N.S. poised to change guidance for teachers on supporting gender-diverse students
Advocates say the need is urgent, but government has no clear timeline
Koma White is not afraid to show who they are.
White, 17, is a student at Citadel High School in Halifax. They're non-binary and dress "outside the norm," as they describe it, mixing clothing styles to reflect the mix of male and female attributes they feel inside.
For the most part, White said they feel accepted by their teachers and classmates. But not by everyone.
"When you get spotted dressing like me, you do get barked at sometimes," said White.
Being barked at like a dog is an increasingly common form of verbal abuse, often directed at LGBTQ people.
Teachers and administrators in Nova Scotia are supposed to follow a set of guidelines to support students who, like White, are trans and non-binary, and protect them from discrimination.
White said those guidelines, released in 2014, have holes and lack clarity. The result, they said, is that LGBTQ students often don't bother reporting conflicts or abuse because they don't have faith there will be a resolution.
White is part of a chorus of Nova Scotians, which includes advocates, health-care professionals and parents, who are calling on the government to update the guidelines.
CBC News obtained documents through access-to-information laws that show the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development is planning to update the decade-old guidance. But after a year of work, the changes have not been released and it's unclear when they will be.
Keeping up with societal changes
Alec Stratford, executive director of the Nova Scotia College of Social Workers, said the current guidelines are no longer useful because of social, political and legislative changes that have happened over the past 10 years.
"We have new human rights laws, we have laws banning conversion therapy, we also are seeing heightened political rhetoric towards LGBTQSIA groups and youth in particular, all which warrant a stronger response to uphold and protect the rights of the most vulnerable in our society," Stratford said in an interview.
The college of social workers was part of an inter-professional group that wrote an open letter to Nova Scotia's minister of education earlier this year, calling for immediate changes to the guidelines to reflect the new context.
Following several months of correspondence with the department, Stratford and a few other people who signed the letter recently met with department staff.
Draft completed as of September
Stratford said he took away from the meeting that there is "a sense of urgency" at the department to update the guidelines, although he wasn't told where that process stands. Stratford is hoping for some immediate changes to address violence toward LGBTQ students, and for the whole set of guidelines to be updated within a year.
Education Minister Becky Druhan declined to be interviewed. A department spokesperson said in an email the upcoming changes are meant to ensure "the language and content supports the success of all students and fosters a positive experience in our schools."
The department would not say when the work would be completed. But emails between department staff that were included in the documents CBC News obtained show that a draft of the updated guidelines was under review in September.
Also included in the documents is a presentation for department staff by the Youth Project, a local non-profit organization contracted by the province to, in part, help with the development of the new guidelines. According to that presentation, Youth Project staff had anticipated a rollout of the updated guidelines throughout the current school year.
No changes to name or pronoun use
The guidelines in Nova Scotia are the closest equivalent the province has to New Brunswick's Policy 713. Changes to the policy earlier this year set off waves of controversy because the province removed the requirement for teachers to use the preferred pronouns and names of students under the age of 16. They also encourage parental involvement in name and pronoun changes.
Saskatchewan went down a similar path as New Brunswick this fall, passing a bill that makes parental consent mandatory before a child under age 16 can use their preferred name or pronouns at school.
Nova Scotia's current guidelines say all students have the right to be addressed by their preferred name and pronouns. They call for parental consent for pronoun and name changes up to Grade 6. That section of the guidelines will not change, the department said.
Ensuring bathroom access
Barking aside, White said Citadel is "an incredibly welcoming and vibrant community."
White is president of the school's gay-straight alliance, and said the group's members put a lot of time and energy into making sure LGBTQ students feel comfortable and supported.
But White said there can be too much of an onus on LGBTQ students to self-advocate and find resolutions to issues they encounter.
"Teachers at Citadel do tend to try and be great allies," White said. "But again, it's kind of an issue of, are they being told the right things by people who are above them?"
According to the province's guidelines, trans and non-binary students "should be able to access [washroom] facilities that they are comfortable with and that correspond to their gender identity."
There are private gender-neutral washrooms at Citadel, but White said it isn't always easy to use them. There are only three in the school of 1,530 students, and White said that often means long lines.
"If you spend more than 20 minutes out of class, you're marked absent. So if you're waiting just to use the washroom, good luck. You might get marked absent. You might be considered a student who's not trying in class just because you're trying to use the washroom."
Stratford said social workers have seen obstacles to gender-neutral bathroom access at many schools across the province and he thinks the issue needs to be addressed in the updated guidelines.
Failing to respond to that and other issues facing gender-diverse students could have serious consequences, he said.
"It'll challenge folks' well-being, their overall mental health and addictions issues, and lead to really dire results."
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