Education minister sides with school division over rainbow tent

Controversy has been boiling all week in Saskatoon over the Catholic school division and a tent at the Nutrien Children’s Festival.

Now, Saskatchewan’s education minister is coming down on the division’s side.

Early in the week, a message to staff was leaked from Greater Saskatoon Catholic Schools, telling teachers not to take students to the rainbow tent when they visit the festival.

“The rainbow tent should not be part of their visit,” read the message.

In the festival’s booklet, the rainbow tent is described as “from Drag Queen Storytime to inclusive performances full of colour and fun, this tent has it all.”

Some have criticized the decision as exclusionary bordering on discriminatory.

Education Minister Dustin Duncan said he supports the division’s decision on this.

“I think we do best in the education system when we involve the role of parents to a greater and not a lesser degree. And so I think ensuring that parents have that ability to have those conversations at the appropriate time, in the appropriate place, in the appropriate context, I think is something that I agree with,” said Duncan.

When asked what activities he thought would be taking place in the tent that would require parental guidance, Duncan said it wasn’t necessarily about any activity. It was just more about the conversation and the ability for parents to make the decision.

“It really does get back to involving parents to be a part of the decision in terms of how they engage their own children with some of these topics,” he said.

Duncan said even though the division receives majority public funding, it has the autonomy to make this decision.

“I think that they’re well within their right to make this decision and, frankly, I think most parents would agree with ensuring that parents are involved in when and where and in what context some of these conversations take place with children,” he said.

Duncan said he agrees with that view as a minister and as a parent, and he doesn’t think the division made this decision lightly.

Division chair Diane Boyko said the division cares about its partnership with parents and made the decision with that in mind.

“We had parents telling us that they wanted to be part of that visit. Whether they chose to have that visit or not, they wanted to be part of that decision. So we honour that and we work with our parents and caregivers to ensure that the children have what they need,” said Boyko.

She felt the director, in his letter after the first message was leaked, did a good job in apologizing for the hurt caused and explaining where the first message came from.

— With files from 650 CKOM’s Libby Giesbrecht