REGINA - Today, in light of a Canadian Press report showing that while serving as Advanced Education Minister Premier Scott Moe failed to act on abuse allegations at Briercrest College and Seminary, Official Opposition Leader Carla Beck and Human Rights Critic Jennifer Bowes called on the provincial government to implement a recommendation to tie the accreditation of post-secondary educational institutions to the Saskatchewan Human Rights Code.
“Another day, another story of discrimination and abuse in taxpayer-funded schools. This time it leads directly to the Premier,” said Beck. “I’ll be honest, I’m angry. Not only as the Leader of the Opposition but as a parent. The Sask. Party’s culture of willful ignorance to abuse and discrimination occuring in taxpayer-funded schools comes directly from the top. It must stop today.”
In April 2016, the then-Minister of Advanced Education, Scott Moe, wrote to an alumni of Briercrest regarding allegations of abuse that had come to the attention of the Quality Assurance Board. In June 2016, the Saskatchewan Higher Education Quality Assurance Board urged Moe to explicitly tie accreditation to the upholding of human rights in light of the “alumna concern”. Board minutes show that Moe ignored that recommendation, as did the four Sask. Party Advance Education Ministers that came after him. The recommendation was not implemented but scrubbed from the Board's minutes in 2019.
“I’m shocked that human rights are up for debate in 2022,” said Bowes. “How many more cases of conversion therapy and discrimination will it take for Moe’s government to realize that their actions are harming our kids? No student should face discrimination. These students contacted their government for help and their government failed them. What a shameful embarrassment this Sask. Party government has become.”
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