A high school educator is suing the Quebec government, claiming a provincial policy that allows students over the age of 14 to change their name and pronouns without parental consent violates her Canadian Charter rights. The policy, introduced by the Quebec Education Ministry in 2021, requires educators to use students’ preferred names and pronouns, even when the parents are unaware. The teacher has claimed that this obligation obstructed her freedoms of expression and conscience.
With anti-trans sentiments rising across North America, Quebec must enshrine trans student dignity and anonymity in policy and in practice, rather than validating the transphobic biases of educators. Institutions across Canada have a profound duty to ensure that transphobia is neither normalized nor accepted, and that trans-inclusive policies are enforced effectively and completely.
This lawsuit communicates a clear message: The transphobic ‘discomfort’ of a teacher deserves more legal recognition than the identity and human rights of trans individuals. This negligence of inclusivity in schools is a fundamental safety concern; 46 per cent of transgender and non-binary youth have considered suicide in the past year, citing non-recognition of their identities, violence, and bullying as key factors.
Confidentiality is critical to protecting the physical and emotional safety of 2SLGBTQIA+ individuals, particularly for those who are uncomfortable coming out at home. Trans youth are far more likely to be kicked out of their homes or later become unhoused and experience disproportionate levels of violence as early as age 15, making schools a crucial space for safety and discovery.
Yet, the educator invoking this lawsuit has erroneously equated confidentiality with withholding vital information from family members. While mandated reporting policies may require teaching professionals to share privately-disclosed information for safety reasons, confidentiality in the context of a student’s gender identity does not fall under this umbrella. Forcibly outing trans students to parents only exposes them to heightened risk at home.
Confidentiality may seem basic in the context of policy imperatives such as healthcare access, but it is foundational to trans safety. A study of patient-clinician relations found that doctors using patients’ preferred pronouns reduced the likelihood of trans youth suicide by more than 30 per cent, proving the importance of identity-affirmation to the well-being of trans individuals.
This lawsuit stands alongside several legal challenges to trans rights across Quebec. French-Language Minister Jean-François Roberge’s policy to ban gender-inclusive language from government communications in French poses a significant risk to inclusivity in the province. Roberge has repeatedly asserted that French gender-neutral pronouns are “grammatically incorrect.” This fallacious argument interprets the gendered nature of the French language as requiring an equivalent binary at the level of identity and neglects the evolving nature of grammar and syntax. Trans individuals deserve to see their identities represented in the language of the law, as the normalization of gender-neutral pronouns in official, public contexts reaffirms 2SLGBTQIA+ identity rights.
Homophobic and transphobic discourse at the level of political rhetoric and legislation also leads to anti-2SLGBTQIA+ sentiment in inter-personal contexts. Over 40 per cent of Quebec high school students surveyed in 2025 stated they would feel uncomfortable if their best friend was gay, compared to only 25 per cent in 2017. Quebec is entering a period of major backsliding where queerness has been de-normalized and the alleged ‘discomfort’ of a cisgender person is prioritized over the rights of transgender people.
The Canadian and Quebec governments must take active steps to ensure that such anti-trans sentiment is curbed and trans rights are protected under the law. McGill too must dedicate itself to protecting 2SLGBTQIA+ individuals through language, confidentiality, and policy. While the university offers a preferred first name policy, it is not well enforced: Professor of Religious Studies Douglas B. Farrow repeatedly violated the preferred first name policy, expressing hostile views towards trans and queer individuals, with minimal intervention from the administration. Further, in 2023, McGill’s Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism hosted a debate titled “Sex vs. Gender (Identity): The Divorce of LGB from T,” inviting notoriously transphobic and trans-exclusionary speaker Robert Wintemute as its host.
Both McGill and the Quebec government possess explicit constitutional and policy bases mandating the protection of trans rights, yet both fail to defend 2SLGBTQIA+ rights against rising hateful extremism. Quebec must reject this lawsuit and strengthen confidentiality protections for trans students; McGill must ensure neither faculty nor campus events are empowered to platform trans-exclusionary rhetoric.