Sask. gov’t being extra careful in pronoun legislation: Expert

Last week, the public got its first look at the legislation that will enshrine Saskatchewan’s controversial pronoun policy into law, and one expert says some of the clauses are making a point of protecting the government and the law itself.

The bill included the policy to require that a student have a parent’s permission before being able to change their name or pronouns in school. It also included sections invoking the notwithstanding clause to get around portions of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The legislation also includes a section to get around the Saskatchewan Human Rights Code.

Premier Scott Moe had said previously that he would use the notwithstanding clause, but some experts like Jim Farney were surprised at the inclusion of the human rights code section.

Farney is a professor at and director of the Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy at the University of Regina.

“It feels to me like this is as much about jurisdiction as it is about rights,” said Farney.

“They’re kind of trying to address multiple ways in which you might imagine using this (legislation) as a test case is, I think, what that’s about.”

Farney said such legislation can go back and forth from legislatures to the courts as politics unfold, giving the legislation legalizing same-sex marriage as an example.

He said it seems like including those sections is the government’s way of trying to narrow the avenues for constitutional challenges. He said it also seems like government is trying to narrow legal challenges as well.

The legislation also includes a section disallowing lawsuits against the government, school boards or their employees if the law ends up doing harm. Farney said normally that’s implied, as employees are acting as an agent of the Crown, but the government chose to spell it out in this case.

“That they made it explicit is almost saying that they expect to be challenged on it,” said Farney.

He said the Moe government is being extra careful on the legal challenges side.

The legislation is likely going to be passed and into law before the week is out. However, Farney doesn’t see the pressing imperative for these issues to be dealt with; he said education isn’t usually the biggest issue for people.

Farney said government is likely trying to shore up its base after losing some ground in the recent byelections, when it lost in two of three ridings.