For the second time since 2016, the Hanover School Division’s (HSD) trustees are under fire over accusations of discrimination. In both of the cases, the concerns revolve around the division’s lack of inclusivity for members of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community.
The earlier story began when parent Michelle McHale stepped forward to challenge HSD’s policy to prohibit discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity issues in the classroom.
The topic gained national attention that year, especially in light of the Winnipeg School Division’s approval of a comprehensive Diversity and Equity Education Policy to protect 2SLGBTQIA+ students and staff just months prior.
Now, eight years later, HSD trustees find themselves in the same spotlight, this time thanks to a group of parents and professionals calling themselves the Hanover Parent Alliance for Diversity (HPAD).
“We keep our names confidential as an Alliance due to past threats against concerned parents, but we will not be silent,” HPAD says. “The wellbeing of Hanover students is in jeopardy, given the ongoing pattern of discriminatory and illegal actions of several Hanover School Board trustees.”
This statement forms the opening of the group’s letter to Nello Altomare, Manitoba’s Minister of Education. That letter, dated April 25, was accompanied by a petition with nearly 900 signatures.
The letter makes a formal complaint against six HSD board trustees, including board chair Brad Unger, assistant chair Jeff Friesen, Lynn Barkman, Shayne Barkman, Cheryl Froese, and Dallas Wiebe.
Unger and Barkman both held positions on the board back in 2016 when the previous discrimination assertions came to light.
Further, the HPAD letter requests that specific corrective actions be taken by the Minister prior to HSD’s next board meeting, scheduled for May 7.
Firstly, it calls for the removal of all six trustees. As well, it requests that the board’s policy undergo a thorough review to ensure that it aligns with the Public Schools Act and the Human Rights Codes and, further, that an oversight person be appointed by the Minister to ensure that the Act is followed.
In many ways, the current situation bears similarities to 2016. At that time, Minister of Education Ian Wishart was called on to provide the HSD board with awareness training on sexual identity issues. Wishart assured the media that his office would follow through on that pledge.
Response from Education Minister
On April 30, Altomare responded to an inquiry from The Citizen regarding the allegations.
Altomare says it’s not uncommon for his department to receive emails from concerned parties regarding the province’s public schools. And it’s the government’s job, he adds, to respond to them.
Whether it’s a simple email or formal letter with a petition, he adds, all communications are treated with equal weight.
“In the end, we’re here to serve Manitobans and we take that job very seriously,” Altomare told The Citizen.
As a result of the letter, Altomare says that he has arranged for a meeting with HSD’s trustees as early as May 1. Members of HPAD will also have their opportunity for face-to-face dialogue with the Minister later this week.
“We’ll see where it’s going to go from there,” Altomare says. “It’s going to be based on the good conversations we’re going to have. In the end, we’re all about ensuring that kids feel included and safe in Manitoba schools. I really don’t see that [the HSD] board will feel differently about that than I do.”
Questions will be asked about recent motions put forward by the board, he adds, in order to determine how the board feels these motions are intended to improve on student learning and outcomes.
Altomare declined discussion with The Citizen regarding the similar situation from eight years ago, clarifying that he’s only interested in talking to the current board about current issues.
Basis of HPAD Claims
The accusations made by the HPAD are based on a variety of claims. In October 2023, HPAD alleges that one trustee expressed concern over the decision by two other trustees, Shayne Barkman and Jeff Friesen, to attend a 1 Million March for Children rally.
This rally, they say, was organized to encourage the elimination of sexual orientation and gender identity topics from the school curriculum. According to internal reports, the result was a series of HSD board meetings flavoured with “discriminatory dialogue.”
“Discussions took place, essentially unchecked, about limiting Indigenous educational content because it’s ‘racist to white people’ and removing Pride flags (for starters) from schools because they are ‘sexualized,’” states the HPAD letter.
The group became further frustrated following an April 2 public board meeting at which a parent delegation was given an extended amount of time to lodge their complaint over a gender-diverse child using the “boys” change room at the Steinbach Regional Secondary School.
This delegation, HPAD says, should never have been allowed to make a presentation in the first place.
