Western Standard - Alberta New Policies： Preserving choices for children and youth

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00:11:00.000 well good afternoon and thanks to everyone for joining me today yesterday I released a video

00:11:18.060 in which I laid out our government's policy direction on the issues of preserving the

00:11:21.680 choices children have regarding their gender identity until they are mature enough to make

00:11:26.280 them policies to better involve parents in their children's education on sensitive issues and

00:11:31.640 finally policies addressing the issue of women girls and transgender athletes in competitive

00:11:36.120 sports these are sensitive conversations involving children and i hope we can depoliticize these

00:11:41.800 issues as much as possible as we work through the process of implementing these policies into law

00:11:47.720 and regulation in a fair and effective way i want to start by saying that every albertan who

00:11:55.080 identifies as transgender i care deeply about your happiness and your well-being i support you in

00:12:01.560 becoming the person that you want to be or who you already are and as premier of this province

00:12:05.960 i will ensure your rights are always protected for children who identify as transgender i want

00:12:13.880 you to also know that these policies are being implemented in order to protect the choices you

00:12:18.280 have regarding altering your physical body until after you've grown mature enough to make such

00:12:23.400 choice is safely and with a full understanding of what that means for the rest of your life.

00:12:29.400 These policies include a prohibition on gender reassignment surgeries for minors

00:12:33.440 aged 17 and under. For children aged 15 and under, puberty blockers and hormone therapies for the

00:12:40.040 purpose of gender reassignment will also not be permitted, with the exception of those who've

00:12:44.120 already commenced their treatment at this time. For minors aged 16 and 17 who wish to start

00:12:50.380 hormone therapies for gender reassignment purposes this will be permitted with parent parental

00:12:55.340 physician and psychologist approval and consent alberta's government is also working to attract

00:13:01.580 specialists in gender reassignment surgeries and care to it to alberta to assist adults who have

00:13:09.020 a wish to transition and we plan to build a private registry of these experts to support

00:13:14.140 their lifelong health needs in our classrooms we will ensure discussions about gender identity

00:13:19.900 and other sensitive subjects happen at the right time and with the parent-child relationship at

00:13:24.620 its core this will include a parental opt-in consent requirement when teachers plan to discuss

00:13:30.620 subject matter related to gender identity sexual orientation or sexuality for k-12 students

00:13:38.460 further children aged 15 and under will require parental notification and consent before their

00:13:44.380 name or pronouns are changed in school for minors age 16 and 17 parental consent won't be required

00:13:51.340 for this but parents will be have to be notified we will support families with a new pilot program

00:13:57.020 to provide counseling services for families in in need to assist with navigating these issues

00:14:02.940 together in rare circumstances when transgender children experience an abusive parent there are

00:14:09.580 of course child protection laws that will be enforced and lastly we are implementing policies

00:14:15.740 to protect fairness and safety in women's and girls sports we will work with sporting organizations to

00:14:21.180 ensure that women and girls have a choice to participate in competitive sport without having

00:14:26.940 to compete against biologically stronger transgender women athletes while also ensuring

00:14:32.380 that we work with those same organizations to expand co-ed and gender neutral category so that

00:14:37.980 every transgender athlete can meaningfully participate in the sports that they love.

00:14:43.320 Gender identity can be a very emotional issue, especially in the context of children. And as we

00:14:47.920 move forward developing and implementing these policies into law, I hope we can depoliticize

00:14:53.040 the issue as much as possible and focus on the well-being of the children involved. Thank you.

00:14:57.660 I'd be happy to take questions. Thank you. We'll be going with one question, one follow-up today.

