Manitoba’s new directive highlights the importance of clear communication boundaries and a broader approach to student online safety. 

On October 23, 2026, the Manitoba government announced a directive prohibiting one-to-one online communication between school employees and students through unmonitored platforms. The directive applies to publicly funded schools and school divisions and covers personal social media accounts, private messaging apps, text messages and messaging features on social networking platforms. 

Schools must update their digital communication policies and share the revised guidelines with staff, students and families. Exceptions may be permitted in specific circumstances, including where alternative arrangements are needed to support a student’s safety, accessibility or learning needs, subject to applicable approval requirements. 

The goal is to establish clear professional boundaries while ensuring school-related communication remains transparent and accountable. 

Why Private Messaging Matters for Student Safety 

Digital communication plays an important role in education, allowing teachers to provide support and connect with students. However, when conversations move to private, unmonitored channels, schools may have limited visibility into interactions that could raise safeguarding concerns. 

Research from the Canadian Centre for Child Protection highlights the risks associated with online interactions. In a 2025 survey of 1,279 Canadian teens aged 13 to 17 who had experienced online sexual victimization, 86% reported victimization in private communication environments, including private messages, video calls or private groups. 

This finding does not mean private messaging is inherently unsafe. It highlights why appropriate boundaries, transparent communication practices and effective safeguarding procedures matter. 

What Can Schools Do to Strengthen Safeguarding? 

Clear communication policies are an important starting point, but putting them into practice requires consistent expectations and procedures across the school community. 

Schools can strengthen their approach by: 

  • Establishing approved communication channels: Ensure staff understand which platforms are appropriate for school-related communication and when exceptions may be necessary. 
  • Providing clear guidance to staff and families: Make expectations, reporting procedures and professional boundaries easy to understand. 
  • Encouraging early reporting: Ensure staff and students know how to raise concerns and where to seek support. 
  • Reviewing potential risks proactively: Use appropriate safeguarding processes to identify patterns of concern and determine when further action may be needed. 

These measures help translate policy into everyday practice, creating a more consistent approach to student safety both inside and outside the classroom. 

Addressing the Wider Risks Students Face Online 

Restricting unmonitored communication is one measure schools can take to protect students, but risks extend beyond direct interactions with adults. Students may encounter harmful or inappropriate content, experience cyberbullying or online exploitation, or display signs of self-harm or emotional distress through their digital activity. Recognizing potential concerns early can help schools determine when a student may need support. 

Netsweeper’s onGuard digital safeguarding solution helps schools identify potentially concerning online activity and supports appropriate intervention. With onGuard+, every alert is reviewed by a human safeguarding team, bringing context and understanding to potential risks and helping schools determine when further action may be needed. 

onGuard Insights adds another layer by helping safeguarding teams understand alert patterns and changes over time. By identifying emerging trends and providing context beyond individual alerts, it helps schools build a clearer picture of potential concerns and consider opportunities for earlier intervention. 

By combining technology, human understanding and meaningful insights over time, onGuard supports a proactive approach to student safety and well-being, helping schools move beyond identifying individual alerts to better understanding the risks students may face. 

Building Safer Digital Learning Environments 

Manitoba’s directive reflects a wider challenge facing schools across Canada: ensuring technology supports learning without compromising student safety. Clear communication boundaries are an important starting point, but they must sit alongside effective safeguarding policies, appropriate oversight and processes for responding to concerns. 

Protecting students online requires both prevention and the ability to recognize when something may be wrong. By combining clear communication policies with effective digital safeguarding, schools can better support student well-being and create safer online learning environments. 

Learn more about Netsweeper’s digital safeguarding solutions.