NDP overrides Steinbach school board on ‘mature-minor’ stance

WINNIPEG — The Manitoba government has vetoed the Steinbach school board’s plan to override common law by making parents the ultimate authority on all student health issues.

Since Hanover School Division trustees approved a motion to disregard the category of “mature minors” just over two months ago, there has been widespread debate.

Trustees unanimously voted to stop honouring the mature-minor doctrine — in which teenagers 16 and older are automatically assumed to have the maturity to make medical decisions for themselves — at the end of the 2025-26 school year.

“We would just encourage the Hanover School Division to do what they do best, which is providing high-level, quality education for the kids in their community,” Education Minister Tracy Schmidt said in an interview on Tuesday about her July 22 directive to the board to repeal its motion.

“We trust our health-care professionals to deliver health care across our province, including in our school divisions.”

Southern Health-Santé Sud runs three school clinics, one of which is based out of Steinbach Regional Secondary School in Hanover.

Along with attending classes and participating in extracurricular activities, students can access walk-in services, mental health resources and renew prescriptions on site throughout the school year. The clinic is staffed by two part-time nurse practitioners and a receptionist.

Last month, Schmidt sent a letter to Hanover board chair Dallas Wiebe to outline her “significant concerns” about the legality of a motion that targets the clinic’s ability to deliver programming.

The three-page letter details provincial and federal legislation in support of mature-minor rights, as well as the category’s common-law status.

“Your presumed knowledge of your legal and constitutional responsibilities would lead a reasonable observer to conclude you passed this motion at best for public attention and at worst to pick a fight,” she wrote in the July 22 letter.

Schmidt also warned that the board’s failure to repeal the motion “and/or failure(s) to manage the affairs of the board in a satisfactory manner” could result in the appointment of an official trustee.

Schmidt’s predecessor, the late Nello Altomare, tapped retired superintendent Kelly Barkman to serve as an independent adviser to the Hanover board in August 2024.

The clinic “will continue to uphold the mature minor doctrine and provide safe, accessible care for all youth,” a spokesperson for Southern Health-Santé Sud said in a statement Tuesday.

When Hanover trustee Cheryl Froese initially introduced the motion on June 2, she likened a mature minor to a “cheeseless cheeseburger.”

Froese argued all parents should be kept in the know about physical and mental health treatments, including counselling, available through the division, regardless of student age and maturity.

Board chair Dallas Wiebe and vice-chair Jeff Friesen did not respond to requests for comment on Tuesday. Supt. Joe Thiessen was out of the office and could not be reached before deadline.

» Winnipeg Free Press