{"id":26362,"date":"2023-10-23T03:53:35","date_gmt":"2023-10-23T07:53:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/?p=26362"},"modified":"2023-10-23T03:54:33","modified_gmt":"2023-10-23T07:54:33","slug":"canadas-saskatchewan-passes-school-gender-identity-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/2023\/10\/23\/canadas-saskatchewan-passes-school-gender-identity-bill\/","title":{"rendered":"Canada’s Saskatchewan passes school gender identity bill"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A controversial bill that requires young students to get parental consent to change their pronouns in school has passed in a Canadian province.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Saskatchewan used a constitutional override to pass the bill after a court granted an injunction that paused the policy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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It had been challenged by an LGBT organisation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The bill outlines a parent’s right to be the “primary decision-maker” in a child’s education.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Bill 137 passed on Friday after a marathon 40-hour debate this week.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe told reporters on Friday that the bill was about “providing parents the right – not the opportunity – to support their children in the formative years of their life”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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It includes provisions for parents to be informed of issues around attendance, behaviour, disciplinary action and grades. But the provision requiring parental consent if a student under 16 asks for a new “gender-related name or gender identity” be used at school sparked controversy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The policy, and Mr Moe’s use of the notwithstanding clause to pass it, received significant criticism, including from Saskatchewan’s human rights commissioner.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Earlier this week, commissioner Heather Kuttai resigned from her position over the policy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“My husband and I have a kid who is trans,” Ms Kuttai said in a letter announcing her resignation, in which she called the policy “an attack on the rights of trans, nonbinary, and gender diverse children”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Opposition leader Carla Beck, of the left-leaning New Democrats, called the move a backward step in the history of Saskatchewan politics.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The policy has also been opposed by some students, and a school walk-out was staged on Tuesday in the province’s capital, Regina, as well as in other cities.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Earlier this year, a similar policy was brought in by New Brunswick, a province in Atlantic Canada.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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