Alberta premier Danielle Smith has made good on her promise to lead this fall’s legislative session with a slate of new policies related to trans youth and gender identity in her province, with three new bills.
The three pieces of legislation, Bill 26, the Health Statutes Amendment Act; Bill 27, the Education Amendment Act; and Bill 29, the Fairness and Safety in Sport Act, were all tabled in the legislature Thursday.
With Bill 26, Alberta is set to amend the Health Professions Act to prohibit regulated health professionals from performing gender-affirming surgery on anyone under the age of 18, and ban health professionals from prescribing puberty blockers or gender-affirming hormones to anyone 15 and under, and mandating parental, physician and psychologist approval for 16- and 17-year-olds to get such treatment.
The government is also using Bill 27 to amend the Education Act to mandate that parents be notified if a student uses a different name or pronouns at school, and that parents must opt in to their kids receiving any instructional materials that deal primarily and explicitly with gender identity, sexual orientation or human sexuality.
And finally, there’s a whole new law in town. Bill 29, the Fairness and Safety in Sport Act, will ban trans women and girls from women’s divisions of school, collegiate and provincially regulated sports competition. It’s the first anti-trans sports law in Canada.
Since first being announced, the policies have faced a wave of backlash from the teachers, medical professionals, LGBTQ2S+ groups and allies, as well as legal experts questioning their validity under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
All three pieces of legislation, if passed, are set to go into effect next year.
Why you can trust Xtra
