Juno News - What Albertans really think of Smith's gender policies

00:00:00.000 It's huge for women to have our rights and we're losing our rights by allowing transgenders to 1.00

00:00:05.920 compete in women's sports, especially even young women. I remember as a kindergarten teacher got

00:00:11.280 into trouble because I tacked up drawings of genitals. I thought, yes, that was in the 70s

00:00:19.440 that people were shocked. Hey everyone, it's Rachel Emanuel with True North. I'm here at a mall in

00:00:34.560 Calgary and I'm going to gather some people's thoughts on what they think about the new

00:00:40.000 transgender policies that Daniel Smith announced last week. Let's go. So did you hear about Daniel

00:00:45.360 Smith's new transgender policies and what do you think of them? I think it's a good idea. I think 1.00

00:00:50.800 parents need to have responsibility for their children and their children's decisions. I don't

00:00:58.080 think children that are that young don't have the life experience to make those kind of decisions

00:01:03.440 that are going to affect their future lives. It's certainly a fine line to walk. It's going to

00:01:09.200 disappoint a lot of people, but I think there's too much power been given to people other than

00:01:15.280 parents in the raising their children. I think we do need to protect our children.

00:01:20.880 Yeah, it's very important. I don't think these decisions are meant for children

00:01:25.920 and that we are here to protect them until they're at the right age to make those decisions.

00:01:31.120 I'm a little torn about that, but in general it's not up to the government to decide.

00:01:37.040 So do you think parents should be allowed to give their kids sex-free

00:01:39.760 assignment surgeries if the parents and the children agree?

00:01:41.840 Yeah, I think so. It depends. There's lots to go into it, but

00:01:48.320 if there's enough people involved and it's understood, it's kind of hard to say.

00:01:54.000 They know what they're talking about and what's appropriate. I've taught kindergarten to grade 12

00:01:58.640 and post-secondary. And you know, in kindergarten, I remember as a kindergarten teacher got into trouble

00:02:05.120 because I tacked up drawings of genitals. I thought, yes, that was in the 70s and people were shocked.

00:02:13.840 I work in healthcare and so I first of all don't think it's right that politicians are trying to step

00:02:20.080 their toes on anything to do with health and the rights of people, especially minors. I wholeheartedly

00:02:26.560 believe that people's healthcare teams and maybe not necessarily their parents, but these kids that

00:02:33.040 trust their healthcare team are in the proper hands. And so I really feel disgustingly

00:02:42.560 upset about the fact that Danielle Smith feels that she can meddle in kids' lives. 0.98

00:02:47.760 When it comes to issues of healthcare, you know, you said leaving these decisions up to the experts.

00:02:51.440 Ultimately, healthcare is funded by the taxpayers. So our government is going to have a certain amount

00:02:55.040 of oversight on what is spent on. For example, if you want to go see the chiropractor, you're going

00:02:59.440 to pay for that out of pocket. If you go see your family doctor, that's covered by the province.

00:03:02.640 So the government is going to have some oversight. So why do you think it's inappropriate that she 1.00

00:03:06.240 would be saying, you know, I'm the leader of this province and we're going to have oversight.

00:03:10.160 Healthcare is a responsibility to be administered by the province. And this is a law that we're making

00:03:13.680 because we're not comfortable with minors having sex-free assignment surgeries.

00:03:17.040 You know, I think this is a very fair question to be asking, but I would then pose the same question

00:03:22.240 about abortion for mature minors is that, I mean, already in the province of Alberta and in Canada,

00:03:29.200 sex reassignment surgery is very few and far between. I do know that people go out of country

00:03:35.280 for that quite often. And so I think it would be very harming to say that we're going to make this

00:03:40.000 decision for you because we are in charge of healthcare decisions. I feel very strongly that the

00:03:45.600 more appropriate response would be to say, um, this is our understanding of it holistically.

00:03:52.400 Whereas I just feel like this has been a shotgun decision made because of an opinion. Um, and this

00:03:57.520 is how we're willing to support you. I don't think it's appropriate for a group of politicians to be

00:04:02.080 saying, we're making this decision for you because we don't feel like it's right and that you're able

00:04:05.200 to make this decision. One of the other thing that was announced is that the premier is going to be

00:04:10.080 giving taxpayer money to fund sex-free assignment surgeries for adults and actually bring some doctors in that could

00:04:15.280 perform those surgeries for adults. Do you agree with that decision? I haven't thought much on

00:04:21.760 that. Um, totally different story when we're talking about adults for sure. Do you think taxpayers should

00:04:27.120 pay for these surgeries? Yes. Yeah. I mean, it's part of healthcare in my opinion. So why shouldn't the

00:04:33.040 government have a say in it if the government is deciding whether or not they're going to pay for it?

