Concerned parents gathered this morning at the Cenotaph in downtown Weyburn to join in on a Canada-wide peaceful protest, the One Million March for Children.

Shannon, one of the parents who helped get the word out locally to arrange the gathering, said they were taking part in one of many protests planned across the province, advocating for parents' rights.

The protests come as policies concerning the use of pronouns and preferred names in schools come under judicial review to determine if they are constitutional. 

"We are just showing our support, so this is actually organized by bigger groups and is being done all across Canada and we just felt that [it should be done] not only the bigger centres like Regina, Saskatoon, Yorkton, and Swift Current. It's nice that people are going to those, but we just thought the community needed to be in on it."

"It doesn't matter [what town] you're from, every community should have parents who are concerned about their childrens' future," she said. "Parents need to be informed of what the kids are learning in school, and that's what the March was about. We didn't do a march, we just did a gathering, but I believe that parents need to be more involved in what the kids are learning in schools, and there is a lot of concern."

She said Weyburn has a lot of concerned parents. 

"There's so much that they're learning, that we believe that the teachers should be part of the math, and the reading, and the writing, and I think social stuff is what parents should be in charge of so that is being taken away from us. Our values are not being protected and the children are learning stuff that maybe we are not wanting them to learn."

"It's not an organized thing. It was just two moms who wanted to come together and stand up for our kids. And we knew other parents that wanted to also. So we just did it through word of mouth."

Shannon said they had no agenda other than to gather, whether for 10 minutes or for a few hours. 

"It's making a presence to show that we support our kids and that we want governments and lawmakers to realize that we are not going to let this all go," she stated. "[Former Education Minister] Dustin Duncan, on August 23rd, with the Saskatchewan government, said that parents have to know what's going on in schools, and that the teachers have to consent if there is a change in pronouns or a change in name. Before that, it wasn't. Some schools were, but with him making that announcement, that was very good."

"Yesterday was their court case for that, a bunch of parents were taking them to court," she explained. "So we're still waiting to hear how that's going to go. But I just believe, an adult wants to do what they want to do, that is fine, but I do not think that should be part of the school system."

She added that they wanted to choose a location that would allow for a peaceful protest and that they know our community won't have the 'anti-protesters' anticipated in larger centres.

This gathering happened to be taking place at the same time Legion was also hosting a Legion Day Veterans Meet & Greet, which brought more downtown traffic, and therefore more people likely noticed the group near City Hall.

momShannon is a concerned Weyburn parent.

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