Saskatchewan's education minister Dustin Duncan announces on Aug. 22 that schools in the province must seek parent or guardian permission when changing the preferred name and pronouns used by students under the age of 16.Michael Bell/The Canadian Press
Saskatchewan schools will have to seek parental consent when children under 16 want to change their names or pronouns at school, the provincial government has announced – a move that critics say will endanger the well-being of LGBTQ youth.
Saskatchewan Education Minister Dustin Duncan said at a news conference on Tuesday that the new policy, which also includes a requirement that parents be informed about sexual-health curriculum and have the option to decline their child’s participation, is based on the role parental engagement plays in students’ lives.
“We know that parental engagement and inclusion is a vital component for achieving positive outcomes and success in the lives of children, including in their academic lives. All people, Indigenous people, non-Indigenous people, new Canadians, all have a natural desire to pass on their own values, beliefs and culture to their children,” he said.
The Saskatchewan decision follows the controversial change to Policy 713 in New Brunswick earlier this year, which also requires children under 16 to have parental consent before they can officially change their first names or pronouns at school.
“Once New Brunswick introduced Policy 713, we anticipated that there would be this domino effect. It’s very troubling, obviously, for so many reasons,” says Helen Kennedy, executive director of Egale Canada, an LGBTQ advocacy organization.
Ms. Kennedy said the new policies in New Brunswick and Saskatchewan could have devastating impacts on LGBTQ youth, including increased rates of suicidal ideation, bullying and a higher likelihood of dropping out of school.
“It has a tremendously negative impact on kids when they’re being told that they’re less than and they can’t be there themselves in these situations.”
In Tuesday’s announcement, Mr. Duncan pointed to several cases where parental consent is already required for children under 16 and that are “less significant” than “the desire to change one’s gender,” such as enrolling in school or taking Tylenol.
He also said there will be provisions in place in the event that a child believes that they are at risk of harm in the event that their parents know about their desire to change their name or pronouns.
Kseniah Pidskalny, co-ordinator of the University of Saskatchewan Students’ Union Pride Centre, said policies requiring parental consent for students to change their name or pronouns potentially put the children’s lives at risk.
“Queer youth, particularly those [that are] trans and gender-nonconforming are at the highest risks of suicide than any other part of the community. And it is when we put policies into place that force them to continue to hide themselves, we’re just increasing that risk,” she said.
A study published last summer in the Canadian Medical Association Journal found that transgender youth are five times more likely than their peers to think about suicide, and 7.6 times more likely to attempt it.
In New Brunswick, the change to Policy 713 has been met with opposition from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and from within Premier Blaine Higgs’s cabinet.
In a report released last week, Kelly Lamrock, New Brunswick’s child and youth advocate, said the policy violates children’s Charter rights.
“The parent has a right to teach their values to a child. The parent does not have the right to a state apparatus to force the child to live by their values,” Mr. Lamrock said at a news conference after the release of the report.
New Brunswick Education Minister Bill Hogan has said he will review the report’s recommendations, including that students 12 and over should be free to choose how they are informally addressed by teachers and school staff without parental consent, though the policy remains in place as things currently stand.
Dave McGinn