Saskatchewan’s pronoun policy: what does it mean and how did we get here?
Global News
The Sask. Party government will push through education policies it claims will create parental inclusion in their child's learning, but many organizations have stood against it.
The government of Saskatchewan will bring forth education policies that have sparked some major debate when the legislature starts back up on Tuesday (today), but how did we get here and what does it all mean?
Former education minister Dustin Duncan announced back in August new education policies that would require parental permission if a child under the age of 16 wanted to go by a different name or pronouns.
The policies also require parents to be informed about the sexual health education curriculum and parents will have the option to have their child opt out of those classes.
Lastly, the policies called for school boards to stop their involvement with third-party organizations connected with sexual health education as the ministry reviewed educational resources.
Only teachers and professionals employed by government ministries or the Saskatchewan Health Authority would be able to present sexual health material.
The ministry suspended Planned Parenthood from presenting in schools back in June due to a child getting a hold of a pamphlet separately from a classroom presentation that was described to have graphic sexual vocabulary.
The pamphlet hadn’t been approved by the school, and the executive director for Planned Parenthood had said it normally doesn’t carry material that teachers weren’t already familiar with, and had contacted the school as soon as it learned about the situation.
Duncan had claimed that these policies would also create consistency across school divisions, likening the pronoun permission policy to getting parental permission to go on a school trip.