EDMONTON — Bill 9 is expected to be tabled in the legislature later this afternoon, and to include the use of the notwithstanding clause on three laws the government passed last year. All three laws attacked the rights of transgender, non-binary, Two-Spirit and gender diverse Albertans, including Bill 26: Health Statutes Amendment Act, 2024 (No.2) which limits access to gender-affirming health care.
“Access to health care is a human right. The decision to use the notwithstanding clause shows that the government knows full well that their legislation likely violates the constitutional rights of Albertans, but that they’re deciding to take extreme measures to keep it in place anyways,” said Chris Gallaway, executive director of Friends of Medicare. "Such a despicable use of the notwithstanding clause is a completely unacceptable. We call on the government to remove Bill 9 from the Order Paper and to repeal their discriminatory pieces of anti-trans legislation.”
When Bill 26 was tabled and passed last year, Friends of Medicare and many others were vocal in stating that it was clearly discriminatory legislation and a political attack on gender-affirming health care, something that is already sorely lacking in Alberta. The legislation dictates what health care services Albertans can and cannot access, when evidence tells us that enacting new barriers to such care only serves to put the health and safety of young people at further risk.
“Every Albertan deserves to feel safe and free of discrimination when accessing the health care that they need, and that care should be provided on the basis of the best medical evidence available, not politics or ideology,” said Gallaway. “The Premier talks a lot about choice in health care but when it comes down to it, her government record has been all about control. Whether it’s limiting vaccine access, preparing new legislation to restrict MAiD, proposing ‘conscience rights legislation’ or pushing forward with a one size fits all addictions care model that includes forced treatment legislation, while de-funding life-saving harm reduction services, Albertans are constantly being met with new political barriers to accessing our care services."
Such far-reaching political interference into the ability of medical professionals to provide patient care risks even more doctors and health care workers deciding it’s time to pack up and leave the Alberta health care system, at a time when we desperately need workforce strategies that retain everyone that we can.
“Health care decisions should be between patients and their doctors. The Premier reaching in to interfere with that relationship sets a dangerous new precedent that should be of deep concern to all Albertans,” said Gallaway. “Last month it was teachers. Today it’s trans Albertans. But ultimately, an attack on anyone’s rights is an attack on all of our rights. The normalization of the use of the notwithstanding clause in Bill 9 would be the most appalling abuse of the government’s power to date. If this is allowed to pass, the obvious question is: whose rights or which health care services will they attack next?”
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