New Brunswick Teachers’ Association not consulted on Policy 713 review

The president of the New Brunswick Teachers’ Association says they haven’t been consulted on the government’s review of an LGBTQ2 school inclusion policy.

NBTA president Connie Keating says she still hopes to get a call from the province.

“Currently we have not received any information about how the review will occur, who will be called to the table,” she told reporters Friday.

“We await the opportunity and certainly we would hope that the goal of the review would be to actually strengthen it so that the protection of all students is the ultimate goal.”

Policy 713 sets out minimum standards to ensure an inclusive environment for LGBTQ2 students in the province’s school system. The government has been reviewing parts of the policy for about a month, including sections on participation in sports, the use of washrooms and the ability for children under 16 to informally change their preferred name and pronouns at school without parental consent.

The NBTA isn’t the only one with questions over the consultation process. Fredericton Pride issued a statement Friday saying that they have not been consulted and have not heard of any other LGBTQ2 organization receiving a call either.

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On Friday Nicole Paquet, a Saint John mother of a trans child, told Global News she had doubts over the province’s consultation process after she received a call from education minister Bill Hogan asking her for wording to water down a portion of the policy that she supports.

“It’s disturbing on so many levels,” she said in an interview.

“I believe they’ve already written what they want to write. I believe they wanted to use me as a parent who happens to be well-spoken and supportive of their child to say, ‘Look what we did, we’ve consulted and here’s our answer.’”

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Keating called for greater transparency and said that the government needs to be clear on why the policy is being reviewed and what process is being used.

“First off, why this policy?” she asked. “It only came into place in August of 2020. It would be rather uncommon for a review of a policy that is that young.”

Keating added that the review is a distraction from the real issues plaguing the school system, like a shortage of teachers.

“We have a chronic unfilled absence crisis in our schools right now on a daily basis. I can tell you in talking to colleagues across Canada that that is our number one issue, it is our number one issue in New Brunswick,” she said.

“The government has, first off, not recognized that we have a teacher shortage and, second of all, certainly has not come forward with what we’ve asked for which is a strategic plan on how to well resource our schools.”