Alberta Premier Danielle Smith responds to criticism following the announcement of new policies affecting transgender youth. (CTV YouTube screenshot)
The leader of Canada’s province of Alberta announced a slate of new anti-LGBTQ policies in a video released on social media on Wednesday prompting outcry from queer activists who say the new policies will be the most restrictive on queer and transgender youth in Canada.
In a seven-minute video uploaded to X, Premier Danielle Smith announced that “top and bottom” surgeries would be restricted to those aged 18 and older, while trans youth under age 16 would no longer be able to access hormone therapies. Genital surgeries are already not generally medically recommended or performed on minors in Canada.
Trans students under 16 will need parental permission before using a name or pronoun different from their legal name in school, while students 16 and older will have their parents notified of any name and pronoun changes.
The premier says the province will also work to restrict women’s and girls’ sports to biological females, while also encouraging new coed leagues that trans students would be allowed to play in.
Additionally, under the new policy, parents will need to be notified and given the right to opt their children out before any classroom discussion on sexuality and gender, while “third party materials” on the sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity will need to be vetted by the Education Ministry before they can be used in class.
It’s unclear at this point how the new policies will be enacted or enforced, but Smith has said that she wants the policies to be in place by the fall. Alberta’s Child and Youth Advocate, an office of the legislature, was not briefed on the policy before it was announced.
In her video, Smith also announces that the government will attempt to recruit doctors who can perform gender-confirming surgeries to Alberta for adult care — currently, those seeking gender surgeries must travel to Quebec for care, nearly 2,000 miles away. Smith says that about 100 people receive gender-confirming surgeries annually, about a quarter of whom are aged 18-25.
Smith also announces that child protection laws will be strictly enforced to protect trans children from abusive parents.
However, in her follow up press conference today, Smith seemed to be unaware of what gender care involves, erroneously suggesting that people who undergo gender-affirming care cannot have sex or reproduce.
The Canadian LGBTQ advocacy group Egale and the Canadian Civil Liberties Union quickly announced that it would be filing a legal action against the policy.
“This is a direct and unprecedented attack on 2SLGBTQI+ Canadians, and trans and gender diverse youth in particular. The draconian measures announced run directly counter to expert guidance and evidence, violate the constitutional rights of 2SLGBTQI+ people, and will lead to irreparable harm and suffering,” Egale says in a statement. “The government of Alberta is playing politics with some of the most vulnerable members of our society: Trans and gender diverse youth, attacking them for cheap political points. We will not stand for it.”
The policies were also quickly denounced by Women and Sport Canada and the Alberta Teacher’s Association, the Alberta New Democratic Party and the mayor of Calgary.
Federal Cabinet ministers were also quick to denounce the policy, but cautioned that until the policy is actually brought forward, there isn’t anything for the government to take action against.
“As a parent, my heart breaks for young 2SLGBTQIA+ people in Alberta who are being targeted by @ABDanielleSmith’s harmful and misguided policy. To trans and gender diverse youth: Please know that we — and so many Canadians — stand with you and will stand up for your rights,” Justice Minister Arif Virani wrote on X.
Trans activist Fae Johnstone, founder of the advocacy group Queer Momentum, denounced the policy and called on allies and the federal government to do more to protect trans youth.
“Conservative premiers are bullying trans kids. This whole issue has cast aside the humanity of transgender young people. Kids deserve better than this. Trans young people deserve to grow up in safe and supportive environments,” Johnstone wrote on X.
Alberta’s new policies around trans youth and sexual orientation in schools are the most restrictive to be proposed in Canada but follow a growing trend among conservative-run provinces.
The policy around parental notification and consent surrounding name and pronoun use mirrors similar policies introduced in Saskatchewan and New Brunswick last year. The governments of Ontario and Quebec also announced similar policies would be forthcoming last year, but have not announced them yet.
When a judge blocked the Saskatchewan policy as likely unconstitutional, the Saskatchewan government passed a bill that allows the policy to override the Charter of Rights, using a constitutional procedure that has seen growing use by Canada’s right-wing provincial governments in recent years. Smith did not rule out using the “notwithstanding” clause to shield the policy from judicial review.
There’s little evidence that these policies are popular among the mainstream in Canada. Last year, Manitoba’s Progressive Conservative government lost an election after campaigning on introducing a “parents’ rights” policy around trans students. New Brunswick will go to the polls later this year.
In the northern Alberta town of Westlock, voters will weigh in on banning Pride flags on municipal property this month.
A hardcore base of anti-LGBTQ activists has grown in Canada in recent years, evolving out of the anti-vax and anti-lockdown movements, and it has been courted by conservative politicians. Smith welcomed these activists at the United Conservative Party of Alberta Convention last year, where they passed policy platforms calling for these policies.
Anti-trans activists also passed policy platforms at the federal Conservative Party convention last year calling for bans on trans people using women’s bathrooms and restricting gender-affirming care for trans youth.
Neither the federal Conservative Party nor its leader Pierre Poilievre have addressed the platform since it was passed. Smith has been explicitly courting the radical right for the last several years, recently appearing in public events across the province with disgraced former Fox News Host Tucker Carlson, disgraced transphobic former University of Toronto professor and current social media troll Jordan Peterson, and convicted fraudster and former owner of the right-wing National Post newspaper Conrad Black.
Black was pardoned by then-U.S. President Donald Trump in 2019.
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