Sask. labour groups hold rally over pronoun policy as rush legislative session begins
CTV
Saskatchewan labour groups are holding a rally at the legislative building on Tuesday, as provincial lawmakers gather two weeks early to pass a controversial piece of legislation.
Hundreds of people gathered outside the Saskatchewan legislative building on Tuesday to protest the government’s plan to invoke the notwithstanding clause and legislate its parental consent policy.
Saskatchewan labour groups hosted a rally at the legislative building on Tuesday, as provincial lawmakers gathered two weeks early to pass a controversial piece of legislation.
“These folks know it doesn’t matter who the person is that’s getting their rights threatened this time. It will be another group of people the next time,” said Kent Peterson, secretary-treasurer for the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour.
Several trans rights advocates took to the podium, including high school student Memphis Hartman, who came out as trans when he was 10 years old. Hartman, now 17, believes teachers play an essential role in students’ coming out journeys.
“My identity is not all that I am, but yet I have to come forward in front of legislation and act as if it is,” he said.
“Being at school, like I said in my speech, I had the opportunity to experiment who I was. I had support in my teachers. That was a safe space.”
Premier Scott Moe vowed to invoke the notwithstanding clause after a King’s Bench judge ordered a temporary injunction of an educational policy that would require students under 16 years old to seek parental consent before changing their pronouns or preferred names in a school setting.
