Saskatchewan legislature member says premier targeted his transgender children

REGINA — A Saskatchewan legislature member says his transgender children were targeted in an election campaign promise about school change rooms and he wants an apology from Premier Scott Moe.

Opposition NDP member Jared Clarke told the legislative assembly this week his daughters were subjects of a complaint for using a girls’ change room at a southeast Saskatchewan school.

“The premier put a target on the backs of my two 12-year-old kids,” Clarke said in the house.

He said a news article of the complaint was published Oct. 16 and later that day a photo of his family was shared on social media linking them to the article.

The next day at a campaign stop in Regina, Moe was asked about the complaint and announced he would ban “biological boys” from using girls change rooms at schools if his Saskatchewan Party won the Oct. 28 election.

Moe had touted the proposal as his first order of business, but it was not in his party’s campaign platform.

“He held a press conference to stoke fear and outrage about two kids at an elementary school while my children’s picture was circulating on social media, identifying them, while unimaginable hate was raging down on my family,” Clarke told the assembly.

“The premier owes my children an apology. He owes all transgender people in this province, especially kids, an apology for how he has made them feel so unsafe over the last year.”

Moe’s office said in an emailed statement the premier and former Education Minister Jeremy Cockrill at no point identified the children.

“The premier and his campaign consistently stated that, ‘the identity of individual minors should never be part of any political debate,'” the email said.

“We will work with school divisions to ensure that there is a policy in place that supports each and every student.”

Moe told reporters a week after the Saskatchewan Party was re-elected the ban would no longer be a legislative priority.

Clarke asked if it would be acceptable for the children of other legislature members to be used as political fodder.

“What do you think would be going through a 12-year-old’s mind when they hear the premier of their province targeting them?” he told the assembly.

He said it wasn’t easy when his children came out as transgender, and that he and his wife had to do a lot of learning, reading, talking and thinking.

“As a parent of a transgender child, you are presented with a stark choice: to outright reject the feelings and words of your child when they tell you who they are or to choose to embrace your child and love them with all your heart,” he said.

“My wife and I decided to love our kids with all our hearts.

“Transgender kids are not scary. Transgender people are not scary. They are not people that we should be afraid of. They are people who deserve to be treated with respect and dignity and love.”

He said his kids are kind and smart, and they play sports and music. They are also fond of Taylor Swift and airplanes.

“They have the incredible strength to live as their authentic selves.”

Clarke said it’s the second time the Saskatchewan Party government has gone after transgender kids.

Last year, the province passed a law using the Charter’s notwithstanding clause to require parental consent when children under 16 want to change their names or pronouns at school.

“I don’t expect everyone to understand the journey that we have been on as a family, but I hope that my words today can be heard by those who have an open heart and a willingness to learn about the different lived experience than perhaps their own,” he said.

“I hope something good can come from this terrible experience.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 27, 2024.

Jeremy Simes, The Canadian Press