00:15:02.600 We're very tight on time, so please make sure to respect your colleagues with that one question,

00:15:05.960 one follow-up. For those in the room here as well, please give priority to an outlet who has not

00:15:10.360 asked a question, if yours has already. We'll start off here on the ground, and then we'll go

00:15:15.840 over to the phones and back and forth. So first off the mic, please go ahead, state your name and

00:15:20.240 outlet first. Alana Smith, Globe and Mail. You've spoken passionately about bodily autonomy,

00:15:25.360 about depoliticizing the conversation around trans and non-binary children,

00:15:29.380 and as in your own words, not using them as a political football. In November, you made clear

00:15:33.660 you wanted to strike a balance on parental rights. The parental rights policies here are more

00:15:37.880 aggressive than any other province, and the restrictions around hormones and puberty

00:15:41.400 blockers are unprecedented in Canada. So what changed that made you take this approach?

00:15:45.760 Well, we know that we have to preserve the rights of kids to be able to make decisions as adults.

00:15:50.340 I think that we've seen in other jurisdictions, I believe in June of last year, New Brunswick

00:15:56.380 made policy changes in the fall. The Saskatchewan made policy changes. We've been watching

00:16:03.380 internationally as the UK has made policy changes as well as Denmark, Norway, Finland, Sweden. I

00:16:10.160 mean, this has been an ongoing conversation over the last number of years. We've been monitoring

00:16:14.180 it very closely and we wanted to make sure that we struck the right balance so that kids are not

00:16:18.640 making irreversible decisions when they may not be mature enough to make those decisions. We want

00:16:23.600 to make sure that those adult decisions are made as adults. I'm not sure what the balance is. Can

00:16:28.360 you be more specific? Well, when you begin hormone therapy, there are health consequences associated

00:16:35.520 with that. It is a decision that impacts your life, a higher risk of osteoporosis. So there's

00:16:42.180 a need to have bone density tests, higher incidence of heart problems. So there's a need to have that

00:16:47.780 monitored. Stepping on to the next stage when there's a bottom surgery and top surgery, that

00:16:54.040 of course has implications for sex and for fertility and so when we start down this pathway

00:16:59.800 we want to make sure that kids know the consequences that it's going to have on their life

00:17:04.200 and that they're mature enough to be able to make those decisions and live with the consequences and

00:17:08.600 and their adult decisions so we want to make sure that certain decisions are made as adults

00:17:14.040 nigel had afford western standard madam premier good afternoon

00:17:18.200 I heard you say just a moment ago that one of the things that influenced you was that other

00:17:24.120 jurisdictions were taking steps in this direction and yet you've never been one to just follow the

00:17:29.880 follow the herd. In fact you have been notably elusive on this issue for the time that you've

00:17:34.840 been Premier. May I ask you to articulate the arguments that persuaded you that this strong

00:17:41.640 pro-family policy was the right thing to do well i i put it through the the context of a of the

00:17:48.280 children who are struggling with gender identity and i do have a young person like that in my life

00:17:54.360 so i've been watching this very closely for the last number of years and i know that that journey

00:18:00.040 is always better when you've got supportive friends and loved ones and family i know that

00:18:06.680 making sure that the kids are are able to make those decisions uh at the appropriate time as

00:18:12.840 their maturity grows is has been vitally important from from what i have observed personally and i i

00:18:19.560 want to make sure that that child parent bond remains strong because the family is with you

00:18:25.080 for life and so when i look at children going through these very difficult decisions through

00:18:31.240 puberty it's a confusing time we have to make sure that that we have that balance of making

00:18:36.840 sure families are supported but also making sure that the child is able to become who they're meant

00:18:41.480 to be so those are the reasons why i thought we needed to to put some of these uh guidelines in

00:18:47.160 place i'm also observing around the world there really is a lot of divergence in the medical

00:18:52.760 community about when the right time is for these things in the absence of providing guideposts it

00:18:59.000 really is going to be just up to the individual doctor and we just don't think that that's the

00:19:03.160 environment that that we should be having here we should be very clear about when a child is

00:19:09.560 able to commence hormone therapy that'll be at age 16 with parental and psychologist and

00:19:16.200 doctor approval and very clear about when they can make permanent irreversible changes to their

00:19:21.560 to their uh their body in in top and bottom surgery and that'll be 18 and above so i think

