Alberta education minister gets standing ovation for LGBTQ speech
CBC News | Posted: November 17, 2015 5:23 PM | Last Updated: November 17, 2015
David Eggen tells trustees they will be judged now and in future on policies that protect all students
Alberta school boards have an opportunity and a responsibility to establish policies that ensure all LGTBQ students are safe and welcome, Education Minister David Eggen said in a speech Tuesday.
Speaking to the annual meeting of the Alberta School Boards Association, Eggen told hundreds of trustees that each generation faces choices about expanding the meaning of equality and social justice.
"This is our moment in time," Eggen said, "for people to judge us for now and in the future, that we provide an equal footing for LGTBQ students, for transgender students, and transgender policy, that reflects equality and social justice in its broader context."
Eggen recently sent a letter to all school boards in the province directing them to draft policies that comply with the Alberta School Act to ensure that LGTBQ students are treated as equals in every way.
'Stand with me'
"Our end goal will not change," Eggen told his audience.
"I ask for all of you here today to stand with me to make sure that we get this job done," he said. "I need you to stand with me to make sure that we have something that is not just words on paper but moves words into action."
The vast majority of trustees in the conference room, but not all, stood and applauded the minister's words.
Eggen said the policies boards draft will have significance beyond words, and will be seen as effective ways to teach all Albertans what equality looks like.
Social justice issues are constantly changing, Eggen said.
Only a few decades ago, aboriginal people in Canada weren't allowed to vote and civil rights legislation was in its infancy in the United States, he noted. Much has changed since then, but much more still needs to be done, he added.
After his speech, Eggen told reporters he is confident school boards will follow the province's lead.
"I made it very clear today that we provide the law and the trustees build policy that reflects the law," he said. "And that's what's going to happen."
Eggen told trustees recently they have four months to draft their own board policies, said Michael Janz, chairman of the Edmonton public school board.
'The moral argument'
He called the minister's speech "a tactical" move.
"He's not telling, he's not demanding, he's not threatening to dissolve boards … he's making the moral argument and appealing to the hearts and minds in the room."
Janz said he was disappointed on Monday that a motion put forward to the school boards association to discuss such policies failed to get the two-thirds majority needed to put it on the meeting agenda.
"It was a very sad day yesterday," he said. "I can't think of a more emergent issue in education right now."
Ralph Wohlgemuth, a trustee with Grande Prairie and District Catholic Schools, said he agrees with Eggen that policies have to be more than words on paper but must be put into practise as well.
He said his board has chosen "an inclusive policy" that supports all students, including LGBTQ and First Nations students.