00:04:37.440 Because it's not, healthcare is healthcare. It's not got anything to do with the government.

00:04:43.520 One other thing that she announced was that they're going to be working with sports organizations

00:04:47.520 to make sure that there's spaces for women's only sporting so biological men or transgender women

00:04:52.800 won't be able to perform in sports with women and then they're going to try to increase co-ed options 0.98

00:04:57.520 as well. Do you think that this is a right move to protect, you know, female only sporting or do you

00:05:01.440 think that this goes too far? I think it's important. It's huge for women to have our rights and we're losing 0.94

00:05:06.880 our rights by allowing transgenders to compete in women's sports, especially even young women.

00:05:14.000 So I think it's important that we have just a league of their own. They can still perform,

00:05:18.480 but given that, just give the opportunity for biological women. Yeah. 1.00

00:05:23.520 I'm not saying women are weak or something, but they should have the leverage of competing with other women. 1.00

00:05:30.720 When it comes to sports and things that really define the character of a person,

00:05:37.440 I think that should be limited to whatever the perimeter that belongs to.

00:05:42.400 She's taken on the role of a sports expert now. But again, those decisions are being made by people

00:05:49.120 in the sports community and they haven't since the need to do that. So why does she?

00:05:57.200 Well, what about some women athletes who have come forward and said, you know,

00:05:59.760 this is really unfair that I'm being forced to compete against biological men who have an advantage against me?

00:06:05.760 Well, I believe that a trans woman has undergone a lot of different hormonal treatments.

00:06:15.520 So they're not a totally a man anymore. That's the whole point.

00:06:20.800 They still may have a little more muscle mass or whatever, but I, I think that it, I think it's,

00:06:29.120 it seems okay to me. But again, I bow to the people in the sports field who have

00:06:33.680 worked with different medical staff to work out what's proper and who's allowed in.

00:06:38.400 Depends what kind of a sport. With only swimming is fine. But with the game sport,

00:06:47.600 football or, you know, game sport, I don't think it's right.

00:06:52.320 So biological men can compete against women in sports like swimming, but not in sports like 0.99

00:06:56.320 football where women might be physically harmed, is what you're saying?

00:06:59.200 It's difficult. If I punch you or you punch me, you know, the girl punch with less power. If the 1.00

00:07:10.080 man punch, they may die. That's the main reason for protection, the, you know.

00:07:17.680 Currently in Alberta, four out of five of women's weightlifting records and awards are held by

00:07:24.560 biological men or transgender women. Do you think that's fair? 1.00

00:07:29.600 That's what I said. Like, you know, that demotivates the character and the perspective of women in 1.00

00:07:36.560 general. So that's something that we should not know. That's where the fine line comes in, comes

00:07:45.440 into play. And we should define the line between the character and the sport.

00:07:52.080 That's very interesting. That would be the muscle mass, I suppose.

00:07:59.120 Maybe they should think about having another category? I don't know. It's something to think

00:08:05.760 about there, I guess. There's some room to think about categories.

00:08:10.400 But yeah, I mean, that's basically what the premier announced, that they were going to be looking at

00:08:14.080 making more co-ed sporting events so that biological men or trans women could compete against, you know,

00:08:20.240 other women that feel comfortable competing against them. But that there would also be some 1.00

00:08:24.160 exclusively sports spaces and tournaments for biological women. And the premier is going to be 1.00

00:08:30.800 working with sporting organizations on this. So I think it's safe to say she has consulted with

00:08:35.200 sporting experts on this matter. Well, I'd be surprised. She didn't seem to have

00:08:39.760 consulted with too many people. And that's not what I've heard.

00:08:42.800 It's hard for me to have an opinion there.

00:08:46.560 All right, everyone. I hope that you enjoyed that. I think I asked about 100 people to stop. And as soon

00:08:51.680 as they heard the word transgender, they really weren't interested in giving their opinions. It's 1.00

00:08:55.680 obviously still such a controversial issue today. And I think we can all honestly give homage to the

00:09:00.640 premier for opening it up and diving into what is a really difficult subject matter to discuss and to

00:09:05.760 create policy on. I had some really good interviews today. I know that you guys won't agree with

00:09:10.320 everything everyone said. But I ask you to just be polite in your comments because I appreciate that

00:09:14.320 these people were willing to stop and engage because so few people weren't. And I did continue

00:09:18.720 to talk to some of the people afterwards, especially that lady in the green jacket. And I feel like there

00:09:23.520 can be common ground that could be found if we were all a little more willing to have these difficult

00:09:27.520 discussions. So thank you guys for tuning in. That's all I have time for today. And don't forget

00:09:31.440 that our regular episode will be out on Saturday as always. Have a great week and God bless.

00:09:40.320 And I've got this today.

Juno News - February 08, 2024

What Albertans really think of Smith's gender policies

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