Concerns roll in on Sask. Party's proposed change room policy, Scott Moe defends plan

Concerns surrounding Saskatchewan Party Leader’s Scott Moe’s proposed change room policy continue to roll in.

On Thursday during a campaign stop in Regina, Moe said if re-elected as premier, his first order of business would be to ban “biological males” from using school change rooms with “biological females.”

The policy comes after the Sask. Party learned of complaints that trans females were using a female change room at a rural school. It was reported that a student at the school said she felt uncomfortable.

Following Moe’s announcement, an online publication published information that outed the trans students.

“I feel that no leader, community, political or otherwise, should aid in anyway to the outing or othering of children,” NDP candidate Nicole Sarauer told reporters.

The Saskatchewan Party has said it played no role in providing information to the online publication.

The change room policy, which was not included in the Sask. Party's platform released earlier this month, has received criticism from the Saskatchewan NDP, with Leader Carla Beck saying it will hurt vulnerable trans youth.

“People are tired of this ugly, divisive politics. We can have differences. We always have. We have to find a way through them,” she said.

Groups and individuals representing the LGBTQ2S+ community are deeply concerned about the proposed policy.

“Imagine being those kids, you know, you just want to use a change room, go to the bathroom. You just want to live your life. you're not thinking about the premier. You're just trying to be a kid,” said Faye Johnstone, a trans advocate.

Queen City Pride also criticized the proposed plan.

"It's disgusting in our opinion. We are so upset and hurt by this. There are other things you can do to make this province better and you're going to continue to hurt the queer community. It's just been an onslaught of hurting us over and over again,” said Riviera Bonneau.

In October of 2023, the Government of Saskatchewan introduced the Parents’ Bill of Rights. The law requires students under the age of 16 get parental consent before changing their name or pronoun in school, which has received significant backlash.

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During a campaign stop in Yorkton on Friday, Moe defended the policy, outlining how it would work.

“If for whatever reason, in this instance you have a biological male for whatever reason does not want to use the male change room, what we would ask the school divisions to do is to accommodate that child by finding them a change room,” he explained.

Political science professor Daniel Westlake weighed in on the timing of the announcement. He said historically, snap announcements come from parties in trouble and aren’t always successful.

“It's happened less in Canada, but even happens in places like Alberta, where mainstream right parties do get scared that they could lose voters, voters to far right parties and take action in response,” he said.

Moe said what it comes down to is supporting children in the school system.

“This is most certainly about having appropriate spaces for children and supporting children in our school system, all children, in our school system,” he said.

It is unclear how the promise of a change room policy will impact voters when they head to the polls.

The provincial election will be held on Oct. 28.

-With files from Wayne Mantyka and Allison Bamford