Francophone DEC joins effort to undo government changes to gender-identity policy

The Francophone South district education council in New Brunswick fears the controversial changes to a gender identity policy will jeopardize the health and safety of the school community, so it's joining the efforts to undo them.

It's the first francophone council to confirm it will be taking action against the changes to Policy 713, joining the Anglophone East and Anglophone South councils.

In a statement, chair Michel Côté said the idea of the revised policy coming into effect as it is on July 1 causes the board "great discomfort."

"Having not been consulted during the policy review process, and fearing that it could jeopardize the health and safety of members of our school community, the DEC … voted unanimously to develop its own policy on sexual orientation and gender identity," he said.

This month, Education Minister Bill Hogan said he amended the policy to ban teachers and staff from using a child under 16's chosen name and pronoun, even informally and verbally, unless parents consent. 

It has always been mandatory to get parental consent to change a child under 16's name on official documentation like report cards, but Hogan said he's now extending that to even informal name and pronoun changes.

Under the revised policy, if a child says no to including parents, they're to be "directed" to a school psychologist or social worker to come up with a plan to eventually include the parents. 

The New Brunswick Association of School Psychologists has come out against these changes, saying it's forcing students to choose between coming out to their parents when they're not yet ready, or having their identity rejected by staff.

"Misgendering transgender and gender diverse people increases risk of self-harm, suicidal ideation, and other mental health concerns," the association previously said.

The union for school psychologists and social workers has filed two grievances against the policy, saying it makes them complicit in harming children and is coercing them into contravening the Human Rights Act. It said it was not consulted on the policy review and its members will be verbally respecting a child's request for a different pronoun regardless of parental consent.

District education councils are allowed to develop policies and procedures that are consistent with the provincial policy or are even more comprehensive. 

Last week, Anglophone East and Anglophone South did so by passing policies that effectively use the old wording, mandating that school staff verbally respect all students' choice of name or pronoun regardless of age or parental consent.

The Francophone South district education council is now doing the same.

It said it is currently working on the policy wording, which will come into effect this fall.