Alberta government opens new office in Ottawa
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Summary
In this episode, Alberta s Premier Rachel Notley announces the opening of a new office in Ottawa, Canada's capital, to advance Alberta's priorities on the ground in our nation's capital. She also announces a new policy to support transgender adults in their transition process.
Transcript
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Today we launched our Alberta Ottawa office that will give us the base of operations we need to
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advance Alberta's priorities on the ground in our nation's capital. The office will strengthen our
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relationship with partners on Parliament Hill and in other parts of Canada and will help us to stay
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informed on emerging decisions that impact Alberta. Our province has so much to offer,
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our resources and economic growth and our innovative ways of working with Indigenous
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communities towards reconciliation and shared prosperity. I was very pleased that Grand Chief
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Willie Littlechild shared a prayer with us this morning to open up our office along with several
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chiefs from Alberta. This office is going to play a key role in sharing Alberta's story as widely as
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possible through his work here, through James's work here. Our government is committed to standing
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up for Alberta within United Canada. The creation of this office in Ottawa is one way we're delivering
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on that commitment and I am looking forward to seeing the positive effects that will come from
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this space right here. I would note that as I was in flight, the chair of the Natural Resources Committee,
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George Chahal, asked me if I would appear before his committee to explain our renewables policy and I
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would just like to accept that invitation. If they happen to finish their business today, I know they
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have a packed schedule. I'd be delighted to join them. I do have time in my calendar so my phone is on
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and if he would like to invite me to that I'd be more than happy to come and this is part of the
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reason why we're here is to be able to explain Alberta's position and be able to collaborate with
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our federal partners and with that I'd be happy to take questions. Thank you Premier. We'll go with one
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question, one follow-up today. Please state your name and outlet at the mic and we'll take as many questions as
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we can but we're running it tight on time. Good morning Premier. Rafi Budjikanyan, CBC News.
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Are you willing to meet with Minister Randy Boissoneau over your newly announced transgender policies?
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Our understanding is he's sent you an invitation but has not heard back. We're in the process of working
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out a couple of meetings with ministers. I understand that the weather has kept a couple of them away from
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Ottawa so I believe that my chief of staff is in touch with his office. And just on these policies,
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why talk about them now? Who was asking for these in Alberta? Well I can tell you any time there has been
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a change in an approach is often spurred on because of a particular case. For instance when
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the Tavistock Centre was closed in the United Kingdom it was because of a young individual named Kira Bell
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who felt at the age of 16 that they were pressured into making a decision earlier than they might have
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otherwise. And in our province we have a transgender woman named Lois Cardinal who after two years started
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her transition at age 19 and received bottom surgery two years later. And this is her word, she says,
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as I lived with shame and regret for 14 years I came to realize it wasn't just myself to blame.
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It was the psychiatrists in Edmonton, the doctors in Montreal. They kept persuading me despite my
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serious misgivings. I had to relearn my place as a native and where I belonged in my culture.
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So she approached the government to seek medical assistance in dying because of the severe complications
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that she had after her bottom surgery. So these are the kinds of conversations I've been having
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for many years about how we can provide better post-operative and surgical care for those who
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are transgender. Right now we send transgender patients to Quebec for their treatment and then
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there is a gap in being able to provide transgender follow-up care. So that's one of the reasons why as part
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of this policy we'll be recruiting someone to be able to do these surgeries in Alberta and also be
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able to provide a roster of doctors who can provide the lifelong post-operative surgical as well as
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hormonal care to transgender adults. But in addition to that we also have been, when I look at this case
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and see that somebody at age 19 had very serious reservations about the kind of counseling and care they
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received, I have to make sure that we're doing our due diligence in all age groups. So we are going to be
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putting forward policy in the fall to make sure that we create a few guidelines so that we can do a more
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rigorous process. As I mentioned we'll be supporting transgender adults in their journey. We'll be supporting families
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so that they can have the journey with their loved one as well. And in addition, we're going to just to make sure that
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there's a bit more rigor in our school system as we talk about these kinds of really difficult topics.
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So those are part of the reasons. A lot of it was motivated from individuals I've spoken with in the
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transgender community about some of the holes that we have and some of the concerns that they've raised.
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I was wondering if you had any discussion with Pierre Poiliev about these transgender policies and
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And MP Wesson, Minister Wesson said this morning maybe your policy will inspire other
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premiers, other conservative premiers. Did you have any discussion with them? And do you know if
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any one of them want to maybe put their policies forward?
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No, I've not had any discussions with other premiers.
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Hi, I'm Mylène from La Presse, Mylène Crète. I was wondering why did you decide not to go with the
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transgender policy right away? In Quebec, for instance, they decided to have a committee to
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Well, I think we have announced our intention on a number of policy items and we're going to be
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putting the architecture and the legislation in place in the fall. So we've got lots of time
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for consultation and we'll be able to get that feedback. But there are things about the process
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that I do want to investigate, just to make sure that there is that level of rigour that
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has been recommended. You are supposed to have a long period of time of counselling and living in
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the opposite gender or the gender of choice. And just from some of the stories I've heard,
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I just need to make sure that that process is being followed. So there'll be a bunch of