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<\/p>\nRowan Venedam, with the group TransAction Alberta, said they have attended funerals for transgender youth since the policies were enacted. They have also watched as some community members packed up their lives to leave their home province because they no longer felt safe.<\/p>\n
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\u201cIt\u2019s harassment, it\u2019s discrimination, it\u2019s the inability to get a job, it\u2019s an inability to find housing, and it\u2019s the inaction of this government doing nothing to stop it,\u201d Venedam told a press conference on Parliament Hill.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not a frivolous call. This is a plea for protection and defence.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fae Johnstone, executive director of national advocacy group Queer Momentum, said the ripple effects of the Prairie provinces\u2019 policies will be felt across the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we permit governments to weaken the Charter and the rights it guarantees, we will soon live in a country where those rights \u2014 rights that keep us all safe and free \u2014 are at risk and will only in fact exist on paper,\u201d Johnstone said.<\/p>\n
The federal departments of health, and women and gender equality did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.<\/p>\n
Both Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe invoked the notwithstanding clause to shield their laws from court challenges. The clause allows governments to pass laws that override certain Charter rights for up to five years.<\/p>\n
Both provincial governments have said the school rules are about protecting the role of parents and their involvement in education.<\/p>\n
Smith\u2019s government has said its other laws are about safety for women and girls playing sports and ensuring youth don\u2019t make rash, life-altering medical decisions.<\/p>\n
Smith, when first announcing the three laws affecting transgender people in 2024, said it\u2019s reasonable to put limitations on the kinds of decisions children can make for themselves.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are here to support and uplift every child who identifies as transgender and who experiences gender dysphoria, as well as their families who (want) what\u2019s best for them,\u201d the premier said.<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 28, 2026.<\/p>\n
\u2014 By Lisa Johnson in Edmonton, with files from Alessia Passafiume in Ottawa<\/p>\n
The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rowan Venedam, with the group TransAction Alberta, said they have attended funerals for transgender youth since the policies…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":913652,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194295],"tags":[49,48,20739],"class_list":["post-913651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ottawa","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-ottawa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/913651","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=913651"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/913651\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/913652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=913651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=913651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=913651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}