BC politics · Education · Source check

OneBC says SOGI 123 was not really defunded. The narrow correction is mostly supported

OneBC is pushing back against claims that SOGI 123 has been “defunded” in British Columbia. On the narrow point — that SOGI 123 has not been abolished province-wide — the public source trail largely supports OneBC’s correction. Its broader wording is political advocacy.

OneBC Say No To SOGI-123 graphic — OneBC’s Facebook graphic calls for SOGI-123 to be banned from B.C. schools. NewsForBC treats the post as an advocacy lead, not a neutral source.

Short verdict

Mostly supported on the narrow correction; advocacy framing beyond that. Public sources support that cutting or reducing ARC Foundation funding is not the same as abolishing SOGI 123. SOGI-related government pages, government-hosted PDFs, SOGI Education pages and UBC educator resources remain publicly available. But OneBC’s claims about “left-wing groups” and its “Ban Gender Theory” framing are political interpretation unless tied to specific grants, documents or curriculum decisions.

What OneBC said

The Facebook post says people may have heard that SOGI-123 was supposedly “defunded” in B.C., but that this is “far from the truth.” It says ARC Foundation funding was cut off, while SOGI-123 remains active in the education system and other groups are being funded to make SOGI materials. The attached graphic says: “Say No To SOGI-123” and “Ban Gender Theory in BC Schools.”

What public records and reporting show

Point	NewsForBC finding
ARC Foundation funding/contracting changed.	Supported. Island Social Trends reported a ministry statement saying ARC operating funding was reduced over time and ARC has not been under contract to create new SOGI 123 resources for at least the last two fiscal years.
SOGI 123 has been abolished province-wide.	Not supported. The same ministry statement quoted by Island Social Trends said SOGI 123 has not been defunded and remains an optional anti-bullying resource.
B.C. government SOGI pages/materials still exist.	Supported. The old SOGI page redirects readers to broader diversity/inclusion information, and a government-hosted SOGI resource guide PDF remained accessible in this check.
SOGI Education/ARC material remains public.	Supported. SOGI Education and ARC Foundation pages remain online, and UBC’s educator-resources page still links to SOGI 123 toolkits, modules and lesson plans.
Other “left-wing groups” are funded to create SOGI materials.	Not proven in this pass. OneBC may have specific targets in mind, but the Facebook post does not name grant recipients or records. NewsForBC would need those documents before stating it as fact.

Why it matters

This is now a fight over wording as much as policy. “Defunded” can mean a specific contract ended, an operating grant was reduced, or an entire policy/resource framework was abolished. Those are different claims. The current source trail supports the first kind of claim more than the last.

Parents and voters can reasonably debate whether SOGI resources should be used in schools, how age-appropriate materials are chosen, and what districts tell parents. But the record available today does not support telling readers that SOGI 123 is gone from B.C. schools.

Bottom line

OneBC is right to say that the “SOGI was defunded” claim needs precision. ARC-related funding changes do not, by themselves, prove SOGI 123 has disappeared from B.C.’s education system. OneBC’s broader call to repeal or ban SOGI remains a political position, not a source-check conclusion.