00:19:27.400 we've struck the right balance here many sporting associations receive funding from the provincial

00:19:33.720 government will there be a financial incentive for them to act in the spirit of this family-friendly

00:19:41.080 policy well i would say that we want to make sure that every individual has a ability to participate

00:19:47.320 in a competitive way in their sport and there already are a lot of divisions in sport where

00:19:52.920 they're co-ed or gender neutral and we want to maintain that but we also know that there are

00:19:58.920 some sports where the physical differences make a difference and so in those cases we do want to

00:20:06.840 have biological women women who are born biologically female have the choice of being 1.00

00:20:13.400 able to participate in a biological female only category while still preserving the gender neutral

00:20:18.600 categories and co-ed opportunities so that everyone has a the ability to participate so i'm

00:20:23.560 um we've been uh there's there are many sporting organizations who have been asking for this

00:20:29.000 clarity i'm i'm hopeful that we'll be able to to work through and and provide options for everyone

00:20:34.600 so my minister of tourism and sport is going to be commencing that discussion but i'm uh from

00:20:39.480 the feedback that we're getting i think that this is this is going to be welcomed by several sports

00:20:43.720 Hi, Colleen DeWars from the Canadian Press. You've talked a lot about having a non-binary

00:20:49.960 family member. How much did your discussions with them and or other non-binary individuals,

00:20:55.960 youth especially, did that play into this decision and how?

00:20:59.960 I've been consulting with members of the transgender community since the last time I

00:21:06.120 was in politics and one of the constant things that I hear is how difficult it is to get connected

00:21:13.400 with somebody who understands transgender medicine the need for ongoing hormone therapy and the con 1.00

00:21:20.680 being managing the health conditions that come from being on a lifetime of hormone therapy

00:21:25.480 i met with lois cardinal who as you may know felt that she was rushed into bottom surgery

00:21:31.880 and um is having consequences of that and her great frustration is that there hasn't been

00:21:37.000 appropriate medical aftercare for that and so those are the kind of things that i was struck by

00:21:41.800 is how can we make sure that those who make the choice to go down this pathway to to affirm their

00:21:48.280 new identity have the the physical uh support that they need through that process have doctors who

00:21:55.080 are trained in in in the type of medicine have the ability to have those surgeries in province

00:22:00.920 right now we uh we send those individuals to quebec and we just don't have the same level of

00:22:06.680 ability to do aftercare and so we want to attract somebody um into our province we're working on

00:22:12.040 that right now who can do the surgeries here so the aftercare can be done here and we also want

00:22:16.920 to develop a registry of doctors who are able to provide this type of treatment long term so that

00:22:23.480 nobody has to guess whether or not the doctor is educated enough to be able to provide them the

00:22:28.040 care so i would say that i've been very influenced over over many years talking to many individuals

00:22:34.120 in the transgender community in helping to develop that approach.

00:22:38.460 We heard, I talked to a legal expert who said that parental rights are not really a thing in Canada.

00:22:44.600 Children's rights are, they're enshrined in the Charter.

00:22:46.640 How confident are you that these new policies won't violate the Charter and the Canada Health Act as well

00:22:52.160 if you're reducing access to services?

00:22:54.040 Well, you know, I guess I'll have the lawyers debate that out.

00:22:57.000 But my understanding is that it's pretty well understood that parents are principally responsible

00:23:03.760 for their children up to and including age 15. At age 16 or 17, that's, of course, when kids

00:23:10.600 develop a little bit more autonomy. And we do have children along that spectrum able to make

00:23:16.860 different types of decisions, and they don't become able to make fully adult decisions on a

00:23:20.840 lot of things until they're 18. So this is why you see in our policy that 16 and 17 is the

00:23:28.420 process is the point at which they can begin the process with, um, with input from, from parents.

00:23:33.700 There is also, of course, um, the, uh, there have been, uh, there has been legal jurisprudence

00:23:39.920 around the issue of mature minors. So I'm sure that there's a case law that can be drawn on this.

