- By Nadine Yousif
- BBC News, Toronto
3 hours ago
image source, MARTIN OUELLET-DIOTTE
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New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs has been ordered to resign after pushing controversial changes to an LGBT school policy
A controversial policy change that prohibits teachers from using a student’s preferred pronouns without parental permission will soon go into effect in New Brunswick, despite opposition. It has led to political unrest in the Canadian province.
In May, New Brunswick, under Prime Minister Blaine Higgs, announced that a policy to create a safe space for students who identify as LGBT in schools would be changed. The changes will take effect on July 1st.
The amendments to the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Policy — also known as Policy 713 — removed explicit mention that students should be allowed to participate in extracurricular activities, including sports teams, that reflect their gender identity.
More controversially, as provincial education secretary Bill Hogan explained, the changes also ban teachers from using a student’s chosen preferred names and pronouns under the age of 16 without their parents’ consent.
In cases where parental permission is not possible, the policy states that a student should be sent to a social worker or psychologist to develop a plan for dealing with their parents.
Mr Higgs and his right-wing Progressive Conservative government updated the policy without a legislative vote because they said it followed “hundreds of complaints from parents and teachers”.
The government has been criticized for failing to provide evidence of these complaints, and the changes have since unleashed a firestorm in the small province of less than a million people.
Two New Brunswick ministers resigned in protest, while two others were ousted by Mr Higgs for not supporting his plan. The prime minister now faces a growing risk of being ousted from office as dissidents from his own party have called for a leadership review, citing “an autocratic” pattern of government.
Even Prime Minister Justin Trudeau got involved, sparking a federal debate on the issue.
At a Pride event in early June, Mr Trudeau said that “trans children in New Brunswick are told they have no right to be their true selves, they must ask permission”.
“Trans children need to feel safe and not be targeted by politicians,” he said.
In response, Federal Conservative opposition leader Pierre Poilievre urged Mr. Trudeau to “lock himself out” of New Brunswick politics.
“The prime minister has nothing to do with decisions that should be up to the provinces and the parents,” Poilievre said.
What is Policy 713? And why was it changed?
Policy 713 was originally passed in 2020 after a decade of consolation, and in its original form required parental consent to formally change student names or pronouns to a parent.
It also allowed students to participate in sports teams and use toilets consistent with their gender identity.
Nicki Lyons-MacFarlane, who volunteers with LGBT youth in the city of Fredericton, said the policy has benefited many of those students in the province.
“Students have been validated and validated by this policy,” they told the BBC. “If anything, it saved lives.”
They added that with the changes, students now fear they will be mis-gendered or outed to their families.
Mr Higgs’ government said the changes to the policy were about “ensuring that parents also feel respected”. In a recent interview with the CBC, the prime minister, who has been in office since 2018, said he had “met an enormous amount of support” for his stance.
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Prime Minister Trudeau criticized the policy change.
But the changes met with strong opposition from sections of the New Brunswick public.
Several local protests have taken place and school psychologists and social workers have lodged complaints with the government.
Provincial child and youth advocate Kelly Lamrock called the new policy “badly and unintentionally discriminatory”.
Donald Wright, a professor of political science at the University of New Brunswick, said the changes to Policy 713 came as a surprise to some and were a talking point for many in the province. However, Mr Wright added that the prime minister was known to support “wedge issues” which usually lead to disagreements.
“He thinks he’ll have enough New Brunswickers to support him,” he said.
However, the move has proven to be a notable political gamble for the prime minister, Mr Wright said.
“He lost a quarter of his cabinet,” he said. “That is not insignificant.”
Hadeel Ibrahim, a reporter who covered the issue for CBC in New Brunswick, said the changes to Policy 713 were the last straw that broke the camel’s back for those who previously opposed Mr. Higgs and Mr. Higgs’ other policies had expressed his style of government.
“Some people say there’s less emphasis on the ‘progressive’ part of ‘Progressive Conservative’ because they think it goes too far to the right,” Ms. Ibrahim said.
The rest of Canada participates
The debate about New Brunswick politics quickly spread beyond the province’s borders.
LGBT advocates elsewhere in Canada have expressed concern that Mr Higgs’ move is a sign of “American policies” on gender identity penetrating Canadian society. Laws restricting and regulating the lives of transgender youth are part of a growing trend in the US, with numerous states enacting laws related to transgender people.
The Canadian Civil Liberties Association, a national civil rights group, has threatened to sue the Prime Minister, arguing the changes to Rule 713 are “unlawful and unconstitutional”.
But there was also some support. Action4Canada, a British Columbia-based conservative Christian group, called it a “heroic decision” and a test case.
“Prime Minister Higgs and Secretary of Education Bill Hogan have boldly and uncompromisingly taken the first steps in Canada to protect children from down the path of destruction,” the group said in a statement.
The debate follows other controversies on LGBT issues and schools that have taken place across the country. In early June, a Toronto-area Catholic school board voted against raising the Pride flag in front of its main offices, prompting a student strike in protest.
A poll of 1,523 people commissioned by Canadian think tank Second Street in early May – before the policy changes in New Brunswick were announced – found that 57% of Canadians believe parents have a right to be informed by a school , if a child wants to change their gender identity.
“I don’t think it’s too surprising that parents want to know what their children are doing at school,” said Colin Craig, the think tank’s president, of the findings.
Ms Hadeel said there had been no official poll on policy change in New Brunswick. It has therefore been difficult to see just how much local support the Prime Minister has on the matter.
With the amended policy taking effect Saturday, some New Brunswick teachers have already said they will not be complying.
A handful of school boards have announced that they will develop their own guidelines, allowing teachers to use students’ chosen name and pronouns informally, regardless of parental approval or age.
Given the political and public reaction, Mr. Wright of the University of New Brunswick said there appeared to be more support for Policy 713 in its original form than for the changes.
And with his future as a leader now at stake, Mr Wright said the Prime Minister may have “misplaced his cards”.