Amazing! NB Minister of Public Safety, Kris Austin, Speaks Out in Support of Children's Rights
Episode Stats
Words per Minute
143.43759
Summary
In this episode, Mr. Speaker speaks on the issue of parental rights in the public school system, and why parents should have more power over their children's education in public schools. He also talks about his own experience with public school and why he thinks parents need more control over their child's education.
Transcript
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Mr. Speaker, I stand here today as a member of the Legislative Assembly, as a Cabinet
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Minister within government, but most importantly as a parent, as a father of three amazing
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kids that, like most, and I would say the vast majority of parents, would give our lives
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Those three kids, two of them, are currently in the public school system.
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Next year, my third one will be entering the public school system.
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And I can tell you, Mr. Speaker, without question, as a parent, I am concerned about the public
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I am concerned by what I'm seeing in the public school system.
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I want my kids to go to school, to be educated, to learn math, science, social studies.
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I want them to learn what it means to be part of a community.
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I want them to learn to be kind and compassionate.
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And I think, Mr. Speaker, in the midst of this debate, that is very sensitive and can get
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very passionate and heated, we can sometimes lose the concept of compassion and understanding.
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When I enrolled my two children in public school, I had to sign a registration form.
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I had to sign on that registration form the name of my daughter.
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I had to sign on that registration, another registration form, the name of my son.
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I had to fill in some personal information about my children.
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And everything I put on that registration form, at the bottom of it, I had to sign.
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And that signature meant that I, as a parent, am giving parental authority for my child to
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I also have to give a written consent signature for my child to have their photo taken in school.
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I have to give my written consent as a father for my child to be administered a Tylenol,
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I'll tell you how intricate this is with parental authority.
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My 17-year-old, he's going to turn 18, he's going to be a legal adult next week.
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He's been accepted to a university here in Fredericton.
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And he was going on a school trip to this university that he's already been accepted to.
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I can't remember if it was my wife or if it was my son, but I just said,
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He could not go to that university on a field trip unless I signed the form to allow him to go as a parent.
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And yet, my daughter in grade 2 can change her name and her gender.
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Not just without my consent, but most importantly, without me even knowing it.
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To the point that the school would literally deceive me as a parent should I ask to know what's going on.
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The vast majority of parents in this province have a very serious problem with that as well.
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I just want to remind the members in the gallery that they are not to participate in the proceedings here in the House.
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You know, when this debate first came up, I get it.
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You know, a review of Policy 713 is three pages back to back.
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It's one section of Policy 713 that invokes parental rights, parental authority.
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If the state thinks it knows better than parents, think again.
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And the ones that are, we need protections for those children.
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And Policy 713 clearly lays in those protections.
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So I thought, well, maybe I'm a Lone Ranger here.
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Maybe I'm off my rocker in thinking that parents should have some say in their child's upbringing as it relates to public schools.
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Well, I found out very quickly through emails that I know every one of you have gotten that that's not the case.
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The majority of parents think exactly the way I think.
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I'm going to give you one example of an email that I received.
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I don't know if you did or not, but you're going to hear it today.
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Because I called this parent, this mother, who is just beside herself.
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First, I had to verify whether it was true or not.
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And I got an idea that, indeed, this is a credible story.
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Because they don't want to be in the middle of this debate.
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You can see what's been done to the Premier and the Minister of Education on this debate.
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If you speak out on something with a reasonable debate and a reasonable concept of actually articulating your point of view,
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My daughter is in middle school in New Brunswick.
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Several years ago, after suicidal thoughts at the age of eight,
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she was diagnosed with ADHD and several other mental health disorders.
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As a family, we work diligently with counsellors and the school to set my daughter on a path to thriving.
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This letter is in no way intended to take away or disrespect those challenges.
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When my daughter entered middle school, we had a plan in place.
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Unfortunately, the school did not implement that plan, which led to a mental health spiral for my daughter.
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She created an altered reality, changing her name while at school to cope with overwhelming stimuli presented with no access to her coping strategies.
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The school, at no time, told me about anything.
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At home, my daughter had the structure and safety she needed,
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and I never knew the school had failed to implement her personal learning plan.
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Listen, I found out from a friend whose daughter was also in the class that my daughter was going by a different name and had been for months.
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She even submitted provincial tests under this name.
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the school actively contributed to my daughter's mental health emergency.
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They are not trained to spot a mental health crisis,
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and they should never blindly allow children to change their identity without understanding the full context.
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Thankfully, I can report my daughter in her last year of middle school as thriving,
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top of her class, and now comfortable and able to cope with her surroundings.
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I shudder to think how different that path could have been had I not been informed by another parent.
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I love and support her through all of life's challenges.
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But Policy 713 could have ended her life by allowing teachers,
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to blindly follow my daughter down a dark rabbit hole.
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I've gotten emails from other parents that feel the same way.
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I've never debated or felt any more passion from both sides on this topic.
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come to some consensus on the role of parents in parental authority,
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is not only the best thing for both parents and kids,
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but it should send a clear message about parental authority
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that it's the foundation of a strong and vibrant society.