00:23:44.760 It's a fairly rare to, to have, to be established as a mature minor. So I think that the practice

00:23:50.640 has been that we do rely on parents to be able to provide for their kids.

00:23:54.940 Kelly Criderman, Globe and Mail, Premier you talked here about what is happening in

00:24:00.380 Europe but what is different from Europe than what you've laid out here is you were talking

00:24:05.180 about codifying restrictions on what youth, what healthcare youth have access to.

00:24:12.980 In that codification will there be penalties for healthcare providers, parents or teachers

00:24:18.980 who breach the rules who maybe take their child to another province for surgery or treatment?

00:24:23.980 Well, I would hope that doctors follow the rules. I would hope that they would follow the rules

00:24:30.780 as we've laid them out here. And we're aiming to be supportive of children's rights. We want

00:24:39.320 to make sure that children do not prematurely make decisions that are going to be irreversible

00:24:45.480 and affect their ability to have sex and affect their ability to have children until they're of

00:24:51.040 an age where they're fully responsible for those decisions, that's age 18. So I think that we've 0.54

00:24:56.360 struck a reasonable balance, and I would hope that we would get the support of both the medical

00:25:01.160 profession as well as the school community. So again, will there be penalties for those who

00:25:06.100 don't follow the rules? We have just put out the high-level policy at the moment. We'll be talking

00:25:11.660 about implementation as we go forward over the coming months. We're looking at having those

00:25:18.500 things that need to be legislated or put into regulation or policy, having that package ready

00:25:24.220 for the fall. So we'll be seeking consultation on the implementation of it. Hi, Premier Jason

00:25:30.980 Markesoff from CBC. I think a lot of people may take different interpretations of what

00:25:38.580 depoliticizing or not politicizing this may be. Did you or do you believe that the premiers and

00:25:44.920 governments of New Brunswick and Saskatchewan had politicized this issue? I think that what we're

00:25:50.840 doing here with our package of proposals, and there's 10 of them, is that we're trying to

00:25:56.820 demonstrate that we understand that beginning the process of transition is just one step,

00:26:03.680 and there are other steps along the way that have serious consequences for kids.

00:26:07.580 So changing how you dress and the pronouns that you have is just one step. The next step,

00:26:13.600 which is far more serious, is puberty blockers and hormones. The following steps, top and bottom

00:26:19.300 surgery, are even more serious steps. And so we want to make sure that as kids embark upon

00:26:25.260 those life-changing decisions, that we're very clear about the appropriate level to be able to

00:26:31.000 make those decisions. There has to be a certain level of maturity of understanding the consequences,

00:26:36.480 the full consequences of what that transition means. And then at age 18 is when, of course,

00:26:41.760 a person becomes fully responsible for all of their decisions. So we look at this as an entire

00:26:47.680 package that we want to put forward so that we can make sure that we're giving the best support

00:26:52.120 to kids and the best support to transitioning adults. You didn't answer that, but I'll try

00:26:56.940 something else. How do you reconcile, or I'm trying to square the idea that you want to support these

00:27:02.960 children in all journeys they want, but also you're worried they're going to make a terrible

00:27:07.040 mistake that's going to alter their life and make them unable to have sex. How do those two come

00:27:10.920 together? Are they making a mistake or do you support their journey? I would say that I support

00:27:20.020 the journey of adults who want to transition to another gender as far as they are adults and able

00:27:29.780 to accept the consequences of those decisions. I certainly do not want children to be making

00:27:37.400 decisions before maybe they've even had sex about whether they want to stop that aspect of their

00:27:43.600 life or before they've even contemplated whether they want to have kids to cut off that aspect of

00:27:49.240 their life. I think that as adults, we have an obligation to ensure for kids that they preserve

00:27:55.220 all of those important choices until they're adults, until they're able to make those decisions

00:28:00.020 with the maturity that goes along with that. So I think it is supportive and we want to make sure

00:28:06.180 than in every step of that journey that the kids feel supported by their families and supported by

00:28:12.020 mental health support if that's what they need but that is i think that when you're talking

00:28:16.580 about irreversible decisions that falls into the category of adult choices and so we want to make

00:28:21.300 sure that they're making those choices as adults and we're going to hop over to the phones for a

00:28:26.020 couple questions here and then come back to the room operator can you put through our first caller

00:28:29.780 The first question is from Kian Bextie, the counter signal.

