The name was a hope, not a headcount. In many cities our crowds numbered in the hundreds, and in some places we stood across the street from people who disagreed with us. What brought us out on a weekday was simple: we wanted a real say in how our children are raised and taught.
What we were asking for
Our concern was educational curricula, and the role of parents in shaping them, especially the sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) content taught in schools. Parents told me again and again that they felt shut out of decisions about their own children.
We asked for three things:
- To be informed. Parents should know what is being taught to their children and when.
- To be included. Parents should be partners in major decisions about their child’s well-being at school, not the last to find out.
- Age-appropriate learning. Content should match a child’s age and stage, with parents able to see it and ask questions.
These are not radical requests. Many families of every background shared them.
A coalition across faiths
The march began with Muslim parents, and that mattered to me. It was one of the first times many Muslim families in Canada stepped into public life together on an issue about their children.
But it did not stay a Muslim movement. Christian parents joined us, along with families of other faiths and of no faith at all. At our rallies I saw families who would rarely share a room standing side by side. What united us was not religion. It was the shared belief that parents are their children’s first teachers and protectors.
We were not marching against anyone
Within days, our march was labelled hateful. I knew the people who walked with us: mothers and fathers, grandparents, teachers and faith leaders. They came with their children and their flags, and they came peacefully.
Wanting to know what your child is taught is not hate. Asking to be included in your child’s life is not hate. Our march was about educational curricula: what is taught, at what age, and with what role for parents. It was never against any child or any community. Every child deserves to be safe at school, and I will always stand for that.
I said it plainly in July 2023, weeks before the march, when a reporter asked whether Muslim parents were against LGBTQ people: “We don’t have any problem with them.” That was true then, and it is true now.
Disagreeing with a policy is part of democracy. Criticism of a school policy is not an attack on the LGBTQ community, and parents who raise concerns deserve to be heard, not silenced.
What I carry forward
The march taught me that ordinary parents can change the public conversation when they show up together, peacefully and in the open. It also taught me that real change comes from listening, including to the people standing across the street.
I carry that lesson into everything I do: parents as partners, communities consulted before decisions are made, and every child and every family valued equally. That was the spirit of September 20, 2023, and it is still the spirit I believe in.
Dr. Bahira Abdulsalam, PhD, P.Eng.
Co-founder and National Spokesperson, 1 Million March 4 Children
Sources
- Global News: ‘Million March 4 Children’ draws hundreds of supporters, counter-protesters in Calgary
- CFRC Kingston: protesters and counter-protesters gather at city hall
- CFUR Prince George: Protesters gather for 1 Million March for Children
- ACI Prensa: march organized by Hands Off Our Kids, started by Muslim parents and joined by Christians
- True North, July 24, 2023: interview quote
Vote Bahira.
On October 26, vote Bahira Abdulsalam for Mayor of Toronto.
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