{"id":157399,"date":"2025-09-20T16:46:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-20T16:46:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/157399\/"},"modified":"2025-09-20T16:46:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-20T16:46:09","slug":"albertas-plan-to-invoke-notwithstanding-clause-on-transgender-laws-draws-criticism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/157399\/","title":{"rendered":"Alberta\u2019s plan to invoke notwithstanding clause on transgender laws draws criticism"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Alberta’s government is preparing to invoke the notwithstanding clause on its three transgender laws, according to a leaked memo.Nathan Denette\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Alberta\u2019s<\/a> plan to use the notwithstanding clause of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to shield laws affecting transgender young people from court challenges has sparked criticism and intensified a national debate about governments\u2019 wielding of such power.<\/p>\n

The laws, passed by the United Conservative Party government late last year, generally focus on people younger than 16 and ban transgender girls from female-only sports, prohibit gender-affirming health care and require parental consent at school to change a name or pronouns.<\/p>\n

According to a provincial government memo obtained by<\/a> The Canadian Press, Alberta is preparing to invoke the notwithstanding clause, Section 33 of the Charter, in all three laws. This allows governments to override a long list of human rights and its use has become a popular tactic in recent years among conservative-led provinces.<\/p>\n

Naheed Nenshi, leader of the Alberta NDP, said the province\u2019s legal strategy contradicts Premier Danielle Smith\u2019s<\/a> contention that the transgender legislation would hold up in court as constitutionally compliant.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe has called herself the most freedom-loving politician in Canada. And yet she is systematically stripping people\u2019s freedoms,\u201d said Mr. Nenshi. \u201cShe doesn\u2019t believe in freedom. She doesn\u2019t care about people. She is doing what she thinks is popular. Even when it is wrong. Even when it is cruel.\u201d<\/p>\n

The province, according to spokeswoman Heather Jenkins, will use the notwithstanding clause \u201cshould our government deem it necessary.\u201d Last December, Ms. Smith said she would use it<\/a> as a last resort.<\/p>\n

Ottawa calls on Supreme Court to clarify the law around use of Charter\u2019s notwithstanding clause<\/a><\/p>\n

Groups challenging the transgender laws in court redoubled their criticisms of the government. Egale Canada called Alberta\u2019s plan to use the notwithstanding clause \u201cstate-sponsored transphobia\u201d and an \u201cattack on all Canadians.\u201d<\/p>\n

The gender-affirming care law in June was put on hold by a court injunction, as part of a legal challenge.<\/p>\n

The Canadian Medical Association, which represents doctors, said Alberta may be trying to \u201ccircumvent the legal process entirely.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alberta has enacted the notwithstanding clause once, 25 years ago, against same-sex marriage. That use of the clause expired in 2005, shortly before same-sex marriage became legal across the country. It was one of the few examples of the clause being used from the 1990s through the mid-2010s.<\/p>\n

A resurgence in governments\u2019 use of the power has led to a landmark case this year at the Supreme Court of Canada.<\/p>\n

In 2019, Quebec deployed the clause to shield a law known as Bill 21. It bars public sector workers, including teachers, from wearing religious symbols such as a hijab on the job. Lower courts in Quebec twice upheld<\/a> the law and the Supreme Court took the case<\/a> in January. A hearing has not yet been scheduled, but most of the legal arguments have been filed, including a flurry this week, submissions by the federal and Alberta governments among them.<\/p>\n

Ottawa on Wednesday called<\/a> on the Supreme Court to impose limits on the notwithstanding clause \u2013 which if accepted by the top court would mark the first notable restrictions since the Charter was enacted in 1982. A 1988 Supreme Court precedent mostly endorsed governments\u2019 unfettered use of the clause. The federal Liberals\u2019 new proposal has been lambasted<\/a> by conservative critics and by Quebec.<\/p>\n

Alberta, along with Ontario and Saskatchewan, supports Quebec and stands against any restrictions on how elected governments use the clause. In Alberta\u2019s legal filing to the Supreme Court, it asked the top court to uphold the 1988 precedent and \u201cto categorically reject any arguments that would undermine the principle of parliamentary sovereignty that underpins\u201d the notwithstanding clause.<\/p>\n

In a signal of how seriously Alberta takes the issue, the province\u2019s lead legal counsel at the Supreme Court in the Bill 21 case is Malcolm Lavoie, Deputy Minister of Justice. It is unusual for a deputy justice minister to take such a role. None of the other provinces in the Bill 21 case, nor the federal government, made such a choice. <\/p>\n

Mr. Lavoie wrote the government memo obtained by The Canadian Press about Alberta\u2019s plans to use the notwithstanding clause.<\/p>\n

The Elzinga family is among the Albertans working to get Ms. Smith\u2019s government to reconsider its transgender laws.<\/p>\n

Natalie Elzinga, a 14-year-old girl who is not transgender, plays volleyball at her school in St. Albert, near Edmonton, and had to sign a government-required form this month attesting that she was born female. Alongside her signature, Natalie wrote an array of declarations \u2013 \u201ctrans girls are girls\u201d and \u201ctransphobic\u201d \u2013 on the form. <\/p>\n

Natalie\u2019s mother, Leah, is publicly protesting the laws. She advocated her position this week<\/a> on a podcast with Jen Kish, captain of Canada\u2019s women\u2019s bronze-medal-winning rugby sevens team at the 2016 Summer Olympics.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about protecting our neighbours, our friends and people we don\u2019t know,\u201d said Leah Elzinga. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to get as loud as we can.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Alberta’s government is preparing to invoke the notwithstanding clause on its three transgender…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":157400,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,43,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,44,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,41,39,42,40,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-157399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-headlines","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-news","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=157399"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157399\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/157400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}