Alberta judge grants temporary injunction blocking a transgender health-care bill
Article content
'This isn't just a win for trans youth, it is a win for Canada's health-care system,' Wells wrote on social media.
'No politician should be dictating or restricting your access to evidence-based medical care.'
Egale and the Skipping Stone Foundation aren't the only groups challenging the bill.
Last month, the Canadian Medical Association and three Alberta-based doctors launched a legal case challenging the constitutionality of the bill, arguing it violates their Charter right to freedom of conscience.
Alberta's other two pieces of transgender legislation _ banning transgender women from competing in womens sports and preventing youth under 16 from changing their name or pronouns in the school system without parental consent — have yet to be challenged in court.
The education bill also requires parents to opt in for their children to receive lessons in school on sexuality, sexual orientation and gender identity.
— with files from Aaron Sousa
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CBC
an hour ago
- CBC
Alberta premier intends to 'battle' injunction on transgender health-care law in court
After an Alberta judge granted a temporary injunction blocking a provincial law that would ban doctors from providing gender-affirming care to youth, Premier Danielle Smith said she intends to fight the decision in court. "The court had said that they think that there will be irreparable harm if the law goes ahead. I feel the reverse," Smith said on her weekend radio program, Your Province, Your Premier, on Saturday, a day after Justice Allison Kuntz of the Alberta Court of King's Bench handed down a written judgment on Bill 26. "We want to battle this out, and the way you do that is you go to the higher levels of court. If we were to impose the notwithstanding clause, everything would stop. We actually think that we've got a very solid case." Eric Adams, a professor at the University of Alberta's law faculty, said while he doesn't think the injunction is necessarily a clear sign that a constitutional case could be won, it does mean that lawyers will present strong and credible arguments against the legislation. "This isn't a final resolution of the constitutional issues — far from it," Adams said. "Those are ... possibly even still years away. But the question was: Can the law operate during that period where the legislation is being challenged? And this judge said that, on balance, she's electing to hold that law off until the court weighs in on its constitutionality." Bennett Jensen, legal director of 2SLGBTQ+ advocacy group Egale Canada and co-counsel in the case against the province, said getting the law temporarily put on hold has been a "tremendous relief." "I think we've been holding our breath until we got this decision," he said. Responding to the government's decision to challenge the injunction, Jensen said that "the province has been clear that it wants to act in the best interests of young people in the province.... Now we have a judicial decision finding on the basis of evidence that their law will cause irreparable harm to young people, so I think it merits a reconsideration." Notwithstanding clause a 'last resort' While the premier indicated the province will challenge the injunction through the court system at this time, she has previously said that using the notwithstanding clause is on the table as a "last resort." "It's certainly one of the tools in the toolkit that the province has been preparing the public for by signalling that they were prepared to use it," Adams said. "The government itself can't simply snap its fingers and have the notwithstanding clause appear. It's got to be put into the law itself." The provincial legislature is not scheduled to sit again until October, which means that the notwithstanding clause could not be included in the legislation until then, at the earliest, he said. The clause was first used in Alberta by then-premier Ralph Klein's Progressive Conservative government in 1998, then under Klein again in 2000. "The last time Alberta considered using the notwithstanding clause, the public reaction against [it] was fairly swift and they stepped back," Adams said. But the politics around the notwithstanding clause has changed a bit since then, he said, with it being used in Saskatchewan, Ontario and Quebec. Adams said Friday's ruling indicates the province's fight for Bill 26 won't be an "easy walk through the park," as there are serious constitutional issues to be decided. "We'll see ... whether or not the government has to contemplate whether or not they want to take this out of the hands of judges entirely, because they might not like the direction this litigation is headed in." WATCH | Bill 26 faces legal challenge from Canadian Medical Association: Canadian Medical Association takes Alberta to court over Bill 26 1 month ago Duration 2:14 A law that prohibits doctors from using puberty blockers and hormone therapy on youth under the age of 16 is facing another legal challenge.
