REGINA - News that a member of the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission has resigned over the Parents Bill of Rights has sent shock waves through the Legislative Assembly..
Heather Kuttai, Commissioner on the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission, announced her resignation in a letter to Premier Scott Moe, stating her opposition to the province’s legislation requiring parental consent for gender-based name changes as the reason.
“Sorry to hear that,” was the response from Justice Minister and Attorney General Bronwyn Eyre in speaking to reporters Monday in the rotunda.
Eyre thanked Kuttai “for her service on the Human Rights Commission,” but when asked if this gave her government pause on their legislation, Eyre did not indicate the Sask Party would be turning back.
“There are different views on this policy. Certainly we see that, and the reason that we’re here is for clarity, to provide clarity to parents to prevent drift and to prevent delay. And we’ve always been very clear about that. Certainly we’ve heard from thousands of parents who are in support of the policy and people off of the province who are in support of the policy. Not everyone will agree with that, and I’m sorry to hear that she doesn’t.”
The news seemed to come as a surprise to Education Minister Jeremy Cockrill when he was told about it in the media scrum.
“This is the first I’ve heard of it,” said Cockrill. When asked about what that resignation says about their legislation, Cockrill said “I don’t know about that specific commissioner… I can’t speak to what that says.”
But he added “I’m comfortable where we’re at with this piece of legislation.”
The Parents Bill of Rights legislation itself has drawn controversy not only over invoking use of the Notwithstanding Clause to overrides the Charter of Rights, but also for its provision overriding the Saskatchewan Human Rights Act as well.
As expected, Opposition Leader Carla Beck denounced the government over the resignation.
“Today, unfortunately, this province is going to make news because of this government’s pulling us backwards. I’ve only recently heard of commissioner Kuttai’s resignation, I want to commend her for her courage, for her remarks, and I would call upon the government to pause and listen to what is going on here. It’s time for sober second thought, it’s time for them to pull away from their agenda to ram through this bill as quickly as possible…. It’s a stunning, to my knowledge unprecedented resignation, one that Commissioner Kuttai obviously felt was necessary in the face of the choices of the government.”
Special sitting is back on
Monday saw the special sitting of the Legislature resume on Bill 137 - the Parents Bill of Rights legislation. First reading had taken place last Thursday, but the Legislature was still stuck Monday afternoon on the government’s proposed rules for the special sitting, with several NDP members giving lengthy remarks in opposition Monday.
Debate was set to continue Monday evening on the procedural motion and it appears debate on the actual Bill 137 itself may not start until Tuesday at the earliest.
There has also been some further light shone recently on why the province is pursuing Bill 137 - the Parents Bill of Rights legislation. The indication from Sask Party ministers is that it was in response to an administrative policy put in place last year at Regina Public School Division.
“That was really the impetus for 137 because as we’ve indicated in the House as well, there’s other school divisions that already had our policy, and what has eventually become our legislation, already in place as practice,” said Cockrill.
“So obviously, when you have one school division that comes forward and that’s explicitly excluding parents from important discussions involving their children, again… fundamentally we believe that parents need to be included in those conversations.”
“It was a year ago that a school division in this city created an administrative policy, which really was about not telling parents about things that were happening in their children’s lives, and that was a concern to many parents,” said Eyre. “That was a year ago, and it was of concern to us. And we have thought about this policy for a long time, we have considered this policy for a long time, and we’ve heard from thousands of parents as government on this policy.”
When asked about the opposition of experts who said this policy would cause problems, Eyre responded “the parents are experts in their children’s lives. And parents are involved in their children’s lives.”
“I think it’s fair to say that if you’ve had consent from parents for taking medication, going on a field trip, posting a photo of your child on a school site — we’ve all as parents signed those — something as pivotal as this is something which parents should be a part of and involved in. That’s what this is about. It is about parental inclusion, it’s about restoring a honourable balance between school and home, and really an honourable relationship between school and home. And that crucial triangle between parent at school and child. Parents are ‘parentis’, not ‘loco parentis’. That’s what this is about.”
You can no longer count on social media to deliver important news to you. Keep your news a touch away by bookmarking SASKTODAY.ca's homepage at this link.
Subscribe to SASKTODAY.ca newsletter to get our daily news to your inbox.
