UPDATED: Residents lining up to speak at upcoming school board meeting

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 20/05/2023 (1143 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Tuesday’s Brandon School Division board meeting is bound to be a lengthy affair, with 31 delegations scheduled to speak in response to a recent proposal to ban books featuring LGBTQ+ content from local libraries.

This proposition was brought forward by former BSD trustee Lorraine Hackenschmidt, who asked the board on May 8 to create a committee to review and potentially remove books discussing gender identity and sexual health from circulation, arguing that such material is harmful to children.

While current BSD trustees will provide an official ruling on this proposal during Tuesday’s meeting, they must first hear from a gauntlet of concerned citizens, including local parents, educators and activists.

According to an agenda that BSD released on Friday, at least one person registered to speak in the “Delegations and Petitions” section of the meeting is openly supportive of Hackenschmidt’s stance.

Brandon resident Mike Theriault wrote that he thinks it’s a good idea to start a committee to remove these “inappropriate books and to discuss the accountability and how those books got into our libraries in the first place, and any other LGBT policy that parents may also be unaware of.”

However, the vast majority of the registered presenters for Tuesday are explicitly opposed to the formation of a book review committee, with representatives from the Manitoba Library Association (president Melanie Sucha) and Brandon University (president David Docherty) comparing such a move to “censorship.”

Speakers like Erin Hildebrand plan to focus on the issue of LGBTQ+ representation in literature and how “it can be detrimental for kids not to have characters and role models that they can identify with.”

Others like Jason Foster, Hudson Schoonbaert and Sierra McTavish will approach this topic from a more personal angle and talk about how a proposed book ban would impact them as self-identified members of the LGBTQ+ community.

Resident Jazmin Davie is more interested in refuting some of the talking points that Hackenschmidt brought up during her May 8 presentation, like how books featuring LGBTQ+ content expose children to “sexual abuse.”

Another target of Hackenschmidt and her supporters is books in BSD libraries featuring information about puberty, comparing works like Robie Harris’ “It’s Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex, and Sexual Health” to “child pornography.”

Because of this, Sexuality Education Resource Centre program manager Keri Judd is hoping to attend Tuesday’s meeting and provide some perspective on why it’s important to discuss these topics in a public education context.

“Children and youth are going to learn about relationships, sexuality, identity and body changes at some point in their lives,” Judd told the Sun on May 12.

“We want children to get the accurate, non-judgmental information, so what better place to get that information than through school and parents.”

Tuesday’s meeting will also feature presentations from groups like Brandon Pride, the Brandon University Faculty Association and BU’s Gender and Women’s Studies program, whose members are all opposed to a potential book ban.

While representatives from the Manitoba Teachers’ Society and the South Central Regional Library network will not speak at Tuesday’s meeting, these groups have sent correspondence to BSD in support of keeping books discussing gender identity and sexual health on shelves.

This issue is particularly relatable to members of the South Central Regional Library, who have faced similar accusations of stocking books that promote pornography and child sexual grooming.

“These people are relentless and you must stand by your policies and give them no ground,” a South Central representative wrote to the BSD board.

Another key piece of correspondence in Tuesday’s agenda comes from the Canadian Center for Child Protection (C3P), a charitable organization Hackenschmidt cited in her May 8 presentation to justify the formation of a book review committee.

However, a C3P representative told the BSD board that Hackenschmidt took their child rights framework and other resources wildly out of context to advance her own campaign.

“This information, as noted on our site protectkidsonline.ca, is specific to children coming across adult pornography online,” the representative wrote.

“C3P does not support or condone the ways in which our resources were misrepresented, and we were deeply troubled to see them used in this way.”

Another planned attendee for Tuesday’s meeting is People’s Party of Canada leader Maxime Bernier, who is currently running for a seat in the nearby federal riding of Portage—Lisgar.

Bernier announced his intention to attend this school board meeting on a recent episode of the current events podcast “The Shadoe Davis Show,” claiming he wants to stand with parents in the wake of a push to teach “sex to young kids.”

Talking to the podcast host, Bernier echoed points that Hackenschmidt made during her May 8 presentation to the BSD board, expressing concern over what he sees as pornographic material being accessible in Manitoba schools.

To make his point, Bernier held up a copy of “Let’s Talk About It: The Teen’s Guide to Sex, Relationships, and Being a Human,” a 2021 graphic novel that covers topics such as body image, gender identity, safe sex and consent.

This novel has been the target of several book banning campaigns in the United States, with the issue having been brought before school boards in North Dakota, North Carolina and Texas.

“Some of the pictures and photos in that book may be against the Criminal Code. It’s pornographic when you show that to kids and that’s what they’re doing here,” Bernier said.

“It’s all in line with that toxic ideology of transgenderism. It’s toxic for our society.”

In a brief phone conversation with the Sun on Sunday, Bernier confirmed his intention to attend Tuesday’s school board meeting in Brandon, stating it’s in his interest as the leader of a national political party to do so.

Because of the increased public interest in Tuesday’s board meeting, BSD officials decided to move all the action from their headquarters on 6th Street to a gymnasium at Vincent Massey High School (715 McDiarmid Drive).

While BSD chairperson Linda Ross anticipates a long meeting on Tuesday, she trusts that attendees will behave in a civilized fashion.

“But we will have some security there just to be safe and also make sure … we’re conducting the meeting under the Public Schools Act. That means that the chair maintains order and decorum,” Ross told the Sun on Saturday.

“And if any person is guilty of being disorderly or inappropriate, that person can be required to leave the meeting.”

Tuesday’s board meeting is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. Anyone who cannot attend in person may watch the proceedings online by visiting bsd.ca/page/8192/board-meeting-dates-live-streaming.

» kdarbyson@brandonsun.com

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