00:28:34.960 Hi, Premier.

00:28:35.740 Thanks for taking my question.

00:28:37.580 The Liberals, the NDP and mainstream media haven't waited a second to attack Alberta for banning this organ removal of children or for protecting young girls in sports.

00:28:48.140 And I'm just wondering if you're worried that this is sort of reaching sort of a fever pitch.

00:28:52.060 I know you wanted to depoliticize the issue, but the left is keen on politicizing it.

00:28:57.320 Are you worried about vindictive retribution in the form of reduced health transfers from Trudeau?

00:29:03.720 Well, first of all, we're not stopping any covered service.

00:29:08.440 We do about 100 transgender approvals for surgery every year,

00:29:15.780 and about a quarter of them are aged 18 to 25, just for context,

00:29:20.440 so that, you know, in 2020, 2021, there were 104 individuals approved for surgery,

00:29:26.880 25 of them, 18 to 25. In 21, 22, it was 119 approved for surgery, 27 in the 18 to 25 category.

00:29:36.740 And I only have partial data for 22, 23. It was 19 as of this point in the year that I was looking

00:29:42.860 at, three of which were 18 to 25. So that's not going to change. In fact, we're going to provide

00:29:48.240 more support because rather than sending those individuals to Quebec to get the surgery,

00:29:53.320 we are going to attract a doctor here, so the surgeries can be performed here, as well as the

00:29:58.200 aftercare, which is very important in the case of some of the, especially the bottom surgery.

00:30:05.940 So there's nothing that's changed there. When it comes to hormone therapies, those are covered by

00:30:11.980 a parent's drug plan. And so again, those are not therapies that are currently covered by

00:30:20.040 government they're they're covered by my parents drug plans and i would just say that just in the

00:30:26.760 case of the federal government last year the federal government passed a new agreement with

00:30:33.080 federal employees for health benefits and this agreement recognizes that benefits should only

00:30:38.920 apply for gender-affirming procedures for adults 18 years of age or older so i'm not quite sure

00:30:46.360 why the minister of health would take such a strong position when their own employee insurance

00:30:51.000 plan only supports adults receiving these treatments so we are being i think very

00:30:57.480 responsible in the approach that we're taking we are going to continue providing the same services

00:31:03.000 that we've always had we're going to make sure that they're even better so that those who are

00:31:07.800 transitioning get the appropriate aftercare and counseling support that they need and so you know

00:31:14.360 I welcome the discussion, but there is nothing that we are doing that would violate the Canada Health Act.

00:31:22.300 Just to follow up, the parents' advocacy groups in Canada and frankly internationally have been applauding this policy.

00:31:29.220 One said that this is a common sense measure that is 100% necessary when it comes to keeping parents informed about the safety of their children.

00:31:35.780 There's been a lot of support for this, there's been a lot of opposition from the opposition.

00:31:40.260 but I'm curious like where you stand on invoking the notwithstanding clause if it comes to that

00:31:46.420 will you do that I hope it doesn't come to that I mean um we're we're putting this forward with

00:31:52.200 the best interest the best interest of the child in mind and we believe that the child's best

00:31:57.900 interests are served by having a supportive family walking every step of the way with them

00:32:03.100 we believe the child's best interest is served by making sure that when they're making decisions

00:32:08.380 that it doesn't have, it's not irreversible until they're of an age where they're prepared to live with the consequences of that.

00:32:16.260 So I think because of those aspects, I would hope that this is supported.

00:32:23.300 That's the spirit with which we've gone into it, is to making sure that we're protecting children's rights and children's choices.

