The Alberta government has introduced sweeping legislation that advocates say will have a major impact on the lives of trans and gender diverse people.
Premier Danielle Smith said the measures will preserve options for children and young people, however the legislation limits access to health care, education and sports for gender diverse people based on their age.
“I know this is a sensitive and deeply personal topic for many people, and I would like to reiterate what I have said many times before: we are here to support and encourage all children who identify as transgender and who experience gender dysphoria. as well as their families, who wants the best for them,” Smith said Thursday in Edmonton.
“Childhood is a time of self-discovery and we want children and young people to have time to gain experience and explore all the opportunities available as they grow into adulthood.”
The trio of bills introduced Thursday in the Alberta legislature focus on transgender people and students who use preferred pronouns.
The UCP government has proposed a bill, he Education Amendment Act of 2024that would require children under 16 to have parental consent if they wanted to change their names or pronouns at school.
A similar law is in effect in Saskatchewan, where the government invoked the notwithstanding clause, a measure that allows governments to override certain Charter rights for up to five years.
The bill would also require parents to opt-in to have their children taught about sexual orientation and sexual and gender identity in school. The legislation also restricts any type of curriculum that teaches about gender diversity.
When asked how the rules would be enforced in schools, Smith said the Alberta Teaching Profession Commission has the ability to discipline teachers if they defy government instructions.
The requirements would not apply in First Nations schools, but Two-Spirit Indigenous students in provincially run schools would be subject to them.
The second bill, he Health Statutes Amendment Act of 2024would prohibit doctors from treating minors under 16 who seek transgender treatments, such as puberty blockers and hormone therapies.
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It would also prohibit health professionals from performing sex reassignment surgeries on minors. Currently, national policy restricts butt surgery across Canada to people over 18 years of age, and such procedures are not performed in Alberta.
The third bill, he Fairness and Safety in Sports Lawwould prohibit transgender athletes from competing in leagues not designated as co-ed and require school and sports organizations to report eligibility complaints.
The government said it aims to protect fairness and safety in sports.
Sports Minister Joseph Schow said registration of sex at birth would determine competitive eligibility. This documentation is accessible through the provincial authorities.
Smith said he wants sports leagues to create co-ed divisions to ensure all athletes can compete.
Many organizations have spoken out against the policies, first announced nine months ago, including Amnesty International Canada, the Canadian Medical Association and the Alberta Teachers’ Association.
The proposed legislation comes days before members of Smith’s United Conservative Party vote in their leadership review on Saturday.
EGALE is Canada’s leading organization for 2SLGBTQI people and issues and said it has seen similar policies in the United States before, but as far as legal director Bennett Jensen knows, no government has attempted to implement them all at once.
“This is an unprecedented attack on a small population of young people in the province,” Jensen said Thursday from Ottawa.
EGALE plans to challenge all of Alberta’s new legislation in court.
“The bills in question are a clear violation of the Charter rights and other rights of young people in the province of Alberta,” Jensen said.
Drawing on similar actions in the United States, Jensen said there are demonstrated, devastating levels of harm that result from policies like this.
“What we have here is a government that is grossly overstepping the individual rights and freedoms of its citizens.”
The UCP government said it consulted widely before drafting the new laws and asked supporters of the transgender community to speak to the media on Thursday on behalf of the legislation.
Kellie Lynn Pirie, who went through a transition before returning to her birth sex, said transitioning to male as an adult was something she regretted.
“I just don’t understand how I, a 37-year-old adult with a post-secondary education, was not prepared to make a life-changing decision…how can we support, encourage or allow our children to do so? Do it?” said Pirie, co-founder of De-Trans Alliance.
Alberta parents of gender diverse youth like Haley Wray believe the new laws will give children fewer options, especially when it comes to health care that is not permanent but gives them time to resolve their identity struggles.
“Hormone blockers are a very valuable tool,” Wray said, explaining that they have a very small window of effectiveness in stopping, but not preventing, puberty.
“It is reversible because nothing changes. And what that does is allow youth and families to have that pause, that break to explore further, to validate, to understand what this means and know that there are no permanent changes happening.”
Wray believes the proposed legislation will make the province a less safe place for tens of thousands of Alberta children who are not heterosexual.
“It’s removing an access option to affirm health care, access to knowledge and options, and allowing people to decide what is best for them moving forward.”
That’s why, Wray says, a growing number of families with transgender children are debating whether Alberta is a place they can stay.
“I know people who have, and I know people who really feel like they probably have nowhere to go,” he said.
— With files from Heather Yourex-West, Global News and Lisa Johnson, The Canadian Press
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