Many people at Sunday’s rally focused on the pronoun policy announced by Saskatchewan Education Minister Dustin Duncan on Tuesday. (Camille Cusset/CBC)
Planned Parenthood Regina, a sexual health clinic that offers community programming, among other things, presented to a Grade 9 health class about contraception, consent, and sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections — which aligned with the curriculum.
The presenters left behind additional resources if students wanted to learn more. One student picked up a copy of a card set titled Sex from A-Z, which was unrelated to the presentation and not age-appropriate.
The new policies are an attempt to get parents more involved in their children’s schooling, and create uniformity across school divisions when it comes to dealing with these matters, Duncan previously said.
On Sunday, Premier Scott Moe posted on social media, defending the policies.
He has been touring the province and, at “every stop,” he has received positive responses to the new policy, he said.
Yet, since Tuesday morning, the Opposition NDP, educators, health professionals and sexual health stakeholders have strongly opposed the move, suggesting the policies could harm transgender and non-binary children — as well as students in general — through lesser sexual education.
“Kids do better [in school] when parents are involved,” said NDP education critic Matt Love, who attended Sunday’s rally. “The fact is, these policies are forcing schools and teachers into a position that could put children at risk.”
Lisa Broda, Saskatchewan’s Advocate for Children and Youth, has announced her office will be reviewing the new pronoun policy — about which she said they were not advised.
The Canadian Civil Liberties Association, a non-partisan non-profit organization that focuses on protecting human rights and freedoms, suggests the pronoun policy discriminates against gender-diverse students specifically and could violate privacy rights if someone was outed.
Critics have questioned which experts the government consulted when crafting — and moving forward with — the new education policies, as there is a body of research that suggests how harmful they could be.
CBC News asked Duncan that question earlier this week. He evaded answering directly, but said the government would be consulting and researching moving forward.
On Sunday, Moe acknowledged on social media that he had been asked the same question.
“I believe the leading experts in children’s upbringing are their parents,” he said.
‘Not all parents are safe to involve’
People who spoke with CBC News Sunday didn’t fully support Moe’s belief, because not all parents are open to gender diversity.
Teresa Mead, a therapist, has consulted with schools to identify safe people — teachers, in particular — for gender-diverse youth to talk to, in between therapy sessions, she said.