Federal ministers accuse Alberta Premier Danielle Smith of putting trans youth at risk
CTV
Canada's health and justice ministers are criticizing Alberta Premier Danielle Smith's proposed restrictions on transgender youth as targeting a vulnerable minority for political points, indicating they are looking at options for how to respond.
Canada's health and justice ministers are criticizing Alberta Premier Danielle Smith's proposed restrictions on transgender youth as targeting a vulnerable minority for political points, indicating they are looking at options for how to respond.
"I'm deeply disturbed. The decision that was made by Alberta places kids at risk," federal Health Minister Mark Holland said Thursday. "Affirming gender, making sure that kids and families have the health care that they need on extremely sensitive issues, is so very important."
"I thought we were in place in this country, where we were moving past this. It's extremely dangerous to engage in this kind of thing, which is, I think, playing politics when you're talking about children's lives."
On Wednesday night, Smith released a seven-and-a-half-minute scripted social media video pre-positioning her plans to advance a series of changes around pronouns in schools and access to gender-affirming health care that go beyond what Saskatchewan and New Brunswick have put in place.
Framing the package in terms of "parental involvement" and "preserving choice," Smith's government is specifically seeking to:
According to the Canadian Paediatric Society, "processes and age cut-offs for funding gender-affirming surgeries vary by province/territory in Canada," but generally, the kinds of surgical procedures Smith is seeking to restrict are rarely available to Canadians under the age of 18, following extensive medical and psychological consultation.
Asked to comment on Thursday morning during a press conference about new assisted dying legislation, Holland and Justice Minister Arif Virani stopped short of committing to federal action, but both expressed their dismay.