Three motions were also put forward by the HSD board at that April 2 meeting, all of which HPAD finds highly disturbing.
The first motion recommended that trustees be involved in the hiring of the division’s music and gym teachers going forward. To date, all teaching staff have been interviewed and hired by administrative staff without the inclusion of trustees in the process.
HPAD says that the board’s rationale references the idea that gym and music teachers represent the face of the division to the community. But the parent group is concerned that teachers applying for these jobs may themselves identify as 2SLGBTQIA+, putting them at risk of discrimination from those in hiring authority.
Five out of the six previously named trustees voted in support of this motion.
Days later, the president of the Hanover Teacher’s Association, Kevin Martens, noted that the division’s teachers were also concerned with this proposal, noting that provincial legislation doesn’t recommend trustee involvement in the hiring process for teachers.
Some of the same trustees voted in support of a second motion which would ensure that trustees be made privy to applications coming in from all prospective teaching staff. That motion didn’t make it to a vote.
Finally, a motion was made to revert the delivery of the division’s sex education curriculum to pre-COVID days, at which time Grade Seven students were separated by gender for instruction.
“This motion is harmful and exclusionary to any students who don’t identify with the debunked concept of a gender binary,” HPAD says. “Fortunately, it did not pass, but chair Brad Unger allowed the transphobic, discriminatory motion to be put to a vote.”
Based on all the conversations supposedly held around the HSD board meeting table in recent months, HPAD says that it’s only a matter of time before other disturbing motions come to the fore.
They worry that trustees have the power to limit Indigenous educational content in the curriculum, thus limiting a child’s education on the subject of colonial racism.
Regarding the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, these parents are concerned that a prohibition of symbols such as Pride flags may be imminent.
“Representation matters, and the rights to identity expression are protected under the Manitoba Human Rights Code,” HPAD says. “Again, a motion such as this would not meet the diverse needs and interests of the entire student population, as the Public Schools Act directs.”
Finally, based on the board’s discussion around sex education curriculum, HPAD worries about other motions being put forward that may attempt to limit 2SLGBTQIA+ inclusivity and evidence-based sex education.
Sexual orientation and gender identity are topics currently included in the provincially accepted curriculum.
“We have a revised Phys-Ed/Health curriculum that will be coming out in the next school year and we look forward to it being implemented,” Altomare says. “We’re all about ensuring that students have the information they need to be safe out in the world and to be responsible citizens.”
Since the HPAD letter was released to the public, another HSD parent has started a petition in support of the division’s trustees. He lauds the board for their continuing efforts to align with old-school values, unlike most other divisions in the province.
The Division’s Response
The Citizen reached out to HSD for a response to the allegations and correctives brought forward by HPAD.
“The board is reviewing the document submitted to the Minister of Education by the Hanover Parent Alliance for Diversity,” reads a statement from the board. “We are committed to thoroughly understanding the concerns expressed and addressing this matter with the attention and seriousness it deserves. We will respond as soon as our review is complete. The board remains dedicated to ensuring an inclusive and equitable environment for all our students and staff.”
Open Letter from a Trans Person
Subsequent to the April 2 meeting, The Citizen received another letter, dated April 3, titled “Open Letter as Trans Person to Hanover School Board.”
While the writer of this letter remains anonymous, they speak to the struggles they have faced in light of anti-2SLGBTQIA+ sentiments in the division.
“As a child, who grew up in a Christian household and who went to church regularly, I was told I was a child of God, and would sing about being a child of God in my church choir,” they write. “Now as an adult and a trans person, I live, work and worship in the Steinbach area. The actions of the Hanover School board would suggest that God is wrong, and that I am not worthy of Christ’s love.”
The April 2 board meeting, they said, brought back lots of emotion and thoughts of moving away from the area. The writer reminds the board that this kind of thinking makes students four to six times more likely to attempt suicide.
“Many immigrants have come to the Steinbach area to flee discrimination and trauma for who they are and who they pray to,” the writer continues. “I hope and pray that Steinbach and area residents, and Hanover School Board members, remember not to cause discrimination and trauma as was done to them by people in power.”
