RUNNING HEAD: BILL 202, THE SAFE AND INCLUSIVE SCHOOL ACT: POLICY BRIEF AND REVIEW

Bill 202, the Safe and Inclusive School Act: Policy Brief and Review Harold Pliszka University of Calgary SOWK 671 S01 Fall 2014

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Policy Brief on Bill 202, the Safe and Inclusive School Act Issue: In an effort to create safe and welcoming classrooms for students of all sexual orientations and gender identities, this Liberal private members bill will be introduced to create mandatory support for gay-straight alliance clubs (“GSAs”) and to repeal section 11.1 of the Alberta Human Rights Act. Background: The Alberta Government is committed to reducing bullying in Alberta schools. Evidence has shown that GSAs work to reduce many forms of bullying in schools. While many Albertans and school boards openly support formation of GSAs, others want to ensure the rights of individual school boards and parents to make their own decisions on issues surrounding sexual orientation and gender identity. Bill 202 will remove section 11.1 entirely from the Alberta Humans Right Act. Section 11.1 was introduced to the Alberta Human Rights Act in 2009 requiring teachers to give notice so parents can have children removed from the classroom during teaching “that deals primarily and explicitly with religion, human sexuality or sexual orientation” (Alberta Human Rights Commission, 2009, p.2). Suggested Key Messages: • When discussing GSAs: o GSAs provide “counselling and support, safe spaces, increased visibility and awareness, educational and social change” (Alberta Education, 2013, p.2). o GSAs maximize inclusiveness for all students (Alberta Education, 2013). o Many Albertans believe it is important for students to have the right to take leadership on LGBT issues by forming GSAs regardless of the school they happen to be attending. • When discussing Section 11.1: o Many Albertans believe it is important to create inclusive classrooms that welcome diversity by educating all students on issues dealing with sexual orientation and sexuality. o Section 11.1 permits acceptance of parental prejudice in the school environment by limiting exposure to real issues. o Section 11.1 creates a concern among teachers about the repercussions of discussing sexual orientation and sexuality in the classrooms. • When discussing upcoming vote on Bill 202: o This bill is essential to ensuring safe classrooms to enhance learning for all Alberta students. o The way members of each party vote on this bill will show their commitment to classrooms that welcome diversity and inclusivity. o Many conservative MLAs want to protect the rights of school boards and parents. The time has come to protect the rights of teachers and students.

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Analysis:

Bill 202 will act to mandate support for student-led creation of GSAs regardless of the school they attend. Bill 202 will also remove Section 11.1 from the Alberta Human Rights Act which will eliminate the need to provide parental notice when teaching subjects that include sexual orientation, sexuality and religion. Bill 202 would remove barriers to teaching and would promote the inclusion of diversity in all public schools.

In April 2014, Motion 503 was voted down by 31 Progressive Conservative & Wildrose Party MLAs (Cournoyer, 2014; The Legislative Assembly of Alberta, 2014). This motion would have mandated support for GSAs when requested by students. GSAs help reduce instances of bullying in schools by maximizing “inclusiveness of all students, regardless of differences based on sex, age, ability, gender, race, ethnicity, language, culture, religion, social condition, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression” (Alberta Education, 2013, p.1).

The Supreme Court ruling on Vriend vs. Alberta (1998) “ordered the Alberta government to write sexual orientation, as a protected ground against discrimination, into its human rights legislation” (Wells & Chamberlain, 2009). As part of this inclusion, the Progressive Conservatives decided they would create Section 11.1 to give parental rights over the education children receive.

In 2009, 35 Progressive Conservative MLAs voted for, and passed, Bill 44, The Human Rights, Citizenship and Multiculturalism Amendment Act, 2009 (Audette, 2009; The Legislative Assembly of Alberta, 2009) which created Section 11.1 of the Human Rights Act to give parents the right to remove children from classrooms when lessons would include topics related to human sexuality, sexual orientation and religion. Bill 44 was opposed by the Liberal Party, the New Democratic Party & the Alberta Teachers’ Association on grounds that it would suppress the ability for teachers to educate children on important issues (Audette, 2009).

Section 11.1 is considered homophobic and professionally oppressive by many because it removes uniform teaching of the facts on sexual orientation and gender identity (Audette, 2009; CBC News, 2009; Wells & Chamberlain, 2009; Gereluk, 2011; Liberal Communications, 2014).

Recommendations:

Bill 202 will correct a flaw in the Alberta Human Rights Act and promote safe and inclusive learning environments in Alberta schools. As such, it is an example of good policy and enactment, in entirety, would have positive repercussions throughout the province.

