Saskatchewan school division stonewalls moms fighting for girls' change rooms
Southeast Cornerstone Public School Division No. 209 has ignored a lawyer's legal demand for more than two months — and with classes starting this week, the mothers and daughters affected say they're done waiting.
School started this week at Southeast Cornerstone Public School Division No. 209 in Saskatchewan — and the division still hasn't answered a legal demand sent over 70 days ago about a boy who was allowed into the girls' change room at Lampman School.
Rebel News travelled to the division's office to find out why, alongside a group of mothers and daughters who say they're the ones actually affected by the policy and are tired of being ignored.
The legal demand was sent by lawyer Allison Pejovic of the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms on behalf of Lampman parent Tawney Johnson, after a boy was let into the girls' change room last year — a policy the women say prioritizes gender identity over biological sex, and one that left the girls who go to school there badly shaken.
"It impacted them really, really terribly for a year," one of the women told Rebel News outside the division office.
Inside, no one from the division would speak on camera until Rebel News met with Aaron Hiske, the deputy director of education.
Asked directly why it's taken over 7 weeks to respond to the legal letter, Hiske first claimed the division's lawyers had already reached out to Johnson's legal counsel. Told that no response had actually been received, Aaron Hiske backtracked: "I was not aware of that."
Pressed on whether the policy would still put girls at risk when school resumes next week, Hiske refused to answer, citing privacy, even though the women pointed out they weren't asking about any individual student, just the girls being failed by the division's silence.
"They're avoiding the bathrooms. They're not coming to school. They're leaving this school."
The women say the fight doesn't end with one school. They're now pushing the provincial government to invoke a statutory provision that would protect girls in schools across Saskatchewan because, as they point out, Lampman isn't the only school division where this has happened.
"Should our provincial government be protecting girls in schools? They should be the ones that are caring about it the most," one of the girls said. "It shouldn't be us having to educate them. They should already know that. It's wrong."
Rebel News will keep following this story as the new school year begins.
Lise Merle
Lise Merle is a media maven covering government, culture, and regional policy from the wilds of Saskatchewan. As a mother of 6 and author of bestselling children's book 'Buck the Rainbow Unicorn', she is a fierce advocate for family rights and the sworn enemy of woke.
