Government says fall sitting laser focused on expanding rights and freedoms

Depending on who you ask, the fall sitting of the Alberta legislature was either a welcome expansion of citizens' rights or a cynical erosion of rights to cement the premier's favour with United Conservative Party members.

The fall sitting began in late October with amendments to expand the Alberta Bill of Rights to prevent public employers from requiring employees to be vaccinated.

The government "has been laser focused on protecting and promoting Alberta's rights and freedoms, which are the cornerstones of living in a free and democratic society," government house leader and Tourism and Sport Minister Joseph Schow told reporters on Thursday.

Concluding its business late Wednesday night, the legislature adjourned for the year after passing a trio of contentious bills that restrict transgender youths' access to gender-affirming health care, bar trans athletes from playing on girls' and women's sports teams and will make Alberta the only Canadian jurisdiction where parents must opt students into lessons about human sexuality, gender identity and sexual orientation.

"[Premier] Danielle Smith's agenda this session was all about helping Danielle Smith," Opposition leader Christina Gray said Thursday, pointing to Smith's party leadership review in November.

2SLGBTQ+ advocacy groups Egale Canada and Skipping Stone Foundation are preparing to launch a legal challenge of all three new laws, alleging they are discriminatory and violate human rights.

Schow said the Fairness in Safety and Sport Act is a "one-of-its-kind piece of legislation in Canada that protects the fairness and safety of Alberta's amateur competitive sports system."

He said parents, educators and school trustees frequently tell him their athlete daughters are grateful for the legislation.

"I know of examples already in Alberta where we have seen athletes who have been hurt playing against transgender athletes," Schow said. "Who have lost their opportunities."

Just how schools, post-secondary institutions and amateur sport organizations are going to manage the new law will be spelled out in regulations that have yet to be written. Schow didn't have details Thursday about the process or timeline for creating those regulations, but the new rules are supposed to take effect in September 2025.

Also to come will be regulations on how schools respond when a child asks staff to address them with names or pronouns of a different gender.

The new law says schools shall inform a student's parents when they make the request.

NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi told reporters on Thursday Alberta's law differs from rules in Saskatchewan and New Brunswick because students cannot rescind their request when they find out staff must tell their parents.

Although the NDP proposed an amendment to the bill that would allow for this, government members rejected it.