The federally-funded LGBT group known as Egale Canada is seeking a court injunction against Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s transgender-related legislation, claiming that 10-year-olds need puberty blockers.
Egale Canada, the transgender-focused non-profit organization that’s received over $5 million from the Trudeau Liberals since 2020, stated that Premier Smith’s bill is “harmful.”
Premier Smith tabled three monumental legislative changes last month related to transgender policies, billed as protections for vulnerable children, parental rights, and women. One of them, Bill 26, would ban doctors from prescribing so-called trans children puberty blockers until they are at least 16-years-old.
Egale Canada filed documents with the Court of King’s Bench on Monday, citing five ‘transgender youth’ who will be hurt by the legislation.
Along with another LGBT group, Skipping Stone, Egale Canada claims Bill 26 infringes on the Charter rights of so-called gender-diverse youth. They assert that the bill violates the right to security of the person under Section 7, protection from cruel and unusual treatment under Section 12, and the right to equality under Section 15. Additionally, they claim the Bill breaches the Alberta Bill of Rights.
The Premier has repeatedly stated that children should wait until adulthood before making physical changes to their body.
Hormone blockers are given to kids to “pause” their puberty while the kids explore what gender they wish to self-identify with. However, the drugs can have devastating long-term effects on those who take them, including sterilization.
In justifying Bill 26, the Premier has also stated that she was influenced by the UK’s Tavistock Centre saga, a gender clinic that was forced to shut down after a review found it was reckless in prescribing puberty blockers to vulnerable teenagers.
Smith said she was moved by the story of Kiera Bell, a detransitioned woman who later sued the clinic for not protecting her while conducting experimental treatment with life-altering outcomes.
Earlier this year, Egale Canada called for the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to prohibit Fox News from airing in Canada.
