At his annual “Ford Fest” on Friday, September 8 Ontario Premier Doug Ford continued to signal his government’s willingness to persecute trans and other 2SLGBTQIA+ youth in the province’s school system.
Ford told a crowd of hundreds of supporters that parents should be informed if a child chooses to change their gender pronouns in school, accusing school boards of engaging in indoctrination.
“It’s not up to the teachers, it’s not up to the school boards to indoctrinate our kids,” he said.
Ford’s comments come just two weeks after his Education Minister Stephen Lecce publicly stated his support for policies requiring parents to be informed if their child asks their teachers to address them by different pronouns.
READ MORE: Stephen Lecce signals Ontario will adopt anti-trans policies to public outcry
While Ontario has yet to actually enact such a policy, two other conservative provincial governments have done just that this summer.
First New Brunswick’s Premier Blaine Higgs, then Saskatchewan’s Scott Moe both implemented policies requiring that students receive a parent’s permission to change the pronouns by which they are addressed at school if they are under the age of 16.
Critics of these policies point out that trans students might not be ready to come out to their parents and may not even feel safe doing so.
A study by the National Institute of Health in the US found that trans youth who were addressed with their correct pronouns had a significant reduction in suicidal behaviour and ideation.
Unions say Ford is putting students’ lives at risk
Both the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) and the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF) slammed Ford for his anti-2SLGBTQIA+ comments.
A statement from the EFTO reads:
“Premier Doug Ford made it clear that he has no idea what “school boards actually do” when he dismissed their law-abiding efforts to protect 2SLGBTQ+ students’ rights. In an attempt to deflect from the ongoing Greenbelt scandal, he made dangerous, inflammatory remarks that put students, educators, and others at risk of great harm …
In a perfect climate, all students go home to a safe and supportive environment, but we know this isn’t the case for all.”
The OSSTF also highlighted how not allowing students to choose how they self-identify could put them at serious risk both academically and physically.
“Denying students their autonomy to choose how they self-identify can affect their sense of self-worth and can cause emotional and social distress, leading to negative mental health outcomes, such as self-harm, bullying, and other forms of exclusion. In turn, this distress can adversely impact a student’s achievement and success in school,” reads a statement by the OSSTF.
The OSSTF said they would actively fight any policy that put 2SLGBTQIA+ students at risk.
“If the Ford government attempts to enact this harmful rhetoric as public policy, OSSTF will vigorously defend its members in exercising their professional judgement in creating safe schools and upholding the Ontario Human Rights Code,” the OSSTF stated.
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