EXCLUSIVE: BC education minister, ARC Foundation confirm SOGI 123 'has not been defunded'

British Columbia's minister of education has confirmed to Sitka Media that SOGI 123 — the anti-bullying sexual orientation and gender identity resource available to educators — "has not been defunded."

Earlier Monday, the BC Conservatives claimed that it had been, citing an internal email from the ARC Foundation, which created the resource in the first place.

"SOGI 123 has not been defunded," Minister Lisa Beare's office wrote in an email. "SOGI 123 is an optional classroom anti-bullying resource that continues to be available on erase and the ARC website."

Her office explained that "as a part of government’s commitment to responsible expenditure management, operating funding to the ARC Foundation, the organization that first created the resource, was reduced over time," and that "ARC Foundation has not been under contract to create new SOGI 123 resources for at least the last two fiscal years."

"ARC Foundation has been a key partner in creating resources and building capacity in school districts to create inclusive environments," the statement concluded, "and the Ministry of Education and Child Care thanks them for the important work they've undertaken."

In a statement, the ARC Foundation confirmed that SOGI 123 itself was not being defunded — rather, it was the organization's provincial funding that was coming to an end.

"All provincial funding concluded at the end of the 2025-26 school year," Executive Director Aditi Loveridge told Sitka Media. "While we were disappointed to learn in late 2025 that provincial funding would not continue, this is not new information for our organization. Since that time, we have worked to address the funding shortfall and have made difficult decisions, including recent reduction in staffing, to ensure we maintain the organizational capacity needed to continue delivering our mission."

She added that, "as a nonprofit, we remain committed to continuing the work we created," explaining that, "the loss of provincial funding means we will need support from other funders, partners, organizations, and the public to continue delivering SOGI 123 at the capacity we have over the past decade."

"Independent research from UBC's Stigma and Resilience Among Vulnerable Youth Centre found that SOGI 123 reduced bullying and sexual orientation discrimination for both 2SLGBTQIA+ and heterosexual students, reinforcing the program's positive impact on young people across British Columbia," Loveridge added.

"We remain committed to our mission," she concluded, "and are open to future conversations with the Ministry of Education and Child Care about opportunities to continue supporting educators and students across British Columbia."

"After years of pressure from the Conservative Party of BC, the BC NDP have given up on SOGI and defunded the program," the party wrote in a post on X.

When asked for a source to that claim, Sitka Media was provided with the aforementioned email, written by Loveridge herself.

"Due to provincial budget cuts in various sectors, the BC Ministry of Education has made the decision to discontinue funding for SOGI 123 as of this year," she wrote. "As a result, we have made the difficult decision to reduce our staffing, effective July 13, 2026."