Kamloops MLA promises to repeal SOGI; replacement unclear

A Kamloops MLA vying for the BC Conservative leadership is promising to repeal a school policy that addresses bullying directed at LGBTQ students, but his plans to replace it are unclear.

Kamloops Centre MLA Peter Milobar’s campaign messaging suggests he ran as a BC Conservative to repeal SOGI 123 from schools, which is a policy brought in by his former party, the BC Liberals.

Although the BC Conservatives did campaign on a promise to repeal the sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) policy, Milobar’s comments were more measured during the 2024 election.

At the time, he told Castanet SOGI had become a “flashpoint,” which distracted from its purpose. He told CBC Kamloops he had “no tolerance” for bullying students because of the gender or sexual orientation.

“If it’s about modernizing a training resource for teachers to make sure kids are well protected that is not upsetting parents… that’s a different conversation to me than the rhetoric that gets flared up around an acronym, basically,” he told the CBC in September.

He was asked about what issues might cause friction within the BC Conservative caucus and raised SOGI and climate change as specific examples.

“Even John (Rustad) has acknowledged this that, not only legally but morally, kids should not be getting bullied for who they are. If you cut through that, you can get to a place,” he said in the CBC interview.

SOGI doesn’t appear to be an issue Milobar has widely spoken about before heading into the leadership race, and when moving to the BC Conservatives during the 2024 election campaign, he didn’t appear to speak on any specific concerns about the policy.

His current campaign messaging suggests there’s “activism” within the BC education system, and that parents are “pushed aside and treated as obstacles.”

“That’s why I’ve committed to ending the mandatory SOGI framework and refocusing education policy on student outcomes,” his recent letter to supporters reads.

In 2017, SOGI was implemented as a guideline for teachers, rather than a specific curriculum. It’s a framework to support students when issues of sexual orientation or gender identity are raised.

It appears Milobar’s proposed changes focus on changing the name because of the controversy around the topic, which began to flare up around 2021, but remain focused on combatting bullying of students for their gender or sexual identity.

iNFOnews.ca reached out to Peter Milobar for comment, but has yet to hear back