It will be difficult to get enough votes to pass Bill 202 and the following suggestions might help: • Separate the bill into two: One to legislate support for GSAs; and another to repeal Section 11.1 of the Alberta Human Rights Act. • Create a bill to remove only “Sexual Orientation” from Section 11.1. This would permit education pertaining to facts around diversity of sexual orientation while still permitting parental consent when teaching sexuality and religion. Many Albertans and MLAs feel strongly about parental consent and this may help get their support. BILL 202: POLICY BRIEF AND REVIEW 4

Policy Review of Bill 202

Historical Overview

This paper discusses the creation and implementation of policy leading up to the introduction of the Private Members’ Bill 202 by Alberta Liberal Member of the Legislative

Assembly (“MLA”) Laurie Blakeman. As discussed in the accompanying Policy Brief, the

Supreme Court ruling on Vriend vs. Alberta (1998) “ordered the Alberta government to write sexual orientation, as a protected ground against discrimination, into its human rights legislation”

(Wells & Chamberlain, 2009). Parental rights - and thereby religious beliefs - were given precedence over-and-above the inclusion of factual education pertaining to sexuality and sexual orientation in Alberta schools (Gereluk, 2011; Wells & Chamberlain, 2009) and a Progressive

Conservative (“PC”) MLA was quoted on June 2, 2009 as saying, “severely normal

Albertans…are extremely happy with this legislation” (CBC News, 2009).

Gay-straight alliance clubs (“GSAs”) “maximize inclusiveness of all students, regardless of differences based on sex, age, ability, gender, race, ethnicity, language, culture, religion, social condition, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression” (Alberta Education,

2013, p.1). While GSAs are common in Alberta’s secular urban schools, they are uncommon – in Separate Schools like the Calgary Catholic School Board (Nolais, 2014).

In order to mandate support for GSAs in all public schools, Liberal MLA, Kent Hehr, introduced Motion 503:

Motion 503. Mr. Hehr moved: Be it resolved that the Legislative Assembly urge the

government to introduce legislation, like Manitoba’s and Ontario’s, requiring all school

boards to develop policies to support students who want to lead and establish gay-

straight alliance activities and organizations, using any name that is consistent with the BILL 202: POLICY BRIEF AND REVIEW 5

promotion of a positive school environment that is inclusive, welcoming, and respectful

for all students regardless of sexuality, sexual orientation, or gender identity (Alberta

Hansard, April, 2014, p. 361).

In April 2014, Motion 503 was voted down by 31 Progressive Conservative & Wildrose

Party MLAs (Cournoyer, 2014; The Legislative Assembly of Alberta, 2014). In a letter written to

Alberta school boards on April 14, 2014 by then Education Minister, Jeff Johnson claimed that

stakeholders were not consulted and that he felt individual school boards should decide whether

or not to support GSAs. Kent Hehr noted that “hundreds of hours of discussion and debate”

precluded introduction of Motion 503 (personal communication, October 15, 2014).

Three of five Alberta political parties have expressed desire to mandate GSAs and to repeal Section 11.1 and will likely support Bill 202 while the PCs and Wildrose MLAs will

likely vote against the bill (Clarke, 2014; Alberta NDP, 2014; Liberal Communications, 2014;

Ibrahim, 2014).

Analysis of Section 11.1

Policy development often focuses on: values; social justice; incrementalism;

functionalism and/or; quality-of-live approaches (Abboud, 2014). Policy created by government

is very often incremental because it tends to build upon itself as a result of public and political

interest. Rather than social justice and quality-of-life, Alberta government policy tends to reflect the values of the party elected to government.

Following every other Canadian province, Alberta finally acted on the ruling from Vriend vs Alberta (1998) and included sexual orientation as a protected ground under the Alberta

Human Rights Act (Wells & Chamberlain, 2009; Alberta Human Rights Commission, 2012).

Unfortunately, the Progressive Conservatives added Section 11.1 into the Human Rights Act BILL 202: POLICY BRIEF AND REVIEW 6 diminishing its value as a proponent of accepting diversity in Alberta classrooms. Section 11.1

“limits the ability of children to have access to information and issues …[and] compromises individuals’ ability to understand, acknowledge and respect others who may have drastically different perspectives than their own” (Gereluk, 2011, p. 78-79).

The addition of Section 11.1 to the Alberta Human Rights Act could be considered ‘good policy’ because it balanced a number of public concerns. While enshrining sexual orientation as protected grounds in the Act took a solid social justice approach that is important to many

Albertans, Alberta also has a strong religious voice that disagrees with the very ideas of diversity in sexual orientation and sexuality. On the other hand, Section 11.1 represents another instance of incrementalism that works to negate the socially just and quality-of-life approaches to protecting the rights of sexual minorities. In other words, the aim of the Alberta Human Rights

Act to prevent discrimination based on protected grounds like sexual orientation does not match the outcome when combined with Section 11.1.

