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A criminal complaint has been filed with the Surrey RCMP against Surrey-Green Timbers MLA Rachna Singh.
Amrit Birring, the leader of the Freedom Party of B.C., which has organized anti-SOGI123 marches in Surrey, said that B.C.’s education minister Singh “is responsible for making sexually explicit materials available to children in BC schools.”
Birring filled the formal complaint at the Surrey RCMP’s main detachment building in Newton Saturday (Jan. 27).
The Surrey RCMP would not “confirm or deny an investigation exists to protect the integrity of the investigation.”
Singh did not respond to requests for comment but BC NDP director of communications Ed May said “I can just verify MLA Singh has not received anything from the RCMP.”
The Now-Leader reached out to Birring for an update on the complaint.
The complaint states that Singh is responsible for the “sexually explicit books” which can be found at some Surrey school libraries. One of the books he is referring to is “Gender Queer: A Memoir” by Maia Kobabe.
Surrey school board chair Laurie Larsen told a Black Press reporter in a previous interview that there are only 12 copies of “Gender Queer: A Memoir” in the district’s secondary school libraries.
Tammy Le, co-president of the Surrey Chapter of BC Teacher Librarians Association, said this book is rarely checked out.
“The circulation is so low, people don’t really gravitate towards it,” Li added. “The students who do gravitate towards this book, felt that this was a book really made for them to help themselves understand themselves better.”
Li can understand why parents might be concerned with some of the images in the graphic novel, “but on the flip side, you have to think there’s a lot of things that we don’t talk about.”
“That book is the lived experience of the author,” Li said. “And there are students who have read that book and felt seen, like I really needed something like this, because no one has ever talked about this.”
An anti-SOGI group in central B.C. recently tried to have “Gender Queer: A Memoir” and other books they deemed as SOGI 123 resources banned. Neither the Cariboo Regional District nor School District 27 (Cariboo-Chilcotin) plan to remove any books from their libraries.
Birring says the Freedom Party of B.C. has called on Singh several times to resign. They have contacted Singh numerous times expressing their concerns about SOGI resources but say there has been no response.
“We are anti-SOGI123 because it infringes on the parents’ and children’s rights without their permission,” Birring said.
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, or SOGI is a set of learning resources implemented by the Ministry of Education and Child Care to promote inclusive classrooms, where human rights are discussed, along with the topics of diversity, anti-bullying, respect and discrimination.
In November, Gurdeep Jassal, with the support of Birring, filed a petition to recall Surrey-Green Timbers MLA Rachna Singh, B.C.’s education minister.
It failed because it didn’t receive the number of signatures the Recall and Initiative Act requires. It was submitted to Elections BC on Jan. 29, 2024.
BC NDP director of communications Ed May emailed a statement he said “can be attributed” to Singh.
“I would like to thank my constituents for overwhelmingly rejecting this extreme and inaccurate petition campaign.”
“B.C. has a world class education system, and I continue to stand with the teachers and school communities who work every day to support all students.”
