All school divisions in Saskatchewan will now be required to develop, implement and publicly state a policy on changeroom use that “that upholds the privacy, dignity and comfort of all students.”
“We want to ensure privacy, dignity and comfort of all students,” Education Minister Everett Hindley said Thursday.
“It is also important for parents/guardians to be aware of the steps being taken to ensure the comfort and safety of all students. Through our consultations, many school divisions informed us that they are in the best position to make these decisions at a local level.”
The government said they expect all school divisions will develop and implement these administrative procedures in consultation with parents/guardians and students.
“All divisions must ensure that by June 30, 2025, their policy is publicly available on their website and clearly communicated to staff, parents, students and members of the public to maintain a sufficient level of transparency across the province,” the government said in a release.
“School divisions have a critical role in the development and implementation of administrative procedures. These administrative procedures are formal policy documents used by school staff when dealing with situations such as student safety and privacy.”
At a press conference Thursday, Hindley said the government consulted school boards around the province in December on the topic of changerooms. Hindley said by and large, many divisions already have a policy in place.
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“What we had heard from the school divisions was that very often it was handled on a case-by-case basis,” Hindley explained. “Our expectation as a government is that there is a policy in place and that it accommodates the students but also is responsive to local input within that that particular school division.”
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The Saskatchewan School Board Association (SSBA) said boards without existing change room policies will create new policies based on a case-by-case approach.
“Working between school division administration and the administrative procedures that are in place, working with the school base administration like the principles and the vice principle — they know their facility better than anybody and they also know their students,” SSBA president Shawn Davidson said.
Fae Johnstone with Queer Momentum, said leaving the policy making to school boards is a step in the right direction.
“I invite local school divisions to consult with parents with young folks with trans and gender diverse people to ensure they have robust and inclusive policies,” Johnstone said.
The Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation said they are also happy to see the responsibility fall to school boards and hope the situation is handled with care.
“All students should be coming into safe and caring learning environments,” STF president Samantha Becotte said. “That includes all aspects of the school environment. Whether it’s in changerooms, in a classroom or it’s outside on the playground. Teachers want students to be safe.
“It’ll be important that whatever policies that school divisions come out with continue to uphold the individual human rights of all of our students in our schools and take into consideration all of their unique needs as well.”
But Becotte said there are bigger issues in education to focus on.
“I just don’t see this as our number one priority in education. (there is) violence and aggression in schools. We’re still dealing with increasing needs in our classrooms and the government did make some commitments in the throne speech and we haven’t heard any progress on those.”
Neither the government nor the SSBA are setting requirements the policies need to hit, but the government will be monitoring the policy rollout.
During the 2024 Saskatchewan Election, Premier Scott Moe said his first order of business if his party was elected would be to ban ‘biological boys’ from using school changing rooms with ‘biological girls.’
The promise came after Moe said he learned of a complaint about two biological males changing for gym class with girls at a southeast Saskatchewan school.
However, in the days following the election, Moe said that commitment was no longer a top priority.
In 2023, the Saskatchewan Party government passed legislation that requires parents consent to children under 16 using different names or pronouns at school.
That law has faced backlash from some advocates who argue it violates Charter rights and could cause teachers to out or misgender children.
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