An access to information request by a member of the Buffalo Party has revealed the Pride Alliance Network within the Saskatchewan civil service has held many events at taxpayer expense and employee time.The request was made by Yorkton resident and Buffalo Party supporter Tim Kasprick and shared exclusively with Western Standard.On December 20, 2023, Roberta Wallace, a Senior Policy Analyst at the Ministry of Immigration and Career Training and co-chair of the Pride Alliance Network (PAN), submitted a budget proposal to Greg Tuer, Chair of the Public Service Commission (PSC).The request was for initiatives for the 2023-24 and 2024-25 fiscal years, plus a request for reimbursement of two past events.According to the proposal, written by “Nick and Hadley,” PAN supported sexual minority inclusion within the provincial government through education, networking, peer support and consultation services in alignment with the PSC’s Commitment to Excellence and the government’s inclusion strategy.From April 1 to December 20, 2023, PAN held 20 events, including virtual socials, educational presentations, open mics, movie nights, and entries in pride parades, for a total participant count of over 600. Presentations were given to the Ministries of Highways, Environment, Labour Relations and Workplace Safety, Immigration and Career Training, SaskBuilds and Procurement, Energy and Resources, PSC, and the Government of Saskatchewan Inclusion Community of Practice.Upcoming activities for the rest of fiscal 2023-24 and for 2024-25 included monthly virtual socials, presentations as requested by government organizations, development of a sexual minority presentation for the Saskatchewan Police College through the Ministry of Policing, three recognition events for the steering committee themselves, two monthly Saskatoon events and a monthly event in Regina, contributions to staffroom content, a recruitment strategy to increase visibility and membership, and “a new workshop focused on psychological safety in the workplace for 2SLGBQT+ employees” under the working title “Community Conversations.”The budget proposal of $3,600 said the initiatives “would demonstrate a tangible commitment to diversity and inclusion across the Saskatchewan public service and mark another step towards being the best Public Service in Canada.”Later correspondence said $3,250 of the budget was for fiscal 2024-25. Given this ask would span two fiscal years, Joella Moore, Executive Director of the Employee Wellbeing and Inclusion Branch of PSC, said by email January 11, 2024, “we’ll need to be creative and find a way to make it work.”After the budget was approved, Wallace asked for meetings with Greg Linzmeyer, PSC Director of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, and Nicholas Belanger, an accountant at Crown Investments Corporation.“Are you good if I set up monthly meetings with the three of us? I believe we talked about last time,” Wallace asked.Another document claimed PAN had “served as subject matter experts for Ministries and Crowns for various consultation requests" in 2021-22. Presentations 30 to 60 minutes in length “around LGBTQ+ topics” were given to employees at the Ministry of Justice. A presentation to Corrections, Policing, and Public Safety senior executives taught “correct terminology, allyship and gender topics” as did a similar presentation to the Provincial Disaster Assistance Program.In March 2022, the Gender Transition Guidelines were issued as a staffroom article “to ensure our workplaces are inclusive and supportive and gender non-conforming employees can feel safe, welcomed and able to succeed.” A separate article entitled, “What are your pronouns?” was written by PAN steering committee member Malin Rozon.Rozon participated in a Johnson-Shoyama School of Public Policy Zoom event on June 1, 2022, which listed Rozon as “proudly nonbinary, trans and queer” and “engaged in gender affirming education, advocacy, and peer mentorship.”Two documents made reference to $10,000 being allotted for “networks." On April 30, 2020 Laura Hunter, then PSC’s Executive Director of Talent, emailed to ask what supplies had been provided for “networks” and at what cost.PSC employee Michelle Vanderwel replied that supplies had been purchased for pride parades and similar events for $1,881 and $887 had been spent for the Engaging and Developing Government Employees network.Hunter, who has since moved on to become Executive Director of the HR business team at Parks, Culture and Sport, said she would talk with the network chairs that afternoon. “From a supplies perspective do you think there would be interest in PSC covering this?” Hunter wrote, even though the purchases had already been made.“I could put it as ‘pressure’ on the summary page of the budget to identify," Hunter continued. “That may be a non starter but I expect this will be a question as there is no bill back option.”
