• Agency and Access: Power over Identity Language and Representations of Transness in Saskatchewan’s Use of Preferred Name and Pronouns by Students Policy

This paper analyzes the language used in the Government of Saskatchewan’s (2023) recent policy, Use of Preferred Name and Pronouns by Students, which the Saskatchewan government announced on August 22, 2023. Under this policy, students under the age of 16 must obtain parental consent in order to be addressed by a name or pronouns that differ from those assigned to them at birth, even in cases where disclosure to their parents can reasonably be expected to endanger the student. This legislation emerges from a context of gender policing and educational surveillance in North America and reflects assumptions of absolute parental authority over student identity. I use Carol Bacchi’s (2009) approach to policy analysis to examine how the language in this policy constructs the ‘problem’ of unauthorized trans identity as a threat to student safety. This language develops and communicates ideologies of parental rights, support and safety, and danger related to transgender identity. I consider how the presuppositions of the policy position parental consent as necessary and trans identity as a threat, particularly in relation to how the policy repeatedly claims student safety as its purpose. I then speculate as to the consequences this policy could have for students attending Saskatchewan schools. In particular, I examine how the policy structures power over identity-based language, the ways power limits student potential for self-determination, the policy’s erasure and isolation of trans identities, and the potential broader consequences of the policy as they relate to future policy-making and transphobic violence. Ultimately, I aim to interrogate how Saskatchewan’s policy problematizes trans students’ control over their identity, transfers this control away from students to their parents, and limits their agency and access to self-determination.