Manitoba bans private online chats between school staff and students

Manitoba school employees will no longer be allowed to message students one on one through personal social media accounts, private messaging apps or texts, under a new provincial directive announced Friday.

The Manitoba government said in a news release Friday that Education and Early Childhood Learning Minister Tracy Schmidt is directing every publicly funded school and school division to revise its digital communication policies so staff cannot hold one-to-one conversations with students on platforms that parents and school leaders cannot see.

What the directive covers

The rule applies to all school employees, not only classroom teachers. The province said staff will be barred from communicating or interacting with students through personal social media accounts, private messaging applications, texting, and the messaging features built into social networking platforms.

Schmidt said teachers still need to be able to talk to students about school, but added that “there should never be a reason to hide that conversation from the eyes of parents or school leaders.”

The exceptions

The directive leaves room for exceptions. When a student’s safety, accessibility, well-being or learning needs call for another arrangement, school administration must approve the communication in advance, and parents or caregivers must either be included in it or told about it, the province said. Exceptions may also be made where a staff member and a student already have a family or personal relationship.

When it starts and how it will be enforced

The release does not give a start date or a deadline for school divisions to update their policies, and it does not set out consequences for employees who break the rule. It says every school will be required to tell students, staff and families about the revisions it makes to its guidelines.

Manitoba already has an independent body that handles complaints about teachers. The Commissioner of Teacher Professional Conduct began work at the start of 2025 and reported 94 misconduct complaints in its first 15 months, The Canadian Press reported in August. In one finalized case, a teacher used social media to arrange to meet a high school student and gave the student cannabis and alcohol. That teacher lost their teaching certificate.

Who is backing it

Lianna McDonald, executive director of the Winnipeg-based Canadian Centre for Child Protection, called the directive a step forward in safeguarding young people. Marisa Roziere, a high school teacher at J.H. Bruns Collegiate in Winnipeg, said it gives students and staff a clear understanding of what is and is not appropriate.

How other provinces handle it

In Ontario, similar guidance comes from the teaching profession’s regulator rather than a government directive. The Ontario College of Teachers issued a professional advisory on electronic communication and social media in 2011 and updated it in 2017. When it was first released, it advised teachers against exchanging private texts, phone numbers or personal email addresses with students, CTV News reported at the time.

Part of a wider push on screens in schools

The directive is the latest Manitoba rule on technology in classrooms. The province restricted student cellphone use in schools in 2024. In April, Schmidt said a planned ban on social media and AI chatbots for children under 16 could be rolled out in schools first, though she said it would need legislative and regulatory work, The Canadian Press reported.

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Sources: Manitoba government news release, Oct. 23, 2026; The Canadian Press; Ontario College of Teachers.