A solid step in right direction toward protecting children, parental rights, and safety for women and girls in sports- but there is still work to be done.
On Wednesday, January 31st Alberta Premiere, Danielle Smith announced a forthcoming set of policies for the province that includes a few hard-hitting restrictions to so-called gender affirming drugs and procedures for children. In the trending video released by the Premiere’s office, the reintroduction of parental rights and firm rules against the indoctrination and medicalization of minors dovetails with increased accessibility for adults seeking “gender affirming care” and ongoing support for the “transgender community”.
Paramount to the policies, however, is the critical banning of GnRH Analogues (Puberty Blockers) for children under 15, an age by which most youths have advanced significantly through puberty. This age group will no longer be allowed to access chemical hormone drugs for the purpose of medical transition either, however both policies come with the caveat that kids who have already begun these “treatments” will be allowed to continue. We urge all other provinces and territories to immediately adopt similar, but stronger, policies- policies that truly disallow the prescription of life altering experimental drugs to children.
Older Alberta teens, ages 16 and 17, will be allowed to access “cross-sex” hormones, but they will need consent from their parents to do so. This is huge considering WPATH’s 2022 recommendations that children be allowed to access these drugs at age 14, treating the idea of parental consent as unwarranted gatekeeping.
A theme of parental involvement and consent is woven throughout Premiere Smith’s groundbreaking announcement, giving Alberta parents long overdue acknowledgement for their role as primary caregivers for their children. We hope to soon see this return to common sense, and true protection of children via their parents, throughout the remainder of a captured Canada.
Moving forward in Alberta, parents must be informed about the social transition of their minor child of any age at school, a policy that goes a step further than those recently introduced in Saskatchewan and New Brunswick. Children age 16 and 17, however, will not require parental consent to change their name and be regarded as the opposite sex, or any other variation of their actual sex, at school- for kids age 15 and under, parental consent will be required in all such cases.
In response to the recent abundance of ideological and sexualized teaching in schools by teachers and third-party lobby groups, the Alberta government “will be requiring parental notification and an opt-in requirement for each instance a teacher intends to give formal instruction on these subjects.” The provincial Ministry of Education, however, will continue to assess books, resources and subject matter for age appropriateness. Nonetheless, parents will have the option to say no which may create a situation in which third-party groups and zealous teachers will not have the audience they’ve become accustomed to while attempting to indoctrinate or sexualize children.
Emphasis is placed in the forthcoming policies on the protection of single sex sports and the importance of them for women and girls. Despite the ideological undertones, Premiere Smith is cracking down on “biologically stronger transgender females” participating in women’s and girls’ sporting categories- another pioneer move by this province that we hope will rapidly spread to other provinces and territories.
The CBC’s coverage of the much needed policies reads like point-form pouting, while the National Post’s rational report of the breaking news adds to the major media coverage taking shape across Canada. Once again, public opinion holds the line for a return to reality as, so far, a whopping 91% said NO to this polling question in the Calgary Sun this morning: “Do Alberta’s new parental rights policies go too far?” Premiere Smith is scheduled to elaborate on the new policies in a press conference later today.
We welcome and support the action taken by Premiere Danielle Smith and the Alberta government to provide some protection from lifelong medical harm and indoctrination for children and vulnerable adolescents. However, there are still significant changes needed before Alberta is truly safe for those susceptible to transgender ideation. We can see that we still have work to do toward educating people, especially politicians, about the threats to our youth and the perils of using language that plays into the hands of those pushing the transgender agenda.
Though the Premiere’s message to the public seemed to have “trans rights” sitting on one side of the scale and parental rights and the protection of children on the other, the directives it outlines are like a refreshing rainfall in a seemingly endless cultural drought.
