Teachers were sent degrading messages after Sask. Party promised change room ban: STF

Teachers in Saskatchewan say they've received degrading messages over the past week after a complaint about two "biological boys" using a girls' change room.

The Prairie Valley Teachers' Association and the Saskatchewan Teachers' Federation called the comments "disgraceful" in a joint statement released Tuesday.

"The experiences of vulnerable groups are real, and are not to be dismissed," the statement said. "The lives of children should not be used as political fodder purposefully designed to divide communities."

Saskatchewan Party Leader Scott Moe made a campaign promise last week to ban "biological boys" from using school changing rooms with "biological girls," after he learned of the complaint at a school in the province's southeast.

Terms like "biological boys" and "biological girls" can be used to imply that transgender people are still their assigned sex at birth, despite their identity.

Moe said last week the ban would be his first order of business if his party is re-elected Oct. 28. He told reporters Monday he became aware of the complaint last week and reporters later asked him about it at a campaign stop.

"It was maybe a day before [the announcement], there was some discussion that had come through," he said at a campaign event in Martensville, just north of Saskatoon.

Moe's promise for a provincial directive ordering all school boards to follow a change room rule was not previously included in his party's campaign platform document.

"It's a policy that is grounded in the fact that we will endeavour to support each and every student in each and every classroom in each and every school, in every community across this province," Moe said Monday.

2SLGBTQ+ advocates have said Moe's change room pledge puts transgender youth at risk.

NDP Leader Carla Beck has said the Saskatchewan Party is playing "gutter politics" and that such a rule would make vulnerable kids even more vulnerable.

Beck said voters have more pressing education issues on their minds, including the need for smaller classrooms, more teaching staff and increased supports for students.

People also want better health care and to be able to afford gas and groceries, she said.

Last year, Moe's government used the notwithstanding clause to pass a law that prevents children under 16 from changing their names or pronouns at school without parental consent.

Beck has said her party would repeal that law if it forms government.