NDP MLA Wab Kinew calls out Steinbach school trustees over LGBT comments

LGBT issues in Steinbach were front and centre at the Manitoba Legislature Thursday.

NDP MLA Wab Kinew said in question period that at a recent Hanover School Division meeting on whether LGBT issues should be taught before high school, one trustee said they didn't agree with the lifestyle.

Kinew said a second trustee objected for a different reason.

"Another tried to link the rise of sex ed in Toronto schools to an increased risk of cancer. Has the minister of education now heard enough to intervene with the Hanover School Division on behalf of the LGBTTQ* community?" said Kinew.

It's not the first time the Hanover School Division has been asked to be more inclusive.

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Education Minister Ian Wishart said the province is reaching out to the school division but is hopeful the issue will be resolved locally.

Kinew said gender identity and sexual orientation are protected under Manitoba's human rights legislation.

"The trustees' statement that we can somehow pick and choose which human rights to enforce and perhaps more worryingly the minister's statement that this is up for local resolution implies that perhaps there's local discretion on which human rights to enforce in this province."

CBC's efforts to speak to the trustees involved have been unsuccessful.

Wishart said he has heard about the controversy.

"I know the process has not gone well but there [are] still discussions ongoing and I think that that is probably the best way forward," said Wishart.

"Certainly we are very supportive of inclusion and certainly that is the message that is being passed along."

Wishart said people can make statements in the heat of the argument that are ill-advised.

He suggested Kinew should be familiar with that experience.

"I'm sure that that individual who was trying to do a difficult job in a community likely regrets making that comment. I suspect the member opposite [Kinew] remembers some statements that have been made in his past that he wishes he had not made," said Wishart, in a reference to controversial comments Kinew made about women, the LGBT community and others before he became a candidate for the NDP.

Kinew said the province should make LGBT awareness training available to Hanover School Division trustees.

Wishart said if the school division wants help, the province will provide that but that the situation has "not yet run its course."