Heather Kuttai, a commissioner with the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission, says in a letter that she is resigning immediately because of the province's proposed legislation that requires parental permission if a child wants to change their name or pronoun at school. Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe speaks to the media at the Saskatchewan legislature in Regina, on Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Heywood Yu
REGINA – A commissioner with the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission has resigned over the provincial government’s proposed pronoun legislation.
Heather Kuttai said in a letter Monday that the bill requiring parental consent if children under 16 want to change their names and pronouns at school is an attack on the rights of transgender and gender-diverse children.
Kuttai, adding she has a transgender son, said children’s rights must take precedence over parental obligations.
“This decision did not come lightly,” Kuttai said in the letter to Premier Scott Moe.
“Removing a child’s rights, in the name of ‘parental rights’ is fundamentally anti-trans and harmful.”
She said if the province passes the legislation with the notwithstanding clause, “Saskatchewan will no longer be a place that takes care of all its kids.”
“This is something I cannot be a part of, and I will not be associated with a provincial government that takes away the rights of children, especially vulnerable children.”
Kuttai said research shows LGBTQ youth face a higher risk of abuse, violence and mental health harm.
It’s a mistake to put teachers in a position of outing a child before they are ready, she added, and it’s harmful to misgender a child.
“I can’t understand why you and your government would want to be responsible for a system that brings harm to children,” she said.
Kuttai is one of Saskatchewan’s six human rights commissioners and said her resignation is effective immediately.
The province’s justice minister said she’s sorry to hear of the resignation.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2023.
