Third Session – Forty-First Legislature of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba DEBATES and PROCEEDINGS Official Report (Hansard) Published under the authority of The Honourable Myrna Driedger Speaker Vol. LXXI No. 73A - 10 a.m., Thursday, October 4, 2018 ISSN 0542-5492 MANITOBA LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY Forty-First Legislature Member Constituency Political Affiliation ALLUM, James Fort Garry-Riverview NDP ALTEMEYER, Rob Wolseley NDP BINDLE, Kelly Thompson PC CLARKE, Eileen, Hon. Agassiz PC COX, Cathy, Hon. River East PC CULLEN, Cliff, Hon. Spruce Woods PC CURRY, Nic Kildonan PC DRIEDGER, Myrna, Hon. Charleswood PC EICHLER, Ralph, Hon. Lakeside PC EWASKO, Wayne Lac du Bonnet PC FIELDING, Scott, Hon. Kirkfield Park PC FLETCHER, Steven, Hon. Assiniboia Man. FONTAINE, Nahanni St. Johns NDP FRIESEN, Cameron, Hon. Morden-Winkler PC GERRARD, Jon, Hon. River Heights Lib. GOERTZEN, Kelvin, Hon. Steinbach PC GRAYDON, Clifford Emerson PC GUILLEMARD, Sarah Fort Richmond PC HELWER, Reg Brandon West PC ISLEIFSON, Len Brandon East PC JOHNSON, Derek Interlake PC JOHNSTON, Scott St. James PC KINEW, Wab Fort Rouge NDP KLASSEN, Judy Kewatinook Lib. LAGASSÉ, Bob Dawson Trail PC LAGIMODIERE, Alan Selkirk PC LAMONT, Dougald St. Boniface Lib. LAMOUREUX, Cindy Burrows Lib. LATHLIN, Amanda The Pas NDP LINDSEY, Tom Flin Flon NDP MALOWAY, Jim Elmwood NDP MARCELINO, Flor Logan NDP MARCELINO, Ted Tyndall Park NDP MARTIN, Shannon Morris PC MAYER, Colleen, Hon. St. Vital PC MICHALESKI, Brad Dauphin PC MICKLEFIELD, Andrew Rossmere PC MORLEY-LECOMTE, Janice Seine River PC NESBITT, Greg Riding Mountain PC PALLISTER, Brian, Hon. Fort Whyte PC PEDERSEN, Blaine, Hon. Midland PC PIWNIUK, Doyle Arthur-Virden PC REYES, Jon St. Norbert PC SARAN, Mohinder The Maples Ind. SCHULER, Ron, Hon. St. Paul PC SMITH, Andrew Southdale PC SMITH, Bernadette Point Douglas NDP SMOOK, Dennis La Verendrye PC SQUIRES, Rochelle, Hon. Riel PC STEFANSON, Heather, Hon. Tuxedo PC SWAN, Andrew Minto NDP TEITSMA, James Radisson PC WHARTON, Jeff, Hon. Gimli PC WIEBE, Matt Concordia NDP WISHART, Ian Portage la Prairie PC WOWCHUK, Rick Swan River PC YAKIMOSKI, Blair Transcona PC 3379 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA Thursday, October 4, 2018 The House met at 10 a.m. Of course, this bill, Madam Speaker, is very important. It amends The Public Schools Act to Madam Speaker: O Eternal and Almighty God, include a provision that a pupil involved in a from Whom all power and wisdom come, we are gay-straight alliance, or a GSA, may withhold their assembled here before Thee to frame such laws as consent to disclose that information about their may tend to the welfare and prosperity of our participation to the school board and then to their province. Grant, O merciful God, we pray Thee, that parents and/or guardians. The student also may we may desire only that which is in accordance with withhold their consent to the disclosure in the case of Thy will, that we may seek it with wisdom and know bullying based on their sexual orientation or gender it with certainty and accomplish it perfectly for the identity. glory and honour of Thy name and for the welfare of all our people. Amen. As I said, Madam Speaker, this is an absolutely crucial bill. It is a timely bill. It is a bill that has been Please be seated. discussed and debated across this country, and we do ORDERS OF THE DAY believe that this is the next step in bringing our LGBTTQ* community together and helping them as PRIVATE MEMBERS' BUSINESS they move forward in their lives as they disclose the Mr. Matt Wiebe (Concordia): Good morning, information about their sexual identity to their Madam Speaker. friends and their peers and their family. I would ask leave of the House that this morning This really is something–as I said, is a con- we would debate Bill 224. tinuation of the work that's already been done here in this province, and I know that there are a few Madam Speaker: Is there leave this morning to members here still that were part of the bill 18 debate Bill 224? [Agreed] hearings in the Legislature when it was the previous government who brought forward a protection to Leave has been granted. students who wish to form a GSA, who wish to come DEBATE ON SECOND READINGS– together to form a gay-straight alliance within their PUBLIC BILLS school. And I was one of those members who sat in on those public hearings for that particular bill and Bill 224–The Public Schools Amendment Act was able to chair a number of those meetings. (No Disclosure Without Consent) And I can say, in my time being here in this Madam Speaker: