School psychologists file grievances over revised LGBTQ policy

Unionized school psychologists and social workers have filed two grievances with the New Brunswick government over changes to a policy protecting LGBTQ students, saying the changes would make them complicit in harming children.

Education Minister Bill Hogan recently announced the changes to Policy 713, which outlines basic protections to LGBTQ students in school.

Hogan said the revised policy now makes it mandatory to get parental consent before using a child under 16's chosen name and pronoun, even verbally, in school. A child who says no to involving their parents should be referred to a school psychologist or social worker to come up with a plan to include those parents, he said.

But those psychologists and social workers say they were not consulted, don't approve of the changes and refuse to participate in what's being asked.

The New Brunswick Association of School Psychologists said the new policy will hurt students.

"Misgendering transgender and gender diverse people increases risk of self-harm, suicidal ideation, and other mental health concerns," the association said Friday in a statement.

"School psychologists will not be complicit in creating harm by deadnaming and misgendering the students with whom we work."

The grievances were filed with the Education Department on Friday by the New Brunswick Union of Public and Private Employees, which has members in all francophone and anglophone school districts.

The first grievance is aimed at the policy in general. It says the policy is not reasonable or clear.

"It is unclear whether employees are required to misgender students under the age of 16 in the absence of parental consent … while the process of acquiring parental consent is ongoing," the grievance says. "This leaves employees not knowing if they may be disciplined for extending the basic decency of preferred name and pronoun(s) usage to those students."

The revised section of the policy is also not reasonable because it "requires school social workers and school psychologists to act in a manner that is contrary to their respective legal and ethical responsibilities."

This grievance also points to other parts of Policy 713 and other departmental policies that conflict with the new changes.

The union is asking the original policy be restored with respect to psychologists and social workers. The changes are scheduled to come into effect on July 1.

A 'coerced' human rights violation

The second grievance points to Hogan's words in news interviews.

In an interview with CBC News, Hogan said if school staff use a child's chosen name and pronoun against parents' wishes, they could face repercussions.

"We're certainly not going to go on a witch hunt looking for teachers that aren't following the policy, but the policy is the policy and they're expected to follow it," he said on June 9.

When asked if a job would be in danger if the policy isn't followed, Hogan said, "hypothetically it would be, depending on how upset the parent was and how far they want to take it."

Hogan was speaking about teachers in the interview, but the policy applies to everyone who works in schools. Union president Susie Proulx-Daigle said it doesn't matter whether Hogan was referring solely to teachers or everyone affected by the policy.

"It's still not clear and not reasonable," she said.

Guidelines are specific

The union said threatening disciplinary action amounts to coercing or compelling members to do something that is contrary to the Human Rights Act and therefore violates the collective agreement. 

"Misgendering a person is clearly prohibited by the New Brunswick Human Rights Act," the grievance says.

The New Brunswick Human Rights Commission guidelines on gender identity say it's prohibited to "refuse to refer to a trans customer or client by their preferred name or pronoun."

"The trans person's wishes with respect to their gender identity, preferred name and pronouns should be respected to the fullest extent possible," the guidelines say, and they do not specify age.