September 21, 2009
Province Proclaims Legislation To Strengthen Protection For Students With Life-Threatening Allergies
Amendments to the Public Schools Act and the Education Administration Act that will come into force Nov. 1 will formalize the requirement that Manitoba school divisions have policies to protect students with life-threatening allergies, Education, Citizenship and Youth Minister Peter Bjornson announced today.
“With this amendment in effect, we will be strengthening the requirement that school divisions have anaphylaxis policies to meet the needs of pupils who have diagnosed allergies,” Bjornson said. “The proposed amendment was introduced as a private member’s bill and given royal assent last fall. I’d like to thank my colleague MLA Erin Selby for taking a leadership role in bringing forward this legislation and I’d like to thank school divisions for their hard work in ensuring these important policies are in place across Manitoba.”
In 2002, a provincial directive required that all community programs, including school divisions, develop local policy for life-threatening allergies by 2004. Since approximately 2004, it has been school division practice to have an anaphylaxis policy in place based on a policy framework outlined in the Manitoba Education, Citizenship and Youth Unified Referral and Intake System (URIS) manual. These amendments strengthen this requirement by formalizing it within provincial legislation as well as giving the minister the discretion to develop regulations around the framework of anaphylaxis policy requirements.
In May 2002, a joint letter from three government ministers was sent to school divisions to highlight the findings of the Canadian Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology that estimated anaphylaxis was a risk to between one and two per cent of the general population. A registered nurse was hired for a two-year term to assist school divisions and licensed child-care facilities in developing their policies.
“The health and safety of our children is of primary importance to all of us, whether we are parents, teachers, administrators or trustees, and I am pleased that Manitoba is one of only two provinces that has legislated the requirement to have anaphylaxis policies in place,” Bjornson said.
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