Pronouns, children’s rights, and gender – what’s happening across Canada?
Are there times when parents’ opinions could or should take precedence over children’s rights?
That’s at the crux of some policy shifts happening in Saskatchewan, Alberta, and New Brunswick.
Alberta has announced that students who are 15 or younger must have their parents’ consent to alter their names or pronouns at school. When 16- and 17-year-olds want to be called by different names or pronouns, school staff will be required to notify their parents.
This is part of Alberta’s new “parental rights” policy which will be unveiled in the coming weeks.
Alberta is also planning new requirements for teaching sex education. Under the new policy, schools will have to get parents’ permission before students can attend classes that include lessons about relationships, consent, sexuality, sex, gender, and sexual orientation. This new “opt-in” process will replace Alberta’s current policy where schools notify parents about sex education classes and parents can “opt-out.”
“…we are deeply concerned about your announcement to require parental opt-in for each instance a teacher intends to give formal instruction on subjects involving gender identity, sexual orientation, or human sexuality in schools. This will pose an extremely high barrier to formal education on these fundamental and universal topics for all of Alberta’s children and youth. Comprehensive, evidence-based, medically accurate and age-appropriate sexual and reproductive health education has an overwhelming evidence base for its impact on positive health outcomes.”
In Saskatchewan, the government used the Notwithstanding Clause to override sections of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms so that it could pass a so-called “Parents’ Bill of Rights” that includes a regulation that prevents students under 16 from changing their names or pronouns at school without parental consent. The legislation also requires schools to give parents two weeks’ notice before any sex education can be taught, so that parents who wish to, can withdraw their kids from classes.
A battle is also brewing in New Brunswick, where the province has brought in Regulation 713, which states that the “Formal use of preferred first name for transgender or non-binary students under the age of 16 will require parental consent.”
New Brunswick’s Minister of Education, Bill Hogan says that staff must keep using the child’s birth name and pronoun regardless of what the child says, unless parents consent. He says
If a parent doesn’t want their child to be referred to as ‘they,’ [and] would prefer for them to be referred to as ‘she’ or ‘he,’ that’s a parent’s right.
Bill Hogan, New Brunswick Minister of Education
New Brunswick has district education councils instead of school boards, and the majority of councils have passed policies that they say will override the provincial changes. The Minister of Education does not agree and says that provincial policy takes precedence in this case. The Canadian Civil Liberties Association has filed a legal challenge to the policy which they say violates the Charter rights of LGBTQ+ students, including their right to equality and non-discrimination, the right to liberty and security of the person, and the right to freedom of expression.
What rights do kids have in Canada?
Parents’ rights are not mentioned in Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. However, the rights of children in Canada are enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
“Children and Youth have the same rights as all people. These are, however, additionally guaranteed special protections under the Convention on the Rights of the Child because of their age and limited ability to participate in political processes. As a result, decision-makers have a legal duty to prioritize and consider the rights, interests and well-being of children and youth in all matters that affect them.”
Excerpt from a report to the Legislature, the Saskatchewan Advocate for Children and Youth
The rights in the Convention on the Rights of the Child include the state’s responsibility to “ensure that the child is protected against all forms of discrimination or punishment…” and “assure to the child who is capable of forming his or her own views the right to express those views freely in all matters affecting the child…”. The Canadian Human Rights Act includes a section prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity or expression.
New Brunswick’s Office of the Child & Youth Advocate outlined the legal obligations around around children’s rights:
“Any concept of parental rights which starts and stops with asserting that parents should have unlimited control over the child is an analysis too limited to stand. In fact, much of what we call “parental rights” stem from the child’s rights. The parent does not have an absolute right to control a child.”
“Children have human rights from the moment they are born. Their need for adult support may lead to reasonable limits upon those rights, but the Department [of Education] cannot simply wave them aside because of parental discomfort or disapproval, or to appease voting-age constituents. The right must be acknowledged, and the onus is upon government to justify the limit.”