Sask. government says all school divisions must release change room policies by June 30

The provincial government has ordered all Saskatchewan school divisions to create individual change room policies and make them public by the end of June.

During the 2024 Saskatchewan Election, Premier Scott Moe said his first order of business if his party was elected would be to ban "biological boys" from using school changing rooms with "biological girls."

Terms like "biological boys" and "biological girls" can be used to imply that transgender people are still their assigned sex at birth, despite their identity.

The election promise came after Moe said he learned of a complaint about two "biological males" changing with girls at a southeast Saskatchewan school.

Moe later said he had misspoken to reporters about a ban being the first order of business. The proposal was put on the back-burner, but now the change rooms topic is back. 

The province said the Ministry of Health has been working with school divisions to "ensure the safety and privacy of all students remain a top priority." All 27 school divisions are expected to make their own change room policies public at the end of the school year.

In a news conference at the legislature Thursday afternoon, Education Minister Everett Hindley said many school divisions informed the government that they are in the best position to make change room decisions at a local level with locally elected school boards.

"There was a significant turnover in school board elections this fall. There's 40 per cent new school board members across the province," Hindley said. 

"But I've been assured by the school divisions and by the [Saskatchewan School Boards Association] that they will be responsive and reactive to all questions, concerns, inquiries that are raised by individuals living within their school division."

The 27 divisions are expected consult with parents and guardians and students. 

The Ministry of Education said most schools in the 27 divisions already have change room policies in place, but divisions will be expected to go over what they have in place and adjust as needed. 

"They want to be able to have those conversations with parents and others within their school divisions so that they can do their best to have a policy that reflects the needs of their students, but also hits the expectations of the people that they are elected to represent," Hindley said.

Shawn Davidson, president of the Saskatchewan School Boards Association, told reporters school divisions will handle change room situations on a case-by-case situation.

Neither Davidson or Hindley could say if any 2SLGBTQ+ spokespeople were consulted by the government or any of the school divisions. 

"I can't speak for individual school divisions because that would be the responsibility of their board chair to do so. So there's obviously been some conversations that have happened at board tables," Davidson said.

"Have some of those conversations involved the LGBTQ community? Quite possibly. I can't say for certain or for not."

Neither Hindley or Davidson used the words "biological," "gender" or "transgender" during Thursday's news conference — choosing instead to use the word "change rooms" as a catch-all for the topic at hand.

Davidson said the divisions will work to make sure all students are comfortable at school. He said that may mean offering a student a private change room, if the building already has one. He also addressed mental health.

"We have talked many times about breaking down silos between health and education and how do we provide that more integrated delivery model to ensure that all of our students are supported in the ways that they require. And that absolutely includes the LGBTQ community," he said.

Minister Hindley would not say if the government would step in if a school division has a change room policy the province does not find adequate.

All Saskatchewan school divisions must have their change room policies made public by June 30.

CBC reached out to the Saskatchewan NDP for comment, but did not receive a response by the time of publication.