RCMP union challenges bilingualism claim in province's Alberta Next survey
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The union representing RCMP officers is disputing that its members do not have the opportunity to advance to senior roles unless they speak French, as claimed in the preamble to a new Alberta government survey.
On Wednesday, Premier Danielle Smith launched the province's 15-member Alberta Next panel along with corresponding online engagement questionnaires.
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CBC
4 hours ago
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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.
CTV News
7 hours ago
- CTV News
‘We're on the side of kids': Alberta premier pushes back on court injunction against law banning doctors from providing gender-affirming care to youth
Danielle Smith said she welcomes a debate in court after an Alberta judge put a hold on a provincial law that bans doctors from providing gender-affirming care to youth on Friday. On her Saturday radio show, Your Province, Your Premier, Danielle Smith said she believed her government's case was solid, measured, evidence-based – and on the side of young patients that Justice Allison Kuntz said faced 'irreparable harm' if she didn't issue a temporary injunction against the law before it fully came into effect. '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 they are already subjected to,' Kuntz wrote in the judgment. The law, passed late last year but not fully in effect, would have prevented doctors from providing treatment such as puberty blockers and hormone therapy to those under 16. 'I think the court was in error,' Smith said. 'That's part of the reason why we're taking it to court. The court had said there will be irreparable harm if the law goes ahead. I feel the reverse. I feel there will be irreparable harm to children who get sterilized at the age of 10 years old – and so we want those kids to have their day in court. 'We want those who were counselled to have sex change operations prematurely who now feel like they weren't protected to be able to be witnesses so we don't make these kinds of mistakes.' Kuntz wrote that denying access to this care not only risks causing youth emotional harm but also exposes them to permanent physical changes that don't match their gender identity. '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,' Kuntz wrote. 'Gender diverse youth will bear the entire burden of that speculation.' Smith said there's a long history of governments making decisions that have caused harm. 'We had a sterilization of those who were committed to mental institutions that we had to do a major payout on,' she said. 'There are Indigenous women who are challenging their sterilization that happened at the hands of doctors that they want to make a criminal code provision on that–we shouldn't be capricious in taking away a person's right to have children. 'So we want to battle this out,' she added.' And the way you do that is you go to the higher levels of court.' 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 women's 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. 'Demonizing vulnerable kids': Nenshi Opposition NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi said in a statement that his party was pleased to see the court decision, calling it a 'great day for young Albertans who simply want to live authentically and safely.' 'The court has determined what we already knew that this ban could cause irreparable harm to gender diverse young Albertans,' Nenshi said. 'This was never about doing the right thing: it was always about demonizing vulnerable kids to boost Danielle Smith's political fortunes.' LGBTQ+ advocacy groups Egale Canada and the Skipping Stone Foundation took the case to court, and in a statement Egale said the decision was a 'historic win.' Also listed as applicants in the case are five transgender youth who will be directly affected. Egale's legal director Bennett Jensen said Friday that the decision was a 'huge relief' for the youth involved. '(The legislation) does not solve any real issues in the medical system,' Jensen said in an interview. 'It simply creates them and targets an already very vulnerable, small group of young people with further discrimination, and that's what the judge found.' Despite the Friday decision, Smith expressed confidence moving forward. 'We actually think we've got a very solid case,' she said. 'We think we've been measured, we think we've been evidence-based, and we think we're on the side of kids. 'So we want to see how long that process will play out, but we think it's really important for these issues to be debated in court.' With files from The Canadian Press and Aaron Sousa
Calgary Herald
12 hours ago
- Calgary Herald
RCMP union challenges bilingualism claim in province's Alberta Next survey
Article content The union representing RCMP officers is disputing that its members do not have the opportunity to advance to senior roles unless they speak French, as claimed in the preamble to a new Alberta government survey. Article content On Wednesday, Premier Danielle Smith launched the province's 15-member Alberta Next panel along with corresponding online engagement questionnaires. Article content Article content Article content The panel is seeking feedback on measures Alberta could pursue to further assert itself against the federal government, with an initial focus on an Alberta pension plan, tax collection, immigration, constitutional changes, federal transfers including equalization, and a provincial police force. Article content Article content The panel's website has individual polls for each of those issues that can only be taken following a short animated video. Article content 'Because of French-language requirements, English-speaking Alberta officers do not qualify for senior RCMP positions,' states the narration for the video prior to the survey on a provincial police force. Article content The survey doesn't define what constitutes a senior position. Article content In a statement to Postmedia, the National Police Federation (NPF) president and CEO Brian Sauvé challenged the survey's claim. Article content 'As we've seen previously, the government of Alberta continues to mislead Albertans about the benefits of the Alberta RCMP,' he said. Article content Article content 'In its campaign, the government falsely claims that English-only members are barred from advancing to any senior ranks tied to government requirements. Unfortunately, this is yet another instance of the province spreading misinformation.' Article content The NPF is Canada's largest police union, representing 20,000 RCMP members, and has also been a longtime opponent of a potential provincial police force. Article content 'The National Police Federation is wrong,' reads a statement from Ellis's office. 'The RCMP has previously confirmed that all deputy and assistant commissioner positions in Ottawa are designated bilingual, as are senior positions held by civilians within senior staff.'