00:32:30.020 Thank you. Operator, can you put through the next caller, please?

00:32:34.080 Thank you. Yes. Lisa Johnson, Edmonton Journal.

00:32:38.380 Hi, thanks for taking my question. I'm wondering, my understanding is that your legal first name is Marlena. Why did you choose, I'm wondering why did you choose to go by a different name and why you would take steps to restrict the same freedom for others to do the same?

00:33:00.460 Well, my mother's going to get a great kick out of that question because I've been, ever since 9-11,

00:33:07.140 I've been telling her how difficult it is that she decided to have me go by my middle name and not my first name.

00:33:13.400 It was my parents' choice to call me Danielle, and it was my parents' choice to put on my birth certificate

00:33:19.380 that Marlena, Danielle Smith, they just like the ring of it better.

00:33:22.440 That's actually what it comes down to.

00:33:23.900 They didn't do the same thing for my older brother.

00:33:25.920 He goes by his first name, not his middle name.

00:33:27.540 my middle sister she goes by her first name not her middle name um my two um other brothers also

00:33:33.620 go by their first name not their middle name they just decided to make a difference with me

00:33:40.260 marlena smith that's what it comes down to 0.99

00:33:46.180 did you have a follow-up lisa yeah thanks for that um critics of this cluster of politics

00:33:53.220 policies have asked how you feel about the fact that you have restricted the rights of vulnerable

00:34:02.020 young people in alberta to gain favor with the far right wing of voters in your party which are

00:34:10.980 a pretty small representative population of the province where if you can respond to that i i

00:34:17.700 would say that we're supporting kids in in their right to make decisions about their own journey

00:34:24.180 at a time when they're mature enough to make those decisions so age 16 is when they can begin

00:34:29.700 with the hormone therapies and age 18 is when they'll be able to to commence top and bottom

00:34:36.500 surgery we just think that that's a responsible way of approaching this this issue so that the

00:34:41.380 kids are not precluded from all of the future choices that come to them uh when they when they

00:34:46.900 decide to make the decision that is that is going to have potentially serious ramifications on their

00:34:51.940 reproductive rights and so we think that this is preserving of choice thank you operator could you

00:34:58.500 put through the next caller please thank you janet french cbc hi there um when it comes to

00:35:09.460 parental notification requirements and trans health decisions i wonder if you can provide

00:35:14.260 a list for us of which peer-reviewed research you used to rely upon to inform these decisions?

00:35:21.520 Medical experts are telling us today that they weren't consulted about this.

00:35:25.400 Will you commit to providing a list?

00:35:27.000 And if instead this was based on people's feelings and feedback and not evidence,

00:35:31.020 why do people's feelings take precedence over evidence?

00:35:35.000 Well, there's lots of published material.

00:35:37.860 As I mentioned, UK, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Sweden.

00:35:41.820 And we've also seen a break in the community last year when one organization talked about reducing the thresholds.

00:35:53.680 And they ended up losing a board member and other supporters over that.

00:35:56.900 There's a different organization that has the endocrine doctors that have different parameters that are actually a little bit closer to what we've proposed here.

00:36:07.020 And there are other medical associations that actually don't prescribe ages.

00:36:11.240 So this is why I would say that there isn't one single narrative and there isn't one single answer and there isn't one single authority that we have to, that we can rely on on this.

00:36:24.540 So a lot of it is going to be looking at the impact on kids.

00:36:28.580 And I think most people would acknowledge that if somebody is making an irreversible decision that could end their ability to have children, that that's a decision they should make as an adult.

00:36:39.900 That's certainly the feedback that I've gotten, and it seems to me the most reasonable approach.

00:36:46.160 I should say, I mean, that has been the practice in Alberta, is that you cannot have bottom surgery until you're aged 18 or over.

