New Brunswick’s Education and Early Childhood Development Minister Bill Hogan has offered further clarification on the province’s new policy regarding the use of names and pronouns of children in the classroom, following a critical report by the province’s child and youth advocate.
In a press briefing held on Aug. 23, Mr. Hogan announced that Policy 713 has been amended to explicitly state that while teachers must obtain parental consent before verbally using a chosen name and pronoun for a child under 16, the policy does not apply to mental health staff.
“Professionals such as guidance counsellors, psychologists, and social workers can use preferred names when supporting students under 16,” Mr. Hogan clarified.
The policy also does not apply to nicknames. “What we’re talking about is a name that’s attached to a different gender than what they’re identified with with their parents,” Mr. Hogan said. “In that case if they’re under the age of 16, we would require parental consent to use that.”
Mr. Hogan’s clarification follows criticism of the policy from the province’s child and youth advocate, Kelly Lamrock, who said in a 90-page report that the policy as written could potentially violate the Charter rights of children.
Mr. Lamrock said that forcing non-binary and transgender students to adopt a name they don’t identify with runs afoul of both the Human Rights Act and the Charter. He said the first iterations of Policy 713 were vague and confusing.
“The parent has a right to teach their values to a child,” Mr. Lamrock told reporters after releasing his report. “The parent does not have the right to a state apparatus to force the child to live by their values.”
The child and youth advocate acknowledged that parents would want to know about major decisions made by their child, such as a name or pronoun change, but also said children may want “privacy and autonomy when they are old and mature enough to exercise it.”
According to Mr. Hogan, a scenario in which a child engages in a one-on-one conversation with a school counsellor would be deemed private, but classrooms would be considered “formal” and a public forum, and as such, teachers will not be allowed to use different names and pronouns for children under 16 without parental consent.
On June 8, the New Brunswick government said on its website that adjustments to the policy followed feedback received from parents, families, students, teachers, the child and youth advocate, and other significant stakeholders. The government said it received hundreds of written submissions.
Mr. Hogan said the main parts of the policy would remain the same, as “keeping information from parents [is] not the role of the school.”
Saskatchewan recently implemented a similar policy, and Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson said if her party was reelected, it would likewise strengthen parental rights.
