NDP tables bill to protect LGBTQ people in schools
Legislation will ensure students can’t be ‘outed’ to parents: Eggen
The Alberta government aims to “fix” legislation protecting LGBTQ students and school staff with a new bill tabled Thursday, the education minister says.
School staff must respect privacy law and keep confidential when a student attends a gay-straight al- liance (GSA), queer-straight alliance (QSA) or similar club, the proposed legislation says.
“This legislation makes it clear no student will be outed for joining a GSA or a QSA,” Education Minister David Eggen told a news conference Thursday.
Ace Peace, a 17-year-old transgender boy from Calgary, said GSA meetings are sometimes the only place youths feel safe to be themselves. Some feel they would be in danger if their families learned about their identity, he said.
“For some kids, that’s all they have to look forward to all week,” he said of his school’s weekly GSA meeting.
Bill 24 would make Alberta a national leader in school protections for LGBTQ people, said Kris Wells, assistant professor of education at the University of Alberta.
Wells, who has pushed for more specific school policies to protect LGBTQ students, said the bill is a “positive, proactive step.” What schools need now is training and professional development to put policy into action, he said.
“We’ve seen some schools dance around GSAs and, in some cases, principals try to out-wait the students before they start a GSA, hoping they’ll graduate and go away,” Wells said.
Eggen said some school boards and superintendents have interfered with student attempts to create a GSA. Bill 24 attempts to stop this by limiting the responsibility to principals, he said.
The bill seeks to have school principals “immediately grant permission for the establishment of the student organization,” and have the principal appoint an adult “within a reasonable time” to supervise the club.
Eggen is also attempting to enshrine in law a requirement for all schools — public, Catholic, Francophone, charter and private — to have a safe schools policy and a code of conduct.
The policy must affirm student and staff rights under the Alberta Human Rights Act and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and be approved by schools or boards by April 1, 2018.
If the policy doesn’t follow the law, the minister would have the power to amend it or impose a policy.
Eggen had previously issued a ministerial order requiring all school authorities to write such policies. About 20 — mostly independent schools — had not complied nearly two years after the deadline, he has said.
Those policies must be posted publicly and prominently online by June 30, 2018, and provided upon request, the bill says.
The legislation also follows a consultant’s recommendation to require private schools to establish anti-bullying codes of conduct that prohibit discrimination based on gender identity, gender expression and sexual orientation.
The School Act already compels public and charter schools to do this, but not independent schools.
Bill 24 would also limit principals’ communication about GSAs to a general announcement about the school forming or having a club.
The bill aims to clarify that a school’s requirement to notify parents in advance about sex education or religion lessons doesn’t extend to school clubs.
Privacy law allows for exemptions when there are threats against students, or threats of selfharm, Eggen said.
Schools that break the rules could potentially be subject to an
investigation or an inquiry at the behest of the minister, have public funding withheld or lose accreditation.
In a statement, United Conservative Party Leader Jason Kenney said his caucus will have more to say about Bill 24 once they’ve reviewed it.
He accused the NDP government of using the issue as a wedge, and said the party has mischaracterized his previous remarks.
Kenney has said decisions about what information to release to parents are best left in the hands of teachers and principals.