Moving, then, to Bill 224, The Legislature, I can't think of another issue or bill that Public Schools Amendment Act (No Disclosure brought forward, you know, more inspirational Without Consent). stories and some difficult stories from folks who had lived this experience as a young person who wished Mr. Matt Wiebe (Concordia): I move, seconded to participate in a GSA or wished to come out in by the member for Fort Rouge (Mr. Kinew), that their schools. Bill 224, The Public Schools Amendment Act (No Disclosure Without Consent), be now read a second And as I said, I'm not the only one in this time and be referred to a committee of this House. Chamber, and I do believe that this morning we may hear experiences from the folks who where there Motion presented. who where in those committees, who heard from Mr. Wiebe: Well, good morning, Madam Speaker, those people first-hand, who heard those experiences and good morning to my colleagues. I am pleased to first-hand. rise this morning, and I'm extremely pleased to bring But I also think, maybe more importantly, we forward this very important bill before the House and may hear from others in this Chamber who weren't a bill that I'm sure members on all sides will have here, but understood at the time, maybe because they lots to say about and a lot of comments to make. had someone in their own family who was a–who 3380 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA October 4, 2018 was in that situation where they were being bullied This bill will provide clarity to teachers, which is or felt that they needed to be a part of that important, in regards to whose interests they must community and felt to feel supported within their protect. They will no longer have to consider school, or maybe they just knew a friend or a competing pressures either from parents or from neighbour. But I would say, Madam Speaker, that third parties, as the case may be. They will be able to probably everybody in this Chamber has some say, with legal authority, that their actions must be personal experience; and as I've said many times in taken in the interests of their students and their the past, I do believe that makes for the best debate students' privacy and security. when folks can talk about that personal experience. * (10:10) So it was a difficult process going through the We recognize that parents love their children, process of bill 18. I do hope that we've come a long first and foremost, and they want to remain informed way, and I do hope that this is a bill that we can, about their lives, but it is clearly our position that it as legislators, see as the next step, come forward should be up to the individual students to decide together in a spirit of bipartisanship and pass when they feel safest and most comfortable revealing and support collectively, because this is so very their identities to parents. It is clear, Madam Speaker, important to students and for young people in our that for a young person, it is probably one of the province. most difficult scenarios that they have to face. We We believe that all people regardless of how certainly want to support them in absolutely every young they are deserve to decide when and whom–to way we can. We do understand that the supports whom they disclose their sexual or gender identity. need to extend to parents and to schools, and I think The LGBTTQ* community and the youth are that work needs to be done as well. But as a first particularly vulnerable, we believe, Madam Speaker, step, we must prioritize the rights of those children and so we think that it's our responsibility as and those young people who are making that difficult legislators to do our best to protect them. Our top transition. priority for schools is to make them safe and The act of coming out is a personal one, and the welcoming places for all students regardless of their circumstances of it should be in control of that sexual identity, their gender identity or their gender person who is doing it. People who choose to expression. We want a safe space for them to learn disclose their identities to others, they know best and to grow. when it is safe for them to do so and the manner in Gay-straight alliances, Madam Speaker, are which they'd like to do that. It's not responsible to student-led clubs. Of course, they provide a sense of continue to allow teachers to out their students, community, a sense of safe, supportive space for to tell the parents that they are a member of the those young members of that community and, gay-straight alliance. It can cause confrontations. It importantly, I think, to note, their straight ally peers.