On Thursday, the UCP government in Alberta announced their latest attack on transgender health care, in a shameful disregard for decades of established care protocols for youth.
This decision goes against the recommendations of the Canadian Paediatric Society and countless other institutions which develop guidelines for transgender health care. Danielle Smith’s government continues to show just how desperate the UCP is in 2024 to drum up support through manufactured crisis and anti-science rhetoric.
Transgender children deserve safe spaces which allow them the opportunity to thrive. This is a blatant attack on human rights in Alberta.
AUPE members working in child welfare have expressed dire concern that these policies will lead to worse outcomes for vulnerable children. A significant number of children who come out as transgender will face harassment and abuse at home, leading to higher instances of self-harm, runaways, and suicide.
“These policies were designed to take away safe spaces and make it impossible for transgender children to be treated equitably,” says Bobby-Joe Borodey, AUPE Vice President and Chair of the Human Rights Committee.
“AUPE strongly condemns this overreach by the government to intrude in the lives of Albertans. When they’re allowed to restrict care for one group of people, the precedent is set for other potential violations,” says Borodey.
Policies like these are shameful and embarrassing for Alberta on the global stage. At a time when this province desperately needs to attract new health care professionals and teachers, culture war issues like these make markets less stable and less desirable for investment.
“Once again, we have a government that’s trying to distract us,” says Bobby-Joe Borodey, AUPE Vice President and Chair of the Human Rights Committee. “Government has no right to impose theses ideologically motivated policies on a system meant to serve all members of the public.”
AUPE is committed to ensuring that all Albertans are treated with the dignity they deserve, and we will continue to call-out such egregious abuse of power.
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For media inquiries, please contact AUPE Communications Officer Rae Carlson at 403-351-2360 or r.carlson@aupe.org.