Several provincial governments now require parental consent for kids to change pronouns in schools. Inside the culture war in Canada's classrooms.
Just over a year ago, a gender-identity firestorm erupted in the most unlikely of places: New Brunswick. Blaine Higgs, the province’s premier, instituted an education policy mandating that if a student under 16 changed their name—and if that change was related to gender identity— teachers would be forbidden from using it without consent from the kid’s parents. The rule appeared to come out of nowhere. There had been no public outcry before the government’s move, and New Bunswick is not a particularly conservative province. Higgs described his government’s actions as a defence of parental rights: that parents are entitled to know what their kids are doing in school. Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe admired the policy and introduced something similar, and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith vowed to do the same. Opponents, however, say that kids often open up in the classroom before talking to their parents and that they’re entitled to that autonomy. One New Brunswick school district refused to institute the policy and is taking the government to court. Higgs is up for re-election at the end of October and faces a tight race against the opposition Liberals. In Maclean’s, Simon Lewsen has written a fascinating account of all this called “The Gender War in the Classroom,” explaining what led up to New Brunswick’s policy and its cross-country copycats. It’s a thorough, nuanced and well-reported anatomy of a political scandal—a thoughtful dive behind a polarizing headline. —Sarah Fulford, editor-in-chief |
On the morning of October 7, 2023, Haya Elsayyed had plans to walk by the sea with her cousin. Their walk never happened: that morning, Hamas launched a major attack on Israel and, within 24 hours, the Israeli army retaliated. When the conflict reached Elsayyed’s home, she and her family fled. She later made it to Canada, where she has permanent residency, but her family is still in Egypt. She’s trying to bring them here, too. “I hold onto hope that, one day, we will build a new life together, free from fear and uncertainty,” she writes in an essay for Maclean’s. |
Marissa Stapley, the first Canadian to join Reese Witherspoon’s book club with 2021’s Lucky, returns with her fifth novel. It’s about Elijah and Jane, an ex–rock star duo with roots in grunge-era Seattle. After Elijah disappears, Jane is vilified (echoes of Courtney Love) and retreats to rural Germany. There, a teen superfan believes she’s found clues to Elijah’s whereabouts. Set in the ’90s music scene alongside real-life bands L7 and the Smiths, Stapley’s story is as rhythmic and electric as an alt-rock banger. —Rosemary Counter |
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