CBC
3 hours ago
- CBC
Edmonton city council extends downtown revitalization levy to 2044
Social Sharing Edmonton city council voted Friday evening to extend its divisive downtown revitalization levy another decade, following a two-day public hearing into the matter. The 9-4 vote came after council heard from dozens of citizens speaking for and against the levy. Those who signed up to speak represented various parts of the downtown community, including citizens, non-profits, business owners and post-secondary institutions. "Every North American downtown, coming out of COVID, has struggled," Mayor Amarjeet Sohi said during Friday's hearing, before the vote. "This council has shown a very strong commitment to bring more activity, more life into downtown, and more vibrancy into downtown." The package of proposed projects in the Capital City Downtown Community Revitalization Levy (CRL), which includes a partnership opportunity with the Alberta government and OEG Sports and Entertainment, which owns the Edmonton Oilers, "allows us to build on that success," Sohi said. "The time is to act, and to act now," he said. "These kinds of opportunities don't come our way all the time." Friday's vote means the downtown CRL, established in 2015, will be in place until 2044. It was set to expire in 2034. The levy lets the municipality borrow money from the provincial government against future property tax revenues to help pay for development in the downtown area. The city has two other CRLs to finance development in other areas. Downtown has seen $4.7 billion in new development since the CRL started, the city said in a news release Friday evening. With the extension, the release said, the city will consider spending money from the CRL on seven new or updated projects, such as expanding the Winspear Centre, improving transit infrastructure and remediating brownfield. But there's conflict around the downtown CRL and its use of taxpayer dollars to fund private projects — namely, a proposed event park beside Rogers Place, the Oilers' home stadium. Nita Jalkanen, who lives in the Parkdale neighbourhood, is among the Edmontonians who spoke against the CRL extension, suggesting taxpayers have been pouring money into the pockets of Daryl Katz, OEG's founder and chairman. "It's our money that's being spent like water," Jalkanen said. The park would be one of three major projects wrapped into an agreement between the city, provincial government and OEG. In March, the parties announced they had signed a memorandum of understanding, signalling a willingness to move forward with the project while negotiations continue to finalize the deal. Details of the MOU suggested the event park would cost $250 million, about one-third of which — $84 million — would be covered by OEG. The MOU also includes money to build 2,500 new housing units in the Village at Ice District, just north of Rogers Place, and demolish the Coliseum — the Oilers' former arena — and improve the Exhibition Lands area. Before Friday's vote, Ward pihêsiwin Coun. Tim Cartmell expressed that he finds the notion that OEG unduly benefits from the levy to be misplaced. "Everything we do, in terms of the CRL, benefits a private landowner in some way, in some form. So it's really a matter of scale, and we happen to have one landowner who's a public figure," said Cartmell, who is also a mayoral candidate in the upcoming civic election. Ward Anirniq Coun. Erin Rutherford, one of four council members who opposed, voted based on whether she felt locking in CRL funding for another 10 years was right, she told council Friday. "Our theory of change is fallible," Rutherford said. She felt the downtown CRL doesn't align with city initiatives to keep businesses from leaving, nor that it addresses social disorder, she said. "There's still not going to be vibrancy," she said, noting that residents from the McCauley neighbourhood and Edmonton's Chinatown have raised concerns to council. "Not everybody is seeing the benefit of this," she said.
Global News
3 hours ago
- Global News
‘Our kids are already struggling': Relief after court pauses Alberta transgender care ban
The families of Alberta transgender youth are breathing a sigh of relief, for now, after a court ruling paused a provincial law banning doctors from providing gender-affirming care to youth. The temporary injunction, handed down on Friday by Justice Allion Kuntz, ruled the law could 'cause irreparable harm to gender diverse youth,' and that it should be put on hold until the Charter questions it raises can be fully tested in court. It's a ruling that has lessened anxieties for Alberta mom Haley Ray, who says her child knew there was something different about them at just three years old. 2:02 Alberta government argues transgender youth health law in court 'What I learnt from having a kiddo that young is there is a knowing of self that we don't give credit to, and I think most adults don't begin to explore,' she told Global News. Story continues below advertisement Nine years later, Ray's transgender daughter is now at the age where she is using puberty blockers, something the UCP government's Bill 26 would outlaw. The law, which passed late last year but is not yet fully in effect, bans doctors from providing treatment such as puberty blockers and hormone therapy to those under 16. 'Our kids are already struggling day to day and made all of these spaces, and so when that was announced and these policy measures were announced and being prioritized by the government, it was blindsiding and it was like, how do we, what do we do with it?' Get weekly health news Receive the latest medical news and health information delivered to you every Sunday. Sign up for weekly health newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy In the Friday decision, Kuntz wrote that denying treatment risks causing youth emotional harm and exposing them to permanent physical changes that don't match their gender identity. 'The evidence shows that singling out health care for gender diverse youth and making it subject to government control will cause irreparable harm to gender diverse youth by reinforcing the discrimination and prejudice that they are already subjected to,' Kuntz wrote in the judgment. 'Intentionally or not, the ban will signal that there is something wrong with or suspect about having a gender identity that is different than the sex you were assigned at birth.' 1:36 Advocates report numerous trans youths denied gender-affirming care in central Alberta Alberta Premier Danielle Smith took aim at the ruling in her weekly radio show on Saturday, arguing the courts had gotten the matter wrong. Story continues below advertisement 'The court had said that they think that there will be irreparable harm if the law goes ahead. I feel the reverse,' Smith said. The Alberta Medical Association's pediatrics section says the effects of puberty blockers are not irreversible, and that puberty goes forward after treatment is stopped. Medical associations across the country have also come out against any government proposal to restrict access to evidence-based medical care, including for transgender people. Smith, meanwhile, has argued there is no consensus among the medical community about puberty blockers, citing a recent move by the U.K. NHS to limit their use. 'We actually think that we've got a very solid case, we think we've been measured,' Smith said on her radio show. 'I think we've been evidence-based and we think we're on the side of kids, so we want to see how long the process will play out but we think it's really important for these issues to be debated in court.' 2:05 Albertans rally in support of trans rights at the legislature Sunday Transgender activist Victoria Bucholtz told Global News the law, if it comes into effect, will have devastating effects for trans youth. Story continues below advertisement 'Everyone was surprised that they were wasting taxpayer dollars on persecuting a very small population that really needs support, instead of Danielle Smith barging into doctors' offices telling doctors what they're allowed to do,' Bucholtz said. 'Last I checked, she was a radio host, not a medical doctor.' Butcholtz added that the Alberta LGBTQ2 community won't back down, and has faith the courts will rule in their favour. 'We will be the ones that once again uphold human rights in this country because Alberta queers don't lose these fights,' Bucholtz said. The Alberta government is expected to appeal the ruling. — with files from the Canadian Press
