REGINA - The provincial government will be requiring all school divisions to come up with their policies on changeroom usage.
Minister of Education Everett Hindley made the announcement Thursday that the province is requiring all school divisions “develop, implement, and make publicly available a policy on change room usage that upholds the privacy, dignity and comfort of all students,” according to their news release.
The announcement comes following the controversy during last fall’s provincial election campaign over transgender students using a girls’ change room at a school in Balgonie. Premier Scott Moe said on the campaign trail that the province would bring in a policy preventing biological boys from using change rooms of biological girls, and that would be the first order of business if re-elected.
But the Premier walked back on that pledge soon after being sworn back in. Now, it appears the province will require school divisions to come up with their own policies, essentially punting the issue back to the school divisions to address on a case-by-case basis.
Hindley emphasized what was important was to “ensure that every student in Saskatchewan has a safe learning environment" as he outlined the expectations of the government.
“What we want to ensure is that the school divisions, number one, do have a policy or procedure in place," said Hindley. The province stated in their news release that all divisions must ensure that by June 30, 2025, that their policy is publicly available on their website and clearly communicated to staff, parents, students and members of the public to maintain a sufficient level of transparency across the province.
"Secondly, that it needs to be publicly available so that they have parents or people within their school divisions that have questions, comments, concerns that they can easily find the policy, but then also be able to be responsive to those questions and inquiries," Hindley said.
“Now, we'll be, of course, as a provincial government, we delegate authority to local school boards for these sorts of issues. We'll be monitoring it closely as well,” Hindley said to reporters. “We want to make sure, and I've been assured by the school divisions and by the SSBA, that they will be responsive and reactive to questions, concerns, inquiries that are raised by individuals living within their school divisions.”
Hindley said he had been consulting with school divisions and with the Saskatchewan School Board Association on the issue. He said what he and his ministry heard from the school divisions was, by and large, many of them do have a policy in place, when it comes to change rooms. He said they had also heard that locally elected school boards did appreciate the opportunity to be able to handle these issues locally.
“I think through the conversations I've had with the SSBA and what I've heard back through the school divisions is they want to be able to have those conversations with parents and others within their school divisions so that they can do their best to have a policy that reflects the needs of their students, but also hits the expectations of the people that they are elected to represent.”
Shawn Davidson, President of the Saskatchewan School Boards Association, told reporters that school divisions are “going to continue to approach this on a case-by- case basis.”
He added one of the things school divisions are well aware of is “our own facilities, our own actual physical buildings, which are considerably different.”
“There's 700 and some schools in the province, and there's very few of them that are the same. And so the individual accommodations within those facilities are at a very localized basis in working between school division administration with the administrative procedures that are in place, working with the school-based administrations, the principal and the vice-principal, they know their facility better than anybody, and they also know their students.”
Davidson said school divisions want to “ensure that all students feel safe in their school, because we know students have to feel that safety and security if they're going to adequately learn. And that goes for all students. We absolutely support inclusive learning.”
He added that the SSBA as an organization “absolutely believe that all students have a fundamental human right to education, and we comply with the Saskatchewan Human Rights Code.”
During the media scrum Thursday, Hindley was asked if any members of the LGBTQ community had been involved in any of the consultations with respect to this policy. Hindley said he was not sure.
“We would have had feedback, but again, school divisions in their decision making around this, I think we'd leave it up to them to be able to decide who they're talking to and who they're consulting with.”
When asked if school boards had had conversations involving the LGBTQ community on the issue, Davidson said “quite possibly.”
“I can't say for certain or for not. The one thing that I can say for certain is that school divisions are going to have the needs of the children and the students at the core of what they do. And regardless of any outside influence or information that's coming in, we are going to put the students first and ensure that they have a safe environment to come to school and learn. That's our core, most important value.”
Minister Hindley was also asked what would happen if by the end of June a school division in the province had a policy that would allow biological boys to use a change room of a biological girl, and whether the government would then intervene.
“Well, I think, again, we want to ensure, as I said off the top, that the safety of every student is paramount within their school,” Hindley replied. “And that's what we want to make sure that we are achieving with this. That every student, for whatever reason, feels comfortable.”
This afternoon, Opposition Education Critic Matt Love and Human Rights Critic Jacqueline Roy issued this statement from the NDP:
"Even though Scott Moe said change rooms would be his 'top priority' during the last election, we’re surprised that the Sask. Party is continuing to focus on this when there are much more pressing issues facing the province right now. Hospitals and health centres are closing because of short staffing, the cost of essentials like gas and groceries is way too high, and we are on the verge of a trade war that could wipe out entire industries and communities in our province."
