Manitoba Take Action: Bill 18 Needs to Be Challenged
Update: Legal talking points are attached. Please use these when meeting with your MLA. Three EasyMail letters are linked below. Let your MLA, the Education Minister, and the Premier know your concerns in minutes.
Manitoba is attempting to implement an anti-bullying law that is similar to Ontario’s infamous Bill 13. The Education Minister, Ms. Nancy Allan, has presented Bill 18 in the Manitoba Legislature. Such legislation is top-down, one-size-fits-all, heavy-handed law and has little regard for local initiatives. Bill 18 also includes a requirement that all schools must accept ‘gay-straight’ alliance clubs and lacks any protection for religious students. It’s definition of bullying is so broad that it would include policing students when they are at home and even defines the possibility of accidentally hurting someones feelings as “bullying”. This approach is the wrong approach to making schools safer. The better approach is to allow local initiatives to flourish by encouraging parental involvement and school-level responsibility. To read the actual language of Bill 18, click here.
Take Action!
Each letter can be customized and will be sent to your MLA, the Education Minister, and the Premier. It only takes a few minutes, thanks to EasyMail techology.
Letter 1: Calls on your MLA to vote against Bill 18
Letter 2: Asks for exclusion of independent schools
Letter 3: Asks for protection for religious students
We also strongly encourage you to phone your MLA and book a meeting to discuss it. Please make use of the attached legal talking points.
