Name shame

A mother contacted us in frustration about the conduct of a driving instructor towards her son, a student driver. The student was in the process of a gender transition, and the name on his legal documents was not the same as the name he had chosen to use in daily life. The mother complained that the instructor was “deadnaming” her son, but the instructor told her he was following Ministry of Transportation policy. After we spoke with Ministry officials, they followed up with the instructor to confirm that the student could use the name of his choice. The Ministry told us that while their policy on online learning does not specifically address the issue of preferred names, it does require course providers to avoid exclusionary language, including in relation to gender.