00:36:58.120 And so as I've been watching around the world, this conversation taking place, we're affirming that that practice is going to continue here,

00:37:05.640 that we don't want kids making irreversible decisions before the before they're adult enough

00:37:11.480 to be able to understand the ramifications and consequences of it so um yes we're watching the

00:37:17.800 shifting and evolving debate in the medical community with interest but we think it's

00:37:22.120 important that we set some guidelines so that those who are going through this journey know

00:37:27.080 the decision points where they can commence hormone treatment and where they can commence surgery

00:37:32.520 And did you have a follow-up, Janet?

00:37:35.260 Yeah, just to go back to that,

00:37:37.700 I mean, my question was whether you would

00:37:39.960 commit to providing us with a list of those

00:37:42.200 resources, so I'd like you to chime in on that.

00:37:44.400 For my second question, I mean, I can already hear

00:37:47.160 the school officials just dreading the paperwork

00:37:49.540 required to opt every single student into every

00:37:52.240 single lesson that touches on sex education,

00:37:54.580 gender identity, and sexual orientation.

00:37:56.620 I mean, some people might predict that teachers

00:37:58.780 would now avoid those lessons to get around

00:38:00.780 that extra work when they're already so busy.

00:38:02.520 Can you explain why making it harder for children to learn about sexual health is a benefit?

00:38:09.520 Well, I guess if teachers are indeed talking to kids about sex every single day, every day of the school year,

00:38:18.520 then I guess that this policy has demonstrated why we need to put it in place.

00:38:23.520 But if, as I suspect, there is structured education on structured days,

00:38:29.520 then I don't think it's a hardship for schools to say,

00:38:32.860 this is the day that we're going to be discussing issues

00:38:35.280 of sexuality, sexual orientation, and gender identity.

00:38:38.380 It shouldn't be onerous.

00:38:39.880 It actually should be fairly straightforward

00:38:42.320 to be keeping parents in the loop on these issues.

00:38:45.000 Thank you.

00:38:45.840 And we're gonna come back to in-person here.

00:38:48.440 We have time for two more questions.

00:38:50.340 So we'll go to the mic.

00:38:51.680 And I say it's City News.

00:38:53.000 I'm sure you're aware of the criticism

00:38:54.880 that is coming around with this announcement.

00:38:57.180 It's not just the federal health minister,

00:38:59.420 but also the Justice Minister, the Transgender Society and the people and the Alberta NDP who

00:39:04.960 are calling this a political stunt. What is your response to that? Absolutely not. I mean,

00:39:10.880 issues involving kids' reproductive health are not a political stunt. That is essential for us

00:39:17.780 to show leadership in preserving kids' choices so that they, if they choose to at some future point,

00:39:23.140 decide that they want to have kids, that they haven't prematurely made a decision they can't

00:39:26.740 with so that's very serious and that's the reason why we felt it was important that we put these

00:39:32.580 these guidelines in place there are i would encourage you to consult widely in the gay and

00:39:40.580 transgender community because once again just like among doctors there isn't a single voice

00:39:46.260 there's a number of different individuals who are from the community who also want to make sure the

00:39:52.900 the kids' choices are not cut off prematurely and that there is appropriate care, mental as well as

00:39:58.800 physical aftercare. We have a number of people that we can give you who are prepared to add

00:40:06.620 some commentary to your story if you're interested. I think Sam has a list of individuals who'd be

00:40:11.860 happy to give you some of their perspective as well. You touched upon the implementation briefly.

00:40:17.760 could you explain a little more uh how long are we seeing for the implementation a few months

00:40:22.960 a year or longer i'm i'm thinking that we'll probably have what whatever policies need to

00:40:29.200 be changed in legislation that would be scheduled for the fall um and so we would probably proceed

00:40:34.320 with a package if it's a regulation legislation and policy changes we're looking at doing

00:40:39.760 implementation in the fall thank you last but not least no definitely at least uh rick bell post

00:40:49.280 media um the federal liberals following on the last question are deeply troubled by what's happening

00:40:56.640 it's not the first time the federal levels have been deeply troubled by your government

00:41:00.480 um and they want to come and talk to your health minister about this and they have grave concerns

