Editor’s note: This article was originally published by Xtra’s sister publication Script.Health.
A Cree First Nation has announced its intention to use treaty rights to become a safe haven for Alberta’s trans and Two-Spirit youth to access gender-affirming care.
The Alberta government currently restricts access to gender-affirming healthcare for youth across the province. Today, Saddle Lake Cree Nation said that it will create a new law to regulate healthcare on its territories, located about two hours north of Edmonton in central Alberta. This law would potentially allow doctors on the Nation’s lands to provide gender-affirming care to youth—both Indigenous and non-Indigenous—who are currently targeted by Alberta’s ban.
There has not yet been a response from Alberta’s United Conservative Party government to the Saddle Lake Cree Nation’s announcement.
In order to create these safe haven spaces, Saddle Lake Cree Nation plans to assert their right to healthcare sovereignty under a clause in Treaty 6 referencing the provision of a “medicine chest.” Contemporarily, some have interpreted this clause as granting the First Nations covered under the treaty, including Saddle Lake Cree Nation, broad rights to healthcare access.
Saddle Lake Cree Nation wants to welcome Canadian-trained clinicians to practice gender-affirming care on its territories. The Nation says it would exempt these physicians from sanctions by regulatory bodies for providing such care, because the land is outside of Alberta’s provincial jurisdiction.
The proposed new law is a matter of Indigenous sovereignty, the Nation says, as it raises questions about who has the authority to determine the healthcare options of Indigenous people living on treaty land. “Canada cannot make laws for us or on our behalf,” Saddle Lake Cree Nation Chief Dale Steinhauer said in a press conference on Wednesday afternoon.
“Actions speak louder than words…Treaty and our laws in our jurisdiction must be considered.”
The Nation says it will establish virtual health hubs exempt from provincial bans in order to avoid overwhelming the in-person healthcare system with youth and their families who might come to receive gender-affirming care from elsewhere in Alberta.
Saddle Lake Cree Nation representatives hope the proposed law would set a precedent for Indigenous health jurisdiction elsewhere—and that the Nation can act as a blueprint for other First Nations that wish to fight back against colonial violence and the erosion of human rights within healthcare systems.
Proponents also hope that the proposed law will ultimately lead to greater access to healthcare at Saddle Creek as doctors come to the Nation practice.
The announcement is also a question of solidarity, Steinhauer says.
“Our people know all too well the consequences of governments removing the rights of parents to be parents…” Steinhauer said in a press release. “When we were being stolen from our parents and experienced genocide in Indian Residential Schools, we wondered, ‘Who are the people that will help us?’ Today, we are those people. Today we offer our help, support, and jurisdiction to override these dehumanizing laws.”
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