N.B. election: Conservative candidate compares LGBTQ policy to residential schools

FREDERICTON — A Progressive Conservative candidate in New Brunswick’s election is facing calls to withdraw after she compared the province’s former policy on gender identity in schools with the residential school system.

Sherry Wilson, the minister responsible for women’s equality in the Blaine Higgs government, was referring to the policy allowing teachers to use the preferred first names and pronouns of transgender and nonbinary students.

Claiming “parents’ rights,” the Progressive Conservative government under Higgs modified that guidance in 2023, requiring that teachers get parental consent before using the preferred names of students under 16.

Wilson, in a Facebook post on Monday marking National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, said the residential school system isolated Indigenous children from their parents, traditional values and family culture.

“The government of the day actually tried to make the case that parents were harmful to their children, and that government schools needed to change their culture and lifestyle,” the post read.

“The horrible tragedy is a stain on Canadian history, but it was only allowed to happen because children enrolled in school were isolated from their parents’ oversight, input and influence …. This must never be allowed to happen again in Canada! We must never put our teachers in a position where they have to hide important parts of a child’s development from their own parents!”

She concluded by saying she is “committed to keeping the parents of minor children aware of, and involved in, their children’s development while they are entrusted to our government schools.”

The Progressive Conservative team did not respond to a request for comment, and Wilson’s Facebook post has been taken down.

Pabineau First Nation Chief Terry Richardson on Monday evening called for Wilson to be removed as the Progressive Conservative candidate in the riding of Albert-Riverview, south of Moncton.

“This woman should not be allowed to run for the Conservative Party of New Brunswick,” Richardson said on social media. “Premier Higgs, you need to have this woman withdraw immediately …. Shame on you and shame on your party.”

The six chiefs of the Wolastoqey Nation also called for her removal. “That she would try to draw this dog-whistle comparison on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation should make every New Brunswicker ashamed that she was recently a minister for this province in the Higgs government,” the chiefs said in a statement Tuesday.

There is no comparison to be made between the “stealing, abusing, and killing” of children in the name of the state and Christianity, and school policies on the individual choice of names and pronouns, the statement added.

“We know that Indigenous members of 2SLGBTQIA+ community are disproportionately impacted by bigoted positions and attitudes. We call on the Progressive Conservative party to remove Sherry Wilson from their roster of candidates as well as dissociate themselves from any other candidate who has made narrow-minded, hateful, and discriminatory statements without retraction,” it said.

The chiefs of Mi’gmawe’l Tplu’taqnn Inc., representing the nine Mi’kmaq nations in New Brunswick, said governments should be elected to implement polices and enact legislation that protect all citizens.

“How a teacher in New Brunswick works with gender diverse kids to feel safe is not the same as having a child ripped from a parent’s arms to be taken away from their family, community, and culture. To try and compare the two is offensive and disrespectful,” said a statement from the chiefs posted to social media.

Liberal Leader Susan Holt called Wilson’s post “completely disrespectful and inappropriate.”

“Clearly, it shows her lack of understanding of basic history and is yet another example of this government’s disrespect for First Nations,” she said in a statement.

Green Party deputy leader Megan Mitton called Wilson’s post “abhorrent, indefensible, and completely wrong,” and asked for her to apologize to Indigenous communities across the province and the country.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 1, 2024.

Hina Alam, The Canadian Press