Policies to be reviewed at Legislature after T-shirt bearing abortion slogan disallowed

Policies are being reviewed at the Saskatchewan Legislative Building after a woman was told Wednesday she couldn’t wear a shirt with the word “abortion” on it into the legislative assembly.

On Wednesday, a rally was held in front of the Legislative Building, calling for better access to abortion services in the province. Some of the protesters went into the building afterwards to watch the proceedings in the assembly.

However, one woman was stopped by security and told she would have to change her shirt, which read “abortion is health care.” She posted to social media that she was escorted by security to the bathroom so she could turn the shirt inside out before proceeding.

On Thursday, Corrections, Policing and Public Safety Minister Christine Tell said the incident has prompted a review of the policies and standard operating procedures for security.

“We’re currently working with the Opposition, specifically dealing with T-shirts for now, and seeing if there’s something that needs to be tweaked. We’re more than willing to do that,” said Tell.

Tell, who spearheaded the bill which changed security in the building shortly before the fall sitting, said she doesn’t think the statement on the woman’s shirt was controversial and said it would be the same as someone wearing a shirt that reads “I ♥ (Canadian) oil and gas.”

But Tell said the rejection of the shirt on Wednesday may have had something to do with the protest.

“The shirt was seen, I’m guessing — I haven’t spoken to our security unit — I’m guessing was seen as a continuation of that protest,” Tell said while explaining the security unit doesn’t report directly to her.

The current policy talks about anything being brought in related to a demonstration or protest, specifying things like placards or posters. But Tell said that’s a bit open to interpretation, which is one of the things she wants to be fixed in the review.

“We need it to be a little bit more clear,” she said.

Tell also said security staff need to “lighten up a bit,” but then also said she didn’t think they were taking things too seriously when they applied the policies on Wednesday.

“This is all new to them and they have these policies and procedures that they are told to follow, and they did,” said Tell. “The policies and procedures are there for a reason. That’s their blueprint on how they’re supposed to carry out their jobs.”

Meara Conway, the deputy house leader for the Opposition NDP, said what happened with the guests on Wednesday was concerning.

She said it speaks volumes about a government that hosted a convicted murderer for tea — referring to Colin Thatcher being invited to the throne speech — and then a woman wearing a T-shirt about abortion was told to remove it.

“We were disturbed by the level of scrutiny for these guests (Wednesday), certainly. I’m not sure if it had anything to do with the issue that they were here to speak about,” said Conway.

Conway also said the government had reached out to have a conversation about the protocols and the NDP welcomes that. She said there needs to be some clarity.

“I think everything’s on the table in terms of what is appropriate conduct here, but of course this should be a place of tolerance. This is a house of democracy. People come here to express themselves and that should be the starting point for those talks,” said Conway.

Conway said this kind of thing is what the NDP was concerned about with Bill 70, which changed the security structure at the Legislative Building.

She said it makes situations like this more problematic and more partisan because, previously, she would have been able to go to the Speaker about the situation and have it dealt with in a bipartisan manner, but that’s no longer the case.