Manitoba school board criticized for motion limiting students’ privacy

Manitoba school board criticized for motion limiting students’ privacy MATTHEW FRANK PUBLISHED 1 HOUR AGO Open this photo in gallery: Last month, Manitoba Education Minister Tracy Schmidt condemned the Hanover motion and made the rare decision to direct the board to repeal it. SHANNON VANRAES/THE GLOBE AND MAIL COMMENTS SHARE SAVE FOR LATER Listen to this article Learn more about audio Log in or create a free account to listen to this article. Parents and LGBTQ+ advocates have criticized a rural Manitoba school board for a passing a motion that would ignore provincial and federal mature minor regulations and prevent students from getting counselling and medical services, including contraceptive prescriptions, without their parents’ knowledge. The board for the Hanover School Division made the decision on June 2, at one of the last board meetings before summer holidays. A growing number of school boards and provinces, including Saskatchewan, Alberta and New Brunswick, have passed legislation or set policies that ban sex education, censor learning materials about LGBTQ+ issues and prohibit children from using certain pronouns without explicit parental permission. Many of the initiatives were the result of pressure from conservative political movements aligned around the idea of parental rights in schools. Last month, however, Manitoba Education Minister Tracy Schmidt condemned the Hanover motion and made the rare decision to direct the board to repeal it. In a letter addressed to the school board chair, Ms. Schmidt said the motion “contravenes” provincial regulations such as the Health Care Directives Act and the Public Health Act, along with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. “Your presumed knowledge of your legal and constitutional responsibilities would lead a reasonable observer to conclude you passed this motion at best for public attention and at worst to pick a fight,” Ms. Schmidt said in the July 22 letter, which was viewed by The Globe and Mail. “We encourage you to focus on the education of children in your division and leave the health care policy development to the health care experts.” If the school board does not repeal the motion, the province can dissolve the elected board and install a government trustee to oversee the school division. Board chair Dallas Wiebe issued a response on Aug. 7. In a letter to Ms. Schmidt, he said the trustees will address rescinding the motion at the next meeting, scheduled for Sept. 1. But he…