Section 11.1 gives priority to parents who want to shield their children from learning about sexuality and sexual orientation while diminishing the rights of students to learn in an inclusive and safe environment. It continues the acceptance of parental prejudice in the school environment by limiting exposure to real issues. It creates a ‘chill’ in schools that want to promote diversity and acceptance within its hallways (CBC News, 2009; Wells & Chamberlain,

2009; Gereluk, 2011; Wood & Varcoe, 2014).

Analysis of GSAs and Motion 503

The Alberta Government recognizes that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and transsexual (“LGBT”) students exist in every community and in every school and GSAs are encouraged as “welcoming, caring, respectful and safe spaces within schools that support BILL 202: POLICY BRIEF AND REVIEW 7

diversity, equity and human rights in positive ways” (Alberta Education, 2013, p. 1). Research has “found in schools with anti-homophobic policies the odds of suicidal thoughts and attempts were 70 per cent lower among gay and bisexual boys when compared to schools without”

(Nolais, 2014).

It is unfortunate that even with government support for GSAs in schools, that GSAs are not supported by many school administrations. Hehr’s Motion 503 and Blakeman’s Bill 202 would mandate support of GSAs in every publicly-funded school in Alberta. Motion 503 was voted down by PC and Wildrose MLAs and Bill 202 may very well suffer the same fate. As with discussion on Section 11.1, it is unfortunate that policies of homophobia in many schools is given precedence over protecting the rights of all students.

Analysis of Bill 202

Good policy engages stakeholders. While former Minister of Education, Jeff Johnson, cited a lack of consultation around Motion 503 (Johnson, 2014), Kent Hehr suggests that

“hundreds of hours of discussion and debate” precluded introduction of Motion 503 (personal communication, October 15, 2014). Motion 503 requested that the PC government create the legislation mandating support of GSAs. Had the Motion been approved, the PCs could have undergone further consultation with parents, students, schools and school boards before writing the legislation.

Section 11.1 has been debated extensively since before it was included in the Alberta

Human Rights Act in 2009. While I have not determined the exact parties consulted in arriving at Bill 202, I am comfortable with Kent Hehr’s statement that its contents have received

“hundreds of hours of discussion and debate”. BILL 202: POLICY BRIEF AND REVIEW 8

Good policy is more easily implemented when it is less top-down in approach. Bill 202 requires individual “school boards to develop policies to support students who want to lead and establish gay-straight alliance activities and organizations” (Liberal Communications, 2014, para. 5). Rather than dictating blanket policy, Bill 202 will give school boards the opportunity to devise their own GSA-supporting policies.

Section 11.1 could be considered top-down since it is a blanket policy implanted on all schools. Bill 202 will remove Section 11.1 all-together which may actually give school boards and teachers more autonomy on what is taught in their schools.

Bill 202 would also reference “the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the

Alberta Human Rights Act in Alberta’s Education Act” (Liberal Communications, 2014, para. 5).

This referencing would go a long way to syncing the outcomes of the Charter and both Alberta

Acts.

One criticism I have of Motion 503 and Bill 202 is the use of the now-common term

“gay-straight alliance clubs”. While ‘gay’ is often used to represent the entire community of sexual orientations, it can also be considered as limiting. Gay is defined by Merriam-Webster

(2014) as “a person and especially a man who is homosexual”. The Bill allows for use of other club names in the spirit of GSAs. LGBT clubs, diversity clubs and identity clubs might be more inclusive to the array of sexual and gender diversity present in schools and the larger society.

Conclusion

Bill 202 represents good policy. It calls for removal of a homophobic policy from the

Alberta Human Rights Act and supports inclusivity of diverse populations in Alberta schools.

Where Section 11.1 negated the positive effects of including sexual orientation as a protected ground in the Alberta Human Rights Act within the educational setting, Bill 202 will BILL 202: POLICY BRIEF AND REVIEW 9 enhance the outcomes of the Act. Where ‘Section 11.1 creates a chill in the classroom by curtailing discussions related to religion, human sexuality, and orientation” (Gereluk, 2011, p.

78), Bill 202 gives more professional authority to teachers and, consequently, a more complete education. Where Section 11.1 “compromises individuals’ ability to understand, acknowledge and respect others who may have drastically different perspectives than their own” (Gereluk,

2011, p. 79), Bill 202 helps assure understanding and acceptance of sexual and gender diversity.

Currently not all school boards permit the creation of GSAs when requested by students.

The PC and Wildrose Parties assert that school boards should be given the authority to permit or deny formation of GSAs. Bill 202 will create a uniform policy requiring Alberta school boards to support the formation of GSAs in ways that work best for them and their students.

Implementation will go a long way to support diversity if sexual orientation and to reduce bullying throughout school populations (Alberta Education, 2013).

Acceptance of Bill 202 into law will go further to protect human rights and respectful inclusion of the diversity presented in all populations.

BILL 202: POLICY BRIEF AND REVIEW 10

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