Saskatchewan.

• Author: Ursulescu, Stacey
• Position: Legislative Reports - Brief article

The spring sitting concluded on May 19, 2011. During the spring period of session, the Lieutenant Governor, gave royal assent to 26 bills including an Appropriation Bill to defray the expenses of the Public Service.

In the Spring session, two Opposition Bills resulted in the Government introducing legislation that included similar legislative changes.

Bill No. 625--The Saskatchewan Respectful Language Act, introduced by David Forbes, an Opposition Member, sought to eliminate references to 'mental retardation', 'mentally retarded', 'retardation', retarded' or 'retard' from all legislation and regulations in force in the Province of Saskatchewan and replace with 'intellectual disability" or another appropriate form.

Non legislative changes were made to remove the anachronistic phrase and the Assembly agreed to expedite the process to amend the one remaining Private Member's Bill--Bill No. 907--The Congregation of the Sisters of St. Elizabeth of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis of Assisi Amendment Act, 2011 that contained the derogatory language. The adoption of this bill resulted in Bill No. 625 being removed from the Order Paper.

Bill No...