Saskatchewan’s pronoun policy: what does it mean and how did we get here?

The government of Saskatchewan will bring forth education policies that have sparked some major debate when the legislature starts back up on Tuesday (today), but how did we get here and what does it all mean?

Former education minister Dustin Duncan announced back in August new education policies that would require parental permission if a child under the age of 16 wanted to go by a different name or pronouns.

The policies also require parents to be informed about the sexual health education curriculum and parents will have the option to have their child opt out of those classes.

Lastly, the policies called for school boards to stop their involvement with third-party organizations connected with sexual health education as the ministry reviewed educational resources.

Only teachers and professionals employed by government ministries or the Saskatchewan Health Authority would be able to present sexual health material.

The ministry suspended Planned Parenthood from presenting in schools back in June due to a child getting a hold of a pamphlet separately from a classroom presentation that was described to have graphic sexual vocabulary.

The pamphlet hadn’t been approved by the school, and the executive director for Planned Parenthood had said it normally doesn’t carry material that teachers weren’t already familiar with, and had contacted the school as soon as it learned about the situation.

Duncan had claimed that these policies would also create consistency across school divisions, likening the pronoun permission policy to getting parental permission to go on a school trip.

Premier Scott Moe also claimed these policies were brought down at the request of parents in the province.

The new policies raised immediate concerns with several human rights, LGBTQ2, and sexual health organizations.

These organizations included OUTSaskatoon, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, Egale Canada, UR Pride Centre for Sexuality and Gender Diversity, the Battlefords and Area Sexual Assault Centre, Saskatchewan Teachers Federation and the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour, to name a few.

The Saskatchewan Advocate for Children and Youth announced that it would investigate the new policies, later coming to the conclusion that the pronouns and name policy in schools violated provincial human rights laws and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

“We agree with the government’s desire to place a high importance on the involvement of parents and guardians in education. However, this objective can be achieved without imposing such strict rules around consent, which could result in a violation of a young person’s rights under provincial, constitutional, and international human rights laws,” said Advocate Lisa Broda, who conducted the review.

The Saskatchewan Human Rights Code states that “discrimination because of gender identity or gender expression is against the law in Saskatchewan.”

The Government of Canada website says a person’s gender identity is each person’s internal and individual experience of gender, noting for some people, their gender identity doesn’t align with their sex assigned at birth, which is often described as transgender or trans.

It added that a person’s gender expression is how a person publicly presents their gender, which can be shown through behaviour, outward appearance, body language, voice, or the pronouns they use.

Broda claimed that the age requirement of 16 isn’t fair to students because it does not demonstrate the individual’s capabilities.

“Many young people under the age of 16 will have the capacity to make this type of decision. Giving them the chance to demonstrate capacity is an important step in accommodating their right to their gender identity.”

Many advocates have pointed to statistics that trans people are far more susceptible to things like suicide, but those numbers drop when those people are able to use the pronouns and names they identify with.

A landmark 2018 study published in the Journal of Adolescent Health found transgender youth who are able to use names and pronouns of their choosing reported a 34 per cent drop in suicidal thoughts and a 65 per cent decrease in suicide attempts.

Moe has been pushing back the entire way, insisting that these new policies, particularly the pronouns and name policy, would protect parental rights, which is not included in the Charter, but which he says are important to Saskatchewan residents nonetheless.

“It is in the best interest of children to ensure parents are included in their children’s education, in their classrooms and in all important decisions involving their children,” Moe said.

Restrictions around third-party organizations not being able to present sexual health education at schools shocked some, with Amber Stewart, the executive director for the Battlefords and Area Sexual Assault Centre, saying it was not only detrimental to the centre’s staffing, but also to the education and sexual health of students across the province.

“Our province has the highest rates of STIs, high rates of unplanned pregnancy, high rates of interpersonal violence, and taking away education is not going to stop kids from having sex,” Stewart said.

