Saskatchewan government passes pronoun legislation

Two months after its policies were first proposed – and after two months of often-bitter debate – Saskatchewan’s Parents’ Bill of Rights has been passed.

The Saskatchewan Party government passed the legislation Friday by a tally of 40-12. It immediately received royal assent from Lt.-Gov. Russ Mirasty.

The new law will ensure parents have to give consent if a child under the age of 16 wants to change their name or pronouns at school. Parents also will have the right to pull their kids out of sexual education classes.

“Parents and guardians have a right to know what is being taught in their children’s school,” Education Minister Jeremy Cockrill said in a media release. ” ‘The Parents’ Bill of Rights’ is an inclusionary policy that ensures that parents are at the forefront of every important decision in their child’s life.”

Premier Scott Moe recalled MLAs two weeks early so that the bill could be debated and, ultimately, passed by his majority government.

After the pronoun and sex ed policies were first introduced by then-Education Minister Dustin Duncan in August, the reaction against them was swift.

NDP Leader Carla Beck called the pronoun policy in particular transphobic.

“What I see here is deeply cynical and divisive policy that very clearly is designed to address a political problem that the minister and the government (have),” Beck said after Duncan’s announcement in August.

“(The policy) will do not only nothing to improve the learning situation for kids. It actually puts kids who are already vulnerable at greater risk and I think that is inexcusable.”

Eric Bell, a founder of the advocacy group Queen City for All, said at the time that gender diverse children already have higher rates of self-harm than average, and the pronoun policy proposed by the provincial government could affect that.

“It takes away sort of that maybe safe base that the child or kid has at school where they feel like maybe they could be a little more their true selves,” Bell said.

The policies were greeted with support by some members of the public and with derision by others, with rallies on both sides held across the province.

In late September, a King’s Bench justice granted an injunction that put the policies on hold. The University of Regina-based 2SLGBTQI non-profit UR Pride Centre for Sexuality and Gender Diversity and national advocacy organization Egale Canada were behind the legal action.

In response, Moe said his government would use the notwithstanding clause in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to protect the proposed legislation against Charter challenges.

Saskatchewan’s Advocate for Children and Youth said the pronoun policy was discriminatory, and a human rights commissioner resigned her position in opposition of the policy. The Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission also urged the government to reconsider the legislation.

Members of the opposition NDP tried to delay the passing of the bill in the Assembly during the debate this week, but the Saskatchewan Party passed the The Education (Parents’ Bill of Rights) Amendment Act during third reading on Friday.

“This vote today, this will be your legacy,” NDP MLA Nicole Sarauer said before the final vote. “The rest of it gets washed away because this is what makes history …

“Whatever you’ve done before this won’t matter. That applies to every government MLA, — not just every government MLA who votes today but every MLA who wears the Sask. Party banner.”

More to come.