Legal experts raise concerns about Alberta's plans for transgender youth
CBC
Thirty-six law professors, legal researchers and other staff from two Alberta universities are asking the province to reconsider proposed policy changes affecting transgender youth.
The open letter is from staff at the University of Alberta and University of Calgary law schools.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has said the fall sitting of the legislature would bring new rules, including restrictions on youth changing their names or pronouns at school, as well as on hormone treatment and surgery for gender affirmation.
The province would also clamp down on transgender female athletes competing in women's and girls' sports.
The legal experts say the changes violate the Charter rights of transgender youth.
The policies have also spurred protests — both at the grassroots level and from groups such as the Alberta Medical Association.
While his party has made a cause célèbre out of its battle with the Speaker, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has periodically waxed poetic about the House of Commons — suggesting that its green upholstery is meant to symbolize the fields of the English countryside where commoners met centuries ago before the signing of the Magna Carta.