N.B. government needs to act 'urgently' on gender identity policy, critics say
School year begins in a few weeks, and advocate has laid a clear path, Opposition leader says
LGBTQ students, parents and supporters are applauding an advocate's criticism of New Brunswick's gender-identity policy, but they're still grappling with uncertainty as the school year looms.
On Tuesday, child and youth advocate Kelly Lamrock released a 90-page report about changes to Policy 713 made by the Blaine Higgs government. Minister of Education Bill Hogan says it's now mandatory to get consent from parents before allowing a child under 16 to informally change their name or pronoun in school. It's now also mandatory to send children to school psychologists if they don't want to involve their parents.
Lamrock was charged by MLAs to review these changes and consult with parents and experts. After two months of consultation, he said those changes, and the way the policy is written, violate human rights, privacy and education laws, as well as children's Charter rights.
Lamrock made several recommendations about how to emphasize the role of parents, without forcing staff to break the law and put kids at risk. His recommendations are not binding and it's not clear if the province will follow any of them.
Alex Harris, a Riverview student going into Grade 12, said hearing the advocate's words was a relief because they emphasized students' rights to privacy and equality — something he did not hear from the government.
"Kids deserve privacy and kids deserve rights the same as everybody else," Harris said. "Even if what a kid wants to do isn't quite what their parents want them to do."
However Harris said he's worried about what the school year will look like if the province does not undo its changes.
"My friends are going to get hurt. My friends' home lives are gonna get harder and my life is gonna get harder too. Because now the government has said that it is OK to disrespect people … like me," he said.
District education councils can pass their own policies based on Lamrock's recommendations, and Lamrock said those policies would supersede the provincial one. Higgs said Tuesday that's not correct.
"That would be circumventing the laws," Higgs said.
Liberal Party and Opposition Leader Susan Holt said the province needs to move urgently to accept the recommendations and provide certainty to students, parents and staff.
"What can they expect in New Brunswick schools come the day after Labour Day?" she said.
Holt originally made a motion to revert to the old policy. That motion was amended by Liberal MLA Chuck Chiasson to instead order Lamrock to hold consultations.
Holt said Lamrock's report achieves the opposition's goal, and "went further."
"By adding more language, more clarity," she said.
One of Lamrock's recommendations includes allowing all kids in Grade 6 and older to informally decide their pronouns and names without the need for parental consent. He recommended that if a child is under Grade 6, they would be referred to the principal who would decide whether the child has the "capacity" to make that decision. Lamrock said training principals to make that assessment would also be required.
Nicole Bethune's eight-year-old child is non-binary. She said while she's thankful for the advocate's recommendations, the original policy is the best for kids because it has no age limit.
"A child knows who they are. It's not a choice," she said. "To suggest that a child under Grade 6 does not have the capacity to understand that or requires an assessment for us to believe them goes back to that damaging part."
Bethune said she doesn't see how all principals would get training to make that capacity assessment by September even if the province adopted all of Lamrock's suggestions.
"If we're not affirming kids because we think their capacity to understand themselves is not there because of their age, I still find it discriminatory."
Bethune said she's preparing an email to school staff to ask them to follow the old policy, and to request that her child not be referred to anyone who does not have the training to properly discuss gender identity.
Gail Costello of Pride in Education said it's possible to train principals to make that assessment, but it would take time.
"We're in the education system, so I think education is completely possible," she said.
Harris said when he came out as transgender at 14, he did it at school first. He said that's not because he didn't want his parents involved, and it's not because anyone convinced him to exclude them. Rather, he said the role his parents play is so important, he didn't want to risk losing them or their respect if he told them before he was ready or sure.
Harris said he eventually did tell his parents, and he is lucky that they support him. He said if the current policy was in place, and he was forced to tell his parents first, then he may not be here, or be as close to his parents as he is now.
"When I was 14 and needed a safe space to come out I knew it would be safe because a policy said it had to be safe."
Premier Blaine Higgs said Tuesday he plans to read the report, and there may be something there that would help reach a middle ground. He said he stands by his belief about parents "needing to know about their kids."
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