She stressed that not every parent is a safe person for these kids to be around, noting some parents are kicking their kids out of the house based on who they identify as.

Stewart added that some teachers aren’t comfortable covering sexual health and prevention topics, which is why organizations like hers exist.

“They aren’t comfortable necessarily delivering this information, just as I wouldn’t be comfortable walking in and teaching Grade 9 math, that’s not my thing. But I can come in and talk about consent all day long.”

Regarding the government’s announcement that parents would be able to opt their kids out of sexual health education classes, Saskatchewan Teachers Federation president Samantha Becotte said that’s always been an option for parents and isn’t anything new.

Lawyers for UR Pride sought an injunction against the pronoun policy at the end of September, arguing that it could cause teachers to out or misgender kids and that it violates Charter rights.

The province’s lawyers said the policy was being misinterpreted.

Moe made it clear in the lead-up to the court’s decision that his government would use whatever tools necessary to keep the policy in place, and immediately after a Saskatchewan judge granted an interim injunction, Moe vowed to use the notwithstanding clause.

The clause, sometimes known as “the override power,” allows governments to override some rights within the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

That override can’t be challenged and expires after five years, though a government can renew it. The only way to remove the clause from a policy is for the enacting government to rescind the use of the clause, or for that government to get booted out of office through an election and for the new government to rescind it.

“If people aren’t happy with the use of the notwithstanding clause, if they aren’t happy with how the government has violated rights, they can vote them out,” explained Sarah Burningham, assistant professor at the college of law at the University of Saskatchewan.

The Saskatchewan Legislature starts back up on Tuesday after Moe announced that it would be starting early so that the notwithstanding clause could be invoked and the education policies could be implemented as quickly as possible.

This has left teachers and schools feeling unsure and confused about the next steps, with Becotte wondering why these policies were being rushed through, adding teachers haven’t received any guidelines from the Ministry of Education.

She explained that the Ministry would direct school divisions, who would then direct teachers, but Becotte noted that things haven’t been very clear.

“Unfortunately, it just has been so confusing for everyone in this process. Many school divisions haven’t set out clear policies and processes that would direct teachers on what they need to be doing.”

Becotte said in terms of the third-party organization ban, that message has been quite clear, but there remain questions about what is encompassed in sexual health education and what organizations are banned.

She said some teachers are even questioning whether they should be following the direction of school divisions and the Ministry.

“Teachers are questioning, ‘Do I follow my school division and the Ministry, or do I uphold the child student rights?’ It’s a scary position for a lot of teachers to be in, wondering what they might get challenged on.”

Global News reached out to the Ministry of Education and the Saskatchewan School Boards Association for comment.

The Saskatchewan School Boards Association said the matter is still before the courts and couldn’t comment at this time.

The ministry directed Global News to comments Premier Scott Moe has previously made regarding the issue.

Moe claimed that these education policies will create clarity for parents and teachers, as well as build a more responsive education system.

When asked why more consultation wasn’t done with experts regarding child impact or legal experts regarding the legislation, Moe said a lot of discussions happened between MLAs and parents.

He said there is an opportunity within a short period of time for the government to look at the existing supports in place for students, adding they’ve been looking at things like rapid access counselling services.

Moe said school divisions are working on their implementation plans.

When asked about what sort of guidelines schools have received regarding the pause on third-party organizations presenting sexual health material in classrooms, the province added a statement.

“It was directed on Aug. 22, 2023, that boards of education must immediately pause involvement with any third-party organization connected to sexual health education as the ministry undertakes review of educational resources to ensure alignment with curriculum outcomes,” the government said. “Only teachers, not outside third parties, will be able to present sexual education materials in the classroom. This directive does not include professionals employed by government ministries or the Saskatchewan Health Authority.”

“There were no changes made to the curriculum as a result of the new policies. Sexual assault prevention education will continue to be taught by teachers as part of the curriculum,” the statement said.

— with files from Brooke Kruger and The Canadian Press