Jan Gootjes, a New Brunswick mother of a transgender boy, knows this all too well. He regularly reviews programs and activities to make sure he is welcomed, uses his correct pronouns, and offers the right accommodations. That’s what she did one day in the summer of 2020, when her son asked if he could go to Caton’s Island summer camp and stay in a cabin with his male friends. But because she hadn’t officially registered her son to attend, the human rights complaint she later filed against the camp, a Christian program run by the Wesleyan Church, was dismissed.
A piece of heaven
In the summer of 2020, Luke — the CBC changed his name for this story — was 11 years old and had come out as transgender almost two years earlier. He came home one day from playing with his friends, who told him they wanted to go to Caton’s Island summer camp. The camp, on a 120-acre island about a half-hour drive north of Saint John, has been open since 1985. It’s advertised as a “little piece of paradise” on its website. Luke wanted to go to camp, too, Gudges said, but first he needed to know: could he and his friends stay in the same cabin? Gootjes decided to message the camp on Facebook before starting an official registration process. He explained the situation and asked if Luke could stay in a cabin with his male friends. In 2021, Caton’s Island said it had a policy prohibiting discrimination against people based on sexual orientation and gender identity, but that it had not yet published it on its website. A year later, the policy is still not on its website. (Graham Thompson/CBC) Eleven days later, on June 30, the camp responded: “Hi Jan, unfortunately we are unable to place your child in a gender-identified cabin at this time. Thanks for considering us!” Immediately, Gootjes demanded an explanation. Unless there was a logistical reason Luke couldn’t stay in a cabin with his friends, he wrote, you’d assume the camp’s decision had something to do with his transgender status. “Yes, let’s talk,” the camp texted Gootjes that night. Neither Caton’s Island Summer Camp nor the Atlantic District of Wesleyan Church responded to requests for comment for this story. Jan Gootjes says that as a mother of a transgender child, she needs to do some research on accommodations before she formally applies to a summer camp like Caton’s Island. (Graham Thompson/CBC) After Caton’s Island asked Gootjes to speak, she responded that evening: “My child has spoken to his friends and I guess they won’t be attending this year, so it’s currently moot.” Gootjes argues that Luke’s friends decided not to go to the camp to show solidarity with him. When Gootjes told Caton’s Island Luke that she no longer wanted to attend that summer, she encouraged the camp to be more inclusive and agreed to talk with the camp. Caton’s Island asked Gootjes to reach out again in the fall as staff were busy training and adjusting camp programming to align with COVID-19 regulations. In its response to Gootjes’ human rights complaint, the camp said Gootjes never called in the fall. But Gootjes said the camp blocked her on Facebook and shared with CBC News a screenshot of Messenger that shows she was unable to continue messaging the camp.
Is a private religious camp a public service?
Although the Gootjes family had decided not to send Luke to the camp after their exchange with Caton’s Island, the situation still bothered Luke, according to Gootjes. He couldn’t understand why the camp wouldn’t let him stay in a boys cabin. With his consent, Gootjes filed a human rights complaint in February 2021. The New Brunswick Human Rights Act protects against discrimination based on 16 grounds, including gender identity or expression, and applies to public services. While Caton Island operates through the Wesleyan Church and promotes Christianity on its camp website, anyone can apply to attend camp. Marc-Alain Mallet, director of the New Brunswick Human Rights Commission, confirmed to CBC News in an interview that a private religious summer camp that accepts anyone from the public is a public service. The Caton’s Island summer camp said not having discussions with negative connotations about homosexuality would be contrary to its theological beliefs. (Graham Thompson/CBC) In the spring of 2021, both sides agreed to try mediation, which ultimately failed. As part of the mediation, Gootjes outlined what she wanted to see changed at the Caton’s Island summer camp, including an update to what the camp calls its non-discrimination policy so that LGBTQ people are allowed to attend. Caton’s Island’s current non-discrimination policy states that it accepts, without discrimination, “all who apply without regard to race, colour, national origin or religious belief”. “However, we reserve the right to refuse admission to individuals with conditions that we believe are of such a nature that they could pose a danger or affect the well-being of themselves or others while participating in regular camp activities,” the camp states on its website. During the mediation, Caton’s Island said its existing discrimination policy “already prohibits all discrimination, including discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity,” but argued that this had not yet been posted on its website, according to a email obtained by CBC News. . More than a year into the mediation, the camp has yet to release a new version of its policy. Another of Gootjes’ conditions was that no discussions with negative connotations surrounding sexual orientation or homosexuality be held in camp activities with campers. The camp rejected it, saying it would go against their theological and religious beliefs.
“An atmosphere of hateful homophobic commentary”
When the conflict between the Gootjes family and Caton’s Island started, Jan Gootjes posted about it on social media. She received many negative comments asking why she would bother sending Luke to a Christian camp, but Gootjes said she also heard comments of support from other families whose children had bad experiences at the camp. Gootjes included one family’s experience in her rebuttal to the camp’s response to her human rights complaint. The letter, which the mother who wrote it agreed to share with CBC News, said her daughter went to Caton Island for a week in both 2016 and 2017. According to the letter, the woman’s daughter described the camp in 2017 as having “an atmosphere of hateful homophobic commentary from her counselors.”
Caton offered Luke a gender neutral cabin
As part of the mediation, Caton Island offered to host Luke by providing him with a gender-neutral cabin and gender-neutral restroom, as well as a free week of camp. But being allowed to stay in a boys’ cabin was not on the table. For Gootjes and her family, that didn’t sound like accommodation. Forcing Luke to stay in a cabin by himself will defeat the purpose of going camping with his friends. Gootjes said it would unwittingly out him as a transgender camper and draw unwanted attention. “We automatically said no to that,” he said. “This really confirmed that this camp was not at all a safe place for our child or any transgender child.” After mediation failed, the case proceeded as an investigation. On August 30, 2021, the board dismissed the Gootjes family’s complaint that the camp discriminated against Luke. The family’s appeal was also dismissed. Marc-Alain Mallet, director of the New Brunswick Human Rights Commission, said a camp open to anyone would be considered a public service under the Human Rights Act. (Submitted) Gootjes feels that Caton’s island has fallen into a technical state. Most of the reasons the committee gave the Gootjes family for dismissing their complaint related to the fact that the family did not formally apply to send Luke to the camp and therefore did not formally request accommodations from the camp based on gender identity. The panel also wrote in its decision that while Caton’s Island has a duty to accommodate reasonable requests for use of its services by transgender children, accommodation is a two-way process and the accommodation applicant must mutually explore the best options within the given context. conditions. While he was unable to speak about Luke’s case, Mallett told CBC News that when it comes to a discrimination complaint, a situation must fall within the rules of the Human Rights Act. “The individual would have to prove that they suffered adverse effects,” he said. Mallet agreed that if a parent did formally register a transgender child for a service or program and the child was rejected because they are transgender, it could be grounds for discrimination.
‘There is so much joy’
Today, Luke is happy, Gouges said. He plays hockey, competes in karate and even went to another Christian summer camp, Hockey Ministries International, that hosted him as a transgender kid. “There is so much joy,” she said. Gootjes was disappointed by the panel’s decision, but said as a mother, she went through it all to show Luke she was in his corner. “I just wanted to [Luke] to know that we would fight for him.”
