Regina Public School Board trustees are facing harassment over the division’s inclusive curriculum.
Trustee Ted Jaleta said he and his colleagues are being accused of pushing an agenda that “converts children” by encouraging gender diversity.
“I was out shopping at the Southland Mall by the Safeway somebody yelled at me to stop sexualizing and molesting our children,” Jaleta said.
According to Jaleta, trustees have been inundated with harassing phone calls and emails from concerned citizens for months. The intimidation tactics ramped up in April, he said, when the same group began protesting at school board meetings.
“Those people are being asked to leave, but they are not willing to,” Jaleta said.
Regina police were called to the most recent board meeting on Tuesday after flyers were handed out encouraging people to attend and “stand for the children against gender ideology.”
Police said they were dispatched due to a protester causing a disturbance. Officers maintained a presence but did not make any arrests.
Jaleta could not confirm the group that is responsible, but he said the protesters are not parents of students, and many of the complaints to trustees come from out of province.
“They are few, they are outspoken, well-funded [and] very vocal,” Jaleta said.
Wayne Bernakevitch is part of the Regina Civic Awareness and Action Network [RCAAN]. He told CTV News that RCAAN is not leading the protests, nor does the group condone harassment or intimidation.
However, Bernakevitch said the RCAAN leaders have reached out to the school board with concerns about what he calls the sexualization of students.
“We just want what is best for the kids,” he said.
The Regina Public School Division declined to comment on the protests.
Jaleta pointed out that the school board does not create the curriculum, but rather it is mandated by the Ministry of Education.
According to the Government of Saskatchewan website, it is committed to ensuring schools are safe and inclusive for all students including those who are gender or sexually diverse.
“School divisions are encouraged to develop clear, safe-school policies that explicitly include alliances, groups or clubs for students who want to work to support each other and to create safe, caring and inclusive spaces for students who are gender and/or sexually diverse and their allies,” according to the province.
“These alliances also create welcoming and respectful environments that address heterosexism, homophobia and other forms of related discrimination.”
Maxwell Baiton, a Grade 11 student, is one of the leaders of the Sheldon-Williams Collegiate Pride Club.
They said they are doing their best to battle misinformation about the LGBTQ2S+ community, but these protests are having the opposite effect.
“The fact that these people go out of their way to be outwardly hateful and just spew this ignorance is disgusting,” Baiton said.
“We’re not wanting to pollute the children’s minds with the gay or trans agenda. We just want to live and we want to be kids.”
Baiton is holding a rally outside the Saskatchewan Legislative Building on June 30 to stand against what he calls the discrimination of queer youth in schools.
Despite the ongoing harassment, Jaleta said Regina Public Schools will never compromise inclusion.
