LGBTQ policy in N.B. schools violates Charter rights of kids: child advocate | 24CA News
Changes to New Brunswick’s coverage on sexual orientation and gender id in faculties violate the Charter rights of youngsters, the province’s little one and youth advocate mentioned Tuesday.
Kelly Lamrock launched his findings in a report of practically 100 pages, concluding that the Education Department didn’t significantly think about the authorized penalties of its modifications to Policy 713.
New Brunswick’s authorities made three modifications in June, one among which requires kids underneath 16 to have parental consent earlier than they will formally change their most well-liked first names or pronouns in school.
In a news launch, Lamrock mentioned forcing non-binary and transgender college students to make use of a reputation they don’t establish with “is a violation of their protected rights under the Human Rights Act and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.”
Premier Blaine Higgs has defended the modifications, arguing that folks have the suitable to know whether or not their kids are questioning their gender id. But Higgs’s authorities has confronted sturdy criticism for the coverage, together with inside his personal cupboard and from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Dissenting members of Higgs’s Progressive Conservatives voted with the opposition in mid-June to go a movement asking Lamrock’s workplace to evaluation the modifications to Policy 713.
On Tuesday, Lamrock mentioned the federal government’s modifications have been imprecise and created confusion.
“It should be said that it is not bigoted for a parent to want to know about their child’s major decisions. Equally so, it is not extreme to want children to have privacy and autonomy when they are old and mature enough to exercise it,” the report mentioned.
“The fault with the changes to Policy 713 is they were pushed through to demonstrate rhetorical support for a principle, but failed to take the steps a government would take to approach a matter with competence and seriousness.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first revealed Aug. 15, 2023.
© 2023 The Canadian Press
