Albertans Reject Curriculum Draft's Taylor Schroeter hands over the petition to NDP MLA Sarah Hoffman (photo courtesy of Albertans Reject Draft Curriculum)

By Liam Verster

Curriculum Petition

Petition calling for Alberta’s draft curriculum be thrown out collects over 11,700 signatures

Apr 28, 2021 | 11:46 AM

A petition launched by the grassroots organization Albertans Reject Curriculum Draft will be introduced at the Alberta Legislature next week.

Dustin Archibald, the Grande Prairie representative for the group, says the support shown throughout the province for this petition was incredible.

“Overall we had 11,723 signatures (collected) over a period of 16 days. Signatures came from approximately 95 cities, towns and counties across Alberta,” says Archibald.

He adds there were lots of support for the petition in Grande Prairie, but couldn’t provide an exact figure for how many signatures were collected in the Swan City.

The petition was arranged over social media, which is where the Albertans Reject Curriculum Draft group was first formed. However, because of the Legislature’s requirements for formal petitions needing physical signatures, some work needed to be done in person.

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“So we relied on people to get the word out on social media and then they would go ahead and print out this petition to sign, or they could go to their residence and the petitions were available outside to sign.”

The petition has been handed over to Sarah Hoffman, the NDP Education Critic and MLA for Edmonton-Glenora, who will introduce the petition at the Legislature.

Archibald says this is the first step in a long process.

“It needs to go through the Parliamentary Council to review it first, then once it’s approved that it meets all the criteria it will be tabled in the Legislature.”

While they wait for the process to be done, Archibald and his group are encouraging Albertans to continue to voice their thoughts and concerns on the curriculum.

“We’re not advocating any kind of formal protest because of the way COVID is affecting everything, but we are asking residents to write to their MLAs; to write to the Premier; to write to the Education Minister; to go to the curriculum draft itself and provide comments,” says Archibald.

He adds many Albertans haven’t read through the curriculum and realize all the changes made to it, and is encouraging people to have open discussions with friends and family members to encourage them to read through the proposed materials as well.

Meantime, the Albertans Reject Curriculum Draft group is continuing it’s push for the curriculum to be scrapped on social media, and are rolling out new lawn signs, which were designed by Archibald, that people can find through the group’s website.