Angus Reid has conducted a poll about students changing their names or pronouns at school. (980 CJME file photo)

By Lisa Schick, CKOM News Staff

Sask. sees highest percentage agree with parental consent for pronoun change: Poll

Aug 28, 2023 | 12:09 PM

It appears that people in Saskatchewan are split on whether a parent’s consent should be required for a child’s pronoun change at school, but more lean toward “yes” in Saskatchewan than in other provinces.

At the end of July, Angus Reid conducted an online poll to look into opinions on parental consent for a child’s pronoun and name change in school. That was before the policy in Saskatchewan was announced — that happened last Tuesday — but after the same policy was announced in New Brunswick.

The polling found 50 per cent of the 255 people who responded in Saskatchewan agreed that a parent should be told if their child wants to identify differently and parental consent should be required. That was the highest among the provinces, but not by much: Manitoba was right behind at 49 per cent of the 252 people who responded.

Angus Reid found 43 per cent of the 3,016 Canadians agreed with information and consent.

In Saskatchewan, 36 per cent of people polled said parents should be told but consent shouldn’t be required, while 10 per cent said it should be up to the child. Nationally, 35 per cent felt consent shouldn’t be required, and 14 per cent said it should be up to the child.

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Whether someone had children seemed to affect their answer. Someone with a child under the age of 18 was more likely to say a parent should have information and require consent, at 48 per cent, while people without children under 18 were more likely to say it should be up to the child, at 16 per cent.

In both cases, a higher percentage said parents should have information and consent should be required, though it wasn’t a majority in either case.

Looking at the numbers in the polling, age also appeared to play a factor in opinions.

Twenty-eight per cent of adults up to the age of 24 said this is an issue parents shouldn’t necessarily be involved in, while 14 per cent of the general population and 10 per cent of those 64 or older said the same.

Among those who voted Conservative in the last federal election, 64 per cent believed parents should know and their consent should be required for a name and pronoun change. The poll added that 30 per cent of Liberal voters said the same, while 20 per cent of NDP voters agreed.

The polling was conducted online through members of the Angus Reid forum. The polling has a margin of error plus or minus 1.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

The news of the policy change in Saskatchewan drew swift reaction from advocacy groups, educational organizations and students and parents.