The provincial government will use the notwithstanding clause of the Canadian Constitution to implement the Parental Inclusion and Consent Policy for schools. The decision was made by Premier Scott Moe shortly after an interim court injunction was granted against the policy, which requires children under 16 to obtain parental consent if they want to go by different names and pronouns at school. He believes the default position should never be to keep a child’s information from their parents.

A news release from the provincial NDP says Regina King’s Bench Justice Michael Megaw told the court he believes there would be irreparable harm to gender diverse children under this pronoun policy.

Moe says his government will be recalling the Legislative Assembly on Tuesday, October 10 to pass the legislation. He adds that he is extremely dismayed by the judicial overreach of the court blocking implementation of the policy.

The Opposition Party’s Critic for Education Matt Love says that although children do best in school when their parents are involved, Moe’s policy is not about the welfare of children.
Love says the policy was it nothing more than the political move of a government that is seeing its support dwindle, and Moe should have respected Megaw’s decision.
Love says that the policy has already been declared as a breach of human rights by the Children’s Advocate, and he concluded by saying that using the powers of government to bully already-vulnerable kids is not the right approach, and the NDP will not support it.