Pro-Life Group Challenges New Brunswick Human Rights Referrals Over Flyers Opposing Gender Ideology

The Moncton Law Courts building photographed in Moncton, N.B., on Aug. 20, 2024. The Canadian Press/Ron Ward

A pro-life advocacy group is taking New Brunswick’s Human Rights Commission to court over the commission’s decision to send complaints about two of the group’s flyers to a formal inquiry.

One flyer from the Campaign Life Coalition (CLC) supported requiring parental consent before school staff used a different name or pronouns for students under 16 under the former version of Policy 713, while the other opposed the teaching of gender ideology in New Brunswick public schools.

The two applications for judicial review were filed on July 3 in the New Brunswick Court of King’s Bench by CLC through lawyers funded by the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF), a national charity that litigates constitutional rights cases.

The respondents are named as the New Brunswick Human Rights Commission and the redacted names of the two New Brunswick residents who filed the complaints that spurred the commission’s referral for each of the two flyers.

“In both matters, Campaign Life Coalition argues that the Commission failed to apply binding Supreme Court of Canada jurisprudence governing discriminatory expression and breached procedural fairness during its screening process,” JCCF wrote in an Aug. 4 release.

The applications further state that the flyers constituted political expression concerning matters of public policy during an election period.

The Epoch Times contacted the New Brunswick Human Rights Commission for comment but didn’t immediately hear back.

Case

Campaign Life Coalition is a non-profit group that advocates against abortion and euthanasia. It is funded mainly through private donations and fundraising.

Between August and September 2024 the group distributed roughly 615,000 copies of the two aforementioned flyers to homes across New Brunswick.

The first postcard-sized flyer included the text, “Pushing Transgenderism in Schools Harms Children: Let’s Stop Confusing Children in New Brunswick Classrooms,” while the other included text that read, “Schools Must Not Keep Secrets from Parents: Let’s Support Transparency in Schools.”

After the mailer campaign, two different New Brunswick residents filed separate complaints with the province’s Human Rights Commission, which was then tasked with deciding whether there was potential discrimination that justified a hearing before a formal Board of Inquiry.

The board acts as a quasi-judicial tribunal under the New Brunswick Human Rights Act. If it determines that the act has been violated, it may award compensation or order the respondent to cease or change conduct found to contravene the act.

The commission decided on April 23 that there were grounds for a formal hearing regarding the mailers, and referred both complaints to be heard before a Board of Inquiry, prompting CLC’s challenge.

“Campaign Life Coalition was engaged in political speech, which is the most protected form of expression in our constitutional system,” constitutional lawyer Hatim Kheir said in the JCCF release. “We are asking the Court to provide guidance to the Human Rights Commission to ensure that free expression is properly protected.”

The respondents are now able to file any evidence in response to CLC’s applications. A date for the court hearing has not yet been announced.

New Brunswick Policy

Policy 713 was first introduced under the government of former New Brunswick Progressive Conservative Premier Blaine Higgs in 2020, and set forth the policy governing the approach to sexual orientation and gender in New Brunswick public schools.

A revised version introduced in 2023 updated the policy to require parental consent for students under 16 who wished to use a different first name or pronoun than the ones assigned at birth at school. One of CLC’s mailers supported the changes, which replaced the earlier policy that did not require parental notification or consent in most circumstances.

The updated version of Policy 713, which took effect in July 2023, was further revised in 2025 under the government of Liberal Premier Susan Holt, who removed the requirement for parental notification or consent except where a student’s preferred name or pronouns are formally entered into school records.

The provincial government says last year’s changes were put in place to “incorporate recommendations of the child and youth advocate, students, families and 2SLGBTQIA+ stakeholders.”