Jeremy Cockrill was appointed to a new position as Saskatchewan's education minister on Aug. 29, 2023. (Lisa Schick/980 CJME)

By battlefordsNOW Staff

Social worker concerned about impact of new school policies

Aug 30, 2023 | 4:15 PM

A North Battleford social worker is worried students will miss out on important information when it comes to sex education in schools.

Amber Stewart is also the executive director of the Battlefords and Area Sexual Assault Centre. Last year, the organization provided education on body safety, consent and healthy relationships among other topics, to close to 4,000 students in the North Battleford area. However, new policies around sex education and gender and pronoun changes this year will prevent school divisions from working with third parties.

“Teachers rely on third party organizations that are seen as experts in this to deliver comprehensive, accurate information to students that teachers are not all comfortable delivering,” Stewart said.

She’s also concerned that the newly appointed education minister doesn’t have any background relevant to education or ‘an understanding of the complex needs of our students.’

(File photo of Amber Stewart/battlefordsNOW Staff)

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Jeremy Cockrill, who is also the Sask Party MLA for the Battlefords, said even prior to being appointed to the new position earlier this week, he heard from parents who want to play a more significant role in their child’s education and school life.

“We look for policies that can bring parents more to the centre of their children’s education and life decisions that their child may or may not be making,” Cockrill said. “In the case of these three policy changes, they absolutely do that.”

Cockrill, who recently became a father, said he’s heard significant support from constituents across the province for what he calls the ‘pro-parent policies.’

“The criticism [for the policies] assumes that most homes are not a safe space for children,” Cockrill said. “I know there are situations that are difficult for families and children, but I would say, by and large, home is the safest place for a child. This policy states schools are directed to provide support to that child and get to a place where they feel comfortable and have safe communication with their families. At the end of the day, teachers can stand in place of a parent, but they shouldn’t stand in the way of a parent and that’s what this policy is designed to address.”

One of the new policies is that parents have to consent before a requested name and pronoun change from a student will be honoured in the school. Stewart calls that a dangerous move that can lead to harm.

“We actually heard from a teacher who is non-binary that now feels as though they are being targeted. So, it just has a broader reaching impact and wanting schools to ‘out’ children before they’re necessarily ready to do so or before it’s safe for them to do so is just going to increase the struggles on the mental health of these students. They’re at higher risk for self-harm and higher risk of suicide,” Stewart said.

She believes before the policies were even implemented, the government should have had more conversations to help support and educate parents on how to understand gender issues or be involved in the sexual education curriculum.

“Not all parents are supportive of their kids being who they truly want to be and school is supposed to be a safe place for all students – somewhere, other than home, where they can go to get support and this policy, I feel, is taking that away,” Stewart said.

A protest by a group called Stand up for Saskatchewan Trans Youth is holding a protest in front of Cockrill’s MLA office in North Battleford on Sunday, Sept. 3 from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Cockrill told battlefordsNOW he already has long-weekend plans and won’t be there to address the crowd.

In the aftermath of the policy change announcement, some groups have threatened legal action against the government if it does not delay the policy and review it. Cockrill said they expected there could be legal challenges from different groups and are currently reviewing options with Saskatchewan’s Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Bronwyn Eyre.

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