(Regina) The Saskatchewan government received 18 formal complaints over the summer before implementing a regulation banning most children from changing their name or pronoun at school without their parents’ consent.
The emails, recently obtained by The Canadian Press through a freedom of information request, were received in June and July and offer a first glimpse of what may have influenced the government when it changed regulations on pronouns and sex education in August.
Regulations require that students under the age of 16 who wish to change their name or pronoun have parental permission. Third-party organizations are also prohibited from presenting sex education, and parents can remove their children from these classes.
In the letters to the government, the complainants are calling on Saskatchewan to do something about pronouns, sex education and Pride activities in schools.
Most are urging the province to follow the New Brunswick government, which required parental consent for pronoun or name changes before Saskatchewan.
It is not known whether the authors of the letter are residents of Saskatchewan. Names and addresses have been redacted.
“If New Brunswick can take a stand against this UN-backed deterioration of our society, surely Saskatchewan can take a stand too,” one of the letters reads.
Another person, who identified themselves as a grandparent, wrote: “It’s okay to be proud to be LGBT “but not to be heterosexual […] we have moved on to persecuting non-heterosexuals to indulge their every whim. »
One complainant, who identified himself as a parent, says children can be easily manipulated.
“I want God to be taught in schools if (gay) pride is taught,” the letter states.
A parent said they withdrew their child from Pride activities and would have liked the school to inform other parents of the possibility of doing so.
“There’s been a lot of pushback towards Pride this year, and I 100% think it’s because gender ideology isn’t just celebrated, it’s shoved down our throats. »
Challenge in court
After Saskatchewan announced the pronoun rule in August, lawyers for UR Pride, an LGBTQ group in Regina, challenged it, arguing it was discriminatory because it could lead teachers to reveal the identity of gender to parents against the child’s wishes or misgendering a student
At a court hearing, the province’s lawyers said Saskatchewan received 18 letters between June and August, then developed a draft rule in nine days.
People also reportedly told members of the legislature that they were concerned about pronouns. The Ministry of Education said not all school divisions have a policy on the matter and one needs to be applied consistently.
A judge granted an injunction to temporarily suspend the pronoun regulations. But Premier Scott Moe quickly called the legislature back to write it into law and invoked the notwithstanding clause.
PHOTO HEYWOOD YU, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe
The legal challenge is expected to be heard again in January. The province plans to argue that the case has become moot.
Just a “preview”
The province said in an email this week that the 18 letters “are just an overview” and that it has heard from “thousands” of parents.
“As a government, we have been considering this policy for several months, particularly following a school division’s decision to prevent parents from obtaining crucial information about their children,” the government said.
“Many school divisions in Saskatchewan had similar practices in place before the policy was implemented. »
Mr. Moe says he has heard people at grocery stores tell him they support the rule and that parents should be involved in their children’s lives at school.
Former Education Minister Dustin Duncan argued that parents must give consent when their children go on field trips, so pronoun or name changes should be no different. Some of the 18 letters address this same argument.
Action4Canada, a national Christian organization, claimed in September that it influenced the government for the rule after sending 10,000 emails to members of the legislature. The province has denied the group’s influence.
As part of developing the policy, Saskatchewan says it looked at whether other provinces had rules on pronouns. The government has identified New Brunswick as the only other province to require parental consent.
In September, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association filed a complaint against New Brunswick over the policy.