00:41:06.880 uh what is your thought about uh being uh lectured on this policy by uh your good friends in ottawa

00:41:14.020 well they want to demonstrate leadership then why did they prohibit their employees

00:41:18.880 from getting gender uh support for their choices until they're 18 plus so i would just ask them

00:41:25.180 not to be hypocrites on this and uh to not politicize it which they're clearly doing

00:41:30.500 We know that we are going to be supporting kids who go through this journey with the mental health support that they need, with the family support they need, when they get into age 16 and 17 with the hormone therapies that they choose to have, and when they turn 18 and ask for top and bottom surgery.

00:41:51.640 we have a process for approving that and we're going to make sure that there are sufficient

00:41:55.880 doctors who can provide that ongoing care as well as the surgery being done here and after care so

00:42:02.280 i would say that maybe they could work with other provinces to to go as far as as we are

00:42:07.640 in providing the full scope of care for uh for all individuals who are going down this life journey i

00:42:13.880 i think that um it's been a bit of a gap in our health system that we've been sending people to

00:42:19.400 to quebec and then not following up with the care that they need i think it's a bit of a gap

00:42:23.640 that we have transgender individuals who don't have uh the the lifelong primary care that they

00:42:28.440 need to support their very unique health needs so that's as much a part and parcel of this proposal

00:42:34.280 as as any of the other aspects and i think that that's an appropriate area for the health minister

00:42:39.000 looking to see if there's other ways that he can get other provinces to help bridge that gap

00:42:42.600 um within a few minutes of your video there were a lot of people on social media who were

00:42:50.440 very critical and you've heard some of the criticisms that you're captive of extremists

00:42:55.480 in your party that you're deliberately hurting children that your policies are dangerous

00:43:00.280 and to quote uh the calgary mayor gondek as it's an infringement of human rights

00:43:05.480 and and many other things what what what do you say to those people who are you know quite in

00:43:11.320 in many cases quite emotionally invested here and making those claims you know danielle smith not

00:43:17.800 fit to lead etc etc and also are you confident you have most albertans on side on this issue

00:43:26.280 so it's kind of a two-part so you know the one is what you say to those people the critics

00:43:30.840 who've come out publicly and slammed you in every way and are you confident you're speaking for the

00:43:36.680 the majority because they say they're speaking for the majority. I am confident that Albertans

00:43:41.600 do not want children to make irreversible decisions that impact their reproductive health.

00:43:47.040 I am confident that they do not think that those are child decisions to make, that those are adult

00:43:51.680 decisions to make. I am also confident that parents love their kids and they want to know

00:43:56.660 what's going on with their kids. It doesn't matter what perspective they come from. They want to make

00:44:00.440 sure that they're walking the journey with their child every step of the way. And anyone who's

00:44:05.880 trying to put roadblocks in that child parent relationship, they've got, I don't think they 0.58

00:44:11.300 have public support. I mean, that said, we do know that there are going to be difficult

00:44:15.540 conversations to be had. That's why we are going to be supporting a pilot project to ensure that

00:44:19.940 families are able to have counseling right alongside with the kids. And if there is ever

00:44:24.780 an instance where a child feels rejected or at risk of harm, we have a child protection service,

00:44:30.360 and we're going to make sure that those kids also have a safe environment to be in. So I would say

00:44:35.820 that this is the right balance this is what i believe albertans expect of us to do to make

00:44:40.700 sure that we're protecting kids choices thank you and that's all the time we have for questions

00:44:45.500 today people thank you everyone for joining us Canadian shooting supports association without

00:44:49.740 the cssa our gun rights would have been taken long long ago these guys are on the front lines

00:44:55.900 helping to draft smart and intelligent firearms regulations and legislation in canada

00:45:01.820 and meeting the public about how we keep guns out of the hands of the wrong people

00:45:05.900 who become a member. It's absolutely worth every penny.

Western Standard - February 02, 2024

Alberta New Policies： Preserving choices for children and youth

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