REGINA - Rules about what people can or cannot wear when entering the Legislature look to be re-examined after a situation this week where a woman wasn’t allowed to enter the Legislature while wearing a T-shirt with the word “abortion” on it.
The incident had involved Megan Johnston, who had attended the legislature Wednesday as part of a group advocating for female health care.
As she entered, she was stopped by security for wearing a shirt that read “Abortion is Health Care.”
Johnston said afterwards that security told her she couldn’t wear the shirt into the building. She told reporters she was escorted to the washroom to change and wear the shirt inside-out, so “that word, I’m assuming abortion, was not displayed,” she said.
“I was shocked, I was surprised,” Johnston told reporters. “I thought, what if I was wearing a shirt that said ‘knee surgery is health care,’ or ‘optometry is health care’?”
After she changed to wear the shirt inside out, Johnston was then allowed to attend the legislature proceedings in the gallery. Johnston later resumed wearing the T-shirt as normal, with the slogan displayed, at an NDP media availability with reporters in the rotunda of the legislature afterwards.
In the wake of the incident, it appears rules regarding wearing T-shirts with slogans in the Legislature will be coming under scrutiny. Minister of Corrections and Policing Christine Tell indicated to reporters that the policies could be looked at and adjustments made to provide more clarity.
“We’re currently working with the Opposition specifically dealing with T-shirts, for now, and seeing if there’s something that needs to be tweaked,” said Tell. “We’re more than willing to do that.”
It was not immediately clear on Wednesday why security disallowed wearing the “Abortion is Health Care” T-shirt; the opposition New Democrats told reporters they were seeking more clarity about it.
The thinking Thursday is that the T-shirt might have been regarded as part of a demonstration. Demonstrations and protests are permitted outside the Legislature, but according to the rules, demonstrations are not permitted within the Legislative Building itself.
The legislature’s website states that “no placards, megaphones, or anything that might be used as part of a demonstration may be brought into the building.”
The rule is meant to prevent outdoor protests from spilling into the legislative building itself. Minister Tell did note it was important the building “mean something” and they cannot have protests continue from the front lawn into the building and into the Chamber. “This is not the place for that. Out there is, not in here.”
In Johnston’s case, she and her whole group had been involved in staging an abortion-access protest outside the Legislature Wednesday.
“I haven’t spoken to our security unit, but I’m guessing (that shirt) was seen as a continuation of that protest,” said Tell.
A question was raised about whether recent changes to security at the legislative assembly might have played a role in what happened. The Legislative District Security Unit, a group of 10 special constables reporting to the Ministry of Corrections, Policing and Public Safety, took over this fall from the previous regime that had reported to the Sergeant-at-Arms.
But the indication from Tell is the standard operation procedures for security are the same today as for the previous entity providing security.
It was noted others had worn T-shirts with various messages inside the Legislature before. Tell did point to orange Every Child Matters T-shirts that had been worn previously by those attending the Legislature. She noted she didn’t have a problem with that.
There have also been instances of people wearing “I Love Oil and Gas” shirts inside the Legislature. Tell acknowledged that would be a similar situation to “Abortion is Health Care.”
“The oil and gas thing would be something similar. Bearing in mind if there’s a protest for oil and gas on the front of the legislature, and they came into the gallery, that would be a continuation (of a demonstration),” Tell said Thursday.
“But you know what, we just need to lighten up a bit.”
In speaking to reporters Thursday, the NDP’s Meara Conway said the government had reached out “to talk about some different protocols and we welcome that discussion, absolutely.”
Conway had noted the entire group had been heavily scrutinized when they entered the building.
“We were disturbed by the level of scrutiny for these guests yesterday. I’m not sure if it had anything to do with the issue they were speaking about, but certainly we were disturbed by the level of scrutiny and we welcome discussions about changing these protocols.”
