'My own son is trans': Sask. Human Rights commissioner resigns over pronoun policy
CTV
A Saskatchewan human rights commissioner resigned on Monday over a controversial government bill that she describes as “an attack on the rights” of vulnerable children.
A Saskatchewan human rights commissioner resigned on Monday over a controversial government bill that she describes as “an attack on the rights” of vulnerable children.
In a letter addressed to Premier Scott Moe, Saskatoon commissioner and former Paralympian Heather Kuttai said the decision did not come lightly.
“I believed that the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission was an organization that upheld individual rights, demanded people uphold the rights of others, and enabled equality and equity. I was honoured to be a Commissioner … But I can no longer continue,” Kuttai wrote.
Kuttai said she has serious concerns with the majority Saskatchewan Party’s decision to invoke the notwithstanding clause to enact legislation requiring schools to seek parental permission to allow a child under 16-years-old to go by a different name or pronoun while at school.
The policy has been criticized widely as potentially harmful to children and ill-conceived, and a King’s Bench judge ordered a temporary pause on the policy until the potential Charter violations could be ruled on by a court.
Moe called the injunction “judicial overreach,” and vowed to use the notwithstanding clause to side-step the courts, calling the legislative session two weeks early to push the bill through.
“I cannot tell you the depth of my disappointment in the government I have worked for and supported for the last nine years, but I promise you that my efforts as a community builder and activist will only become stronger because of this enormous letdown,” Kuttai wrote.
