A former commissioner of the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission says new rules for change rooms at schools threaten children’s safety and security.
I have travelled the world as a competitive shooter and used more change rooms and bathrooms marked for any and all genders and abilities than I can count.
These are the kids who are actually scared. Moe says it’s about protecting girls and women, but his track record on that protection is poor. Saskatchewan has some of the highest live birth rates from adolescent pregnancies, as well as STI and HIV rates, in the country.
Furthermore, if you are an Indigenous girl or woman from Saskatchewan, you are 19 times more likely to go missing or be murdered.
With the abundance of issues facing Saskatchewan people, how could change rooms be at the top? To enact such a thing would require a rewrite of the human rights code and enacting the notwithstanding clause again. Legally, it is without legs and practically, it doesn’t make any sense.
From the cost of groceries to safe housing, to the health-care crisis to how, under Moe’s watch, the Saskatchewan Party has the indefensible lowest per-student funding record in Canada, there are more urgent priorities than deciding who gets to go in which bath/change room.
I trust teachers to figure this out in the same sensible and non-dramatic way they routinely make decisions for our kids.
One year ago, I made a decision of my own and wrote a letter of resignation from my role as a commissioner with the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission and sent it to Scott Moe.
I resigned because I could not be associated with a government that does not uphold the rights of children, and therefore harms them.
Remember: the special sitting for this “urgent” legislation cost us all a fortune, and the government did not consult with, or listen to, any medical, legal, or educational experts when writing it.
If they had, they would’ve been told this (then) proposed law is fundamentally anti-child and puts teachers in an impossible situation, that it would create a divisive and mean-spirited culture of fear and hate, and that it would give permission for violence and bullying against this small group of children.
We can tell our kids we love them all day long, but when the political leader of Saskatchewan attacks their safety and well-being, no amount of hugs and loving words will allow them to ever feel truly at home here.
All the experts (that the Saskatchewan Party will not listen to) tell us we must act in the best interest of those children.
When I think back to my wheelchair sport days when my Canadian flag was raised or when I explained to other competitors where I was from, I always proudly identified as a Saskatchewan farm kid whose parents believed in hard work and respect, but also in standing up for what you believe in, showing up for your neighbours, and supporting each other with unparalleled prairie hospitality.
“From many peoples strength,” isn’t just our provincial motto, after all. It is who we fundamentally are: team players, compassionate citizens and good listeners.
I want to live in that Saskatchewan again.
Heather Kuttai is a writer, former human rights commissioner, and three-time Paralympic medallist.
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