The United Conservative Party has introduced a suite of legislation targeting children and they’ve invoked the notwithstanding clauses in the Canadian Charter, the Alberta Bill of Rights, and the Human Rights Act to remove parents as the ultimate decision-maker for their child.
That is what Bill 9, the “Protecting Alberta’s Children Statutes Amendment Act, 2025” is doing.
It is, as JET Minister Joseph Schow once called it, “foot in the door” legislation; wherein the government starts with something small that they believe has a lot of support, but its very existence threatens the rights of parents to make any health decisions for their child.
What makes this monumentally egregious is that the UCP has decided that they have a duty to circumvent parental rights to “protect a child’s future fertility”, while continuing to uphold the parental freedom to let their children die in this province.
And no, this isn’t a hypothetical.
If a parent believes that a mustard wrap is better than antibiotics and refuses to seek medical attention for their child, and that decision results in the child’s death, that’s been upheld as a parent’s right.
However, if a parent, at the insistence of their child, seeks the advice of medical and mental health experts and accepts treatment for their child that is in line with best practices, the government of Alberta wants to intervene.
I personally do not think that Alberta parents should be able to let their children die without being held accountable. I do not think this is right, or fair, to the children in their “care”. However, the UCP government has refused to create legislation inserting themselves into the parent child relationship to protect their actual lives— at least in the past.
If it is going to become acceptable to use the notwithstanding clause to override parental rights in this province, then Albertans need to understand that it is not simply the rights of parents that we disagree with that are at stake.
It is the rights of all parents in Alberta at stake.
This is inexcusable government overreach and it is entirely unacceptable.
The Alberta government has no justification for removing parents as their children’s ultimate decision-maker when it comes to their child’s future fertility.
The fact that Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has consistently lied about what is going on should be disqualifying. It should have been singularly disqualifying for her personally but it should also be disqualifying to her caucus.
Yet no one in her caucus is willing to stand up to her lies despite the fact that medical experts and their respective colleges have done so.
Puberty blockers only suppress puberty while they are being taken. If a child, or older teen, decides to stop taking them, puberty will commence.
It is standard practice to not recommend hormone therapy to children under the age of 18 in Canada — not because an uneducated government body decided this but because medical experts and their respective colleges did.
It is standard practice not to perform bottom surgery on children under the age of 18 in Canada — not because an uneducated government body decided this but because medical experts and their respective colleges did.
It is standard practice not to perform medically unnecessary top surgery on children under the age of 18 in Canada — not because an uneducated government body decided this but because medical experts and their respective colleges did — and even if it is medically necessary, it is not “on demand”.
Bill 9 is “foot in the door” legislation to the government deciding to take the place of parents in making decisions about their children’s health, or any other parental decision that we currently take for granted.
There’s no other way to describe it.
She has the full support of her caucus behind her to do so.
The UCP is creating their own precedence for the Government of Alberta to make health decisions for children instead of parents.
And that means they, or any other government, will enjoy the precedent they are setting to continue chipping away at what rights parents will be allowed to have in the future.
That’s the pesky little problem with rights; either we all have them, or none of us do.
Find more information about holding MLAs accountable between elections at OperationTotalRecall.ca.
If you are concerned about the UCP taking away your rights as a parent today, or at some point in the future, let your MLA know and cc the Premier as well as the Official Opposition, and independent MLAs in the Legislature so that they can all be on the same page.
Might I also suggest using “I” statements to express how you feel.
If considering an ask of the MLA or Premier, ask not what they can do to themselves but what they can do for you: “I want you to oppose this legislation in support of parental rights” or, “I expect you to uphold the Charter/Alberta Bill of Rights/Human Rights Act”, or “I oppose your support of the notwithstanding clause,” or the like. If they can be read directly into Hansard during a filibuster of some sort, if that were to be a thing that could happen, it would give them something to talk about.
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Good advice. It’s important as citizens to voice your discontent and disapproval with this government behaviour. It starts with teachers, then children, perhaps nurses are next and this is only the issue of authoritarianism. But also is the economy, lack of holding O&G companies to account for abandoned wells, property tax evasion, emissions, using your tax dollars to payoff foreign coal mining companies etc. For a government elected by the people for the people … well let’s just recognize who’s getting ‘blown off’.