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Hanover School Division trustees directed staff to not recognize mature minors seeking confidential health care in any of its buildings at a board meeting in Steinbach earlier in June.
Board chair Dallas Wiebe said in an email that it “has heard concerns from parents regarding trust, communication, and transparency, and believes these principles are important to maintaining public confidence in education.”
Provincial Education Minister Tracy Schmidt met with all trustees Monday.
“The law is that mature minors can provide consent for their health care,” she said.
The Health Care Directives Act, passed in 1992, says a person who is 16 or older has the capacity to make health-care decisions.
Wiebe said after the meeting with the cabinet minister that the board is still moving forward with developing an official policy on the issue.
“The board recognizes that strong parent-child relationships are foundational to student well-being, healthy family development, and public confidence in education. Children learn best when family relationships are strong,” he said in the email.
Wiebe added that staff members “seek to strengthen and restore important family relationships, not create unnecessary separation between children and their parents.”
A spokesperson for the Hanover Parent Alliance for Diversity says this sows division.
Hanover School Division board chair Dallas Wiebe says trustees are still moving forward after meeting with the province’s education minister. (Christopher Gareau/CBC)
“Nobody goes to work every day and says, ‘How can I harm the children under my care?'” she said.
CBC has granted the parent anonymity because of safety concerns for her and her child.
“The unfortunate reality that I think many parents maybe don’t want to accept is that their kiddos may be more comfortable speaking to those medical or teaching or counselling professionals,” the spokesperson said.
In 2024, the province appointed adviser Kelly Barkman to oversee Hanover School Division after the parent alliance demanded six trustees resign over a policy requiring board approval for the hiring of gym and music teachers.
Ban on teaching ‘sexual desire’
The group views the move not to recognize mature minors and a responsible use of educational resources policy created at the same June 2 meeting as targeting the 2SLGBTQ+ community.
The resources policy outlines inappropriate materials that are not allowed to be displayed or taught.
Southern Health says it is looking into how the school board’s directive that mature minor status not be honoured affects its staff, including nurse practitioners at Steinbach Regional Secondary School. (Christopher Gareau/CBC)
That includes material that “place primary emphasis on sexual desire rather than legitimate educational objectives such as human health.”
“It’s essentially going to be utilized as a book ban, and it feels like it’s in response to possibly one or two parent concerns that are very conservative,” the parent alliance spokesperson said.
Division ‘on notice’
Schmidt said she did not ask the school board to rescind its mature minors motion and plans to continue working with trustees.
“We put the Hanover School Division on notice that we’re reviewing the policy and that we are committed to working with them, and working with families and working with the community, to ensure that the needs of the community are met,” she said.
The parent group wants more oversight after Barkman, a former River East Transcona School Division superintendent who worked for decades in Hanover School Division as a teacher and principal, left the advisory position early this year.
Barkman left no report or documentation on what was done while he was in the advisory role.
“In the absence of any real oversight and consequences for questionable actions and decisions, the questionable actions and decisions of the board have accelerated,” the spokesperson for the parent alliance said.
Hanover Teachers’ Association president Kevin Martens said the policies “are very concerning to the members.”
WATCH | School division passes directive some see as targeting 2SLGBTQ+ community:
Hanover school board directs health providers to require parental consent
Hanover School Division trustees passed a directive that parents are their children’s primary health-care providers and mature minors would not be recognized in any of its buildings. Manitoba law states anyone 16 and older can make their own health-care decisions.
He did not want to give an interview while he is having conversations with the trustees.
Southern Health has health-care staff required to provide confidentiality, including at a clinic in Steinbach Regional Secondary School. Services provided include reproductive health, mental health, referrals and prescriptions.
A Southern Health spokesperson said it is gathering additional information.
“Supporting safe, accessible care for youth remains a priority, and we will continue to collaborate with our partners as this evolves,” the spokesperson said.
Hanover parent Jerica Chantel has started an online petition called “Opposes new Hanover School Division health policy” that she hopes to bring to the next school board meeting Tuesday. It has gathered 436 signatures.
The school division includes Steinbach, Niverville, communities throughout the rural municipality of Hanover, Landmark and Crystal Spring Hutterite Colony.
