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In a seven-minute video posted to social media Wednesday afternoon, Smith announced that her United Conservative Party government will implement a slate of new policies and guidelines relating to transgender young people and other children and youth.

Among the measures:

- Top and bottom surgeries will be banned for minors aged 17 and under. Doctors say bottom surgeries aren't performed on youth and top surgeries are rare.
- Puberty blockers and hormone therapies for gender affirmation will not be permitted for children aged 15 and under.
- Youths aged 16 and 17 will be permitted to start hormone therapies for gender affirmation "as long as they are deemed mature enough" and have parental, physician and psychologist approval.
- Parental notification and consent will be required for a school to alter the name or pronouns of any child under age 15. Students who are 16 or 17 won't need permission but schools will need to let their parents know first.
- Parents will have to "opt-in" their children every time a teacher plans to teach about gender identity, sexual orientation or sexuality. Alberta law currently requires parental notification and gives them the option to opt students out.
- All third-party teaching materials on gender identity, sexual orientation or sexuality will need to be approved in advance by the education ministry.
- Transgender women will be banned from competing in women's sports leagues.

Smith said the government will work with leagues to set up coed or gender-neutral divisions for sports.

Statement from the AMA Section of Pediatrics on gender-affirming treatments
February 1, 2024

Medical practices are a safe place for children, youth and families to explore options around gender-affirming treatments. This is a medical decision and no one should be involved except the child, their parents if the child is not a mature minor, the physician (pediatrician or family/rural physician) and other health care team members. The doctor-patient relationship is inviolable and sacrosanct. Full stop.

We know that transgender youth have higher rates of mental health issues and suicidality because of the stigma attached to their status. The mental health of these children and youth will be markedly worse when denied care. These new medical restrictions single them out and reinforce stigma. This will add to the current and future burden of mental health issues on a system that is already inadequate to meet the needs of the population.

As for treatments, the effects of puberty-blocking agents are not irreversible; and once treatment stops, puberty goes forward. Treatment allows the patient time to determine their options without permanent effects. Puberty blocking actually has benefits for gender-divergent patients by preventing development of mature secondary sex characteristics so that, later in life, the most invasive gender-affirming surgery may not be necessary if the patient moves forward with gender-affirming care. Bottom surgery in Canada is already limited to patients over 18 years.

Requiring a private registry of physicians to provide gender-affirming care has the feel of surveillance, to which we object. It is an unnecessary bureaucratic process given the current existence of effective referral processes and networks.

Children and youth have the right to the appropriate medical care, at the appropriate time, and this should not be denied to them. We urge the Premier, in the strongest terms, to reconsider these proposed changes for care of transgender youth.

Pride YMM Official Statement

Proposed UCP Policies Concerning Transgender and Gender-Diverse Youth in Alberta

(Wood Buffalo, AB) On Wednesday, January 31, 2024, Alberta Premiere Danielle Smith announced the new UCP policies banning medical treatments for transgender minors, restricting the ability of transgender female athletes to participate in women's sports, requiring parental consent to be taught curriculum about gender identity, human sexuality and sexual orientation in school, and states that if a student wants to change their name and pronouns in school, parental notification will be required.

These policies operate under the assumption that all children are safe and protected at home, which we know is not the case, especially not for many transgender and gender diverse youth.

Pride YMM opposes the UCP's harmful and transphobic policies, and urges the government to create policies in consultation with the expertise of the medical community, educators, and the transgender community. A collaborative, evidence-based approach is urgently required in order to protect trans and gender diverse youth, and protect their access to safe schools and life-affirming healthcare resources.

Pride YMM's priority is to protect and support transgender, non-binary, and gender nonconforming youth. We also work closely to support local schools and educators in their professional obligations to ensure safe and caring schools. These policies pose a direct threat to the safety and autonomy of transgender and gender diverse youth. In addition to politicizing the identities of some of our most vulnerable population, these policies also misrepresent the status of trans healthcare access in Alberta and undermine the need for thorough consultation with those most impacted. For example:

- Youth aged 16 and under could previously receive HRT with parental permission, meaning that this policy actually reduces parents’ ability to choose;
- No teachers or teachers’ unions were consulted in the creation of these policies, and the ATA does not support them;
- Surgeries on trans youth are non-existing in our province, indicating that the ban was created in order to police and politicize trans and gender diverse people, not protect them;
- No doctors were consulted in the creation of these policies, and they are not supported by health science.

Although queer youth are 14 times more at risk of suicide than heterosexual cisgender youth, studies show that queer youth with at least one accepting adult were 40% less likely to report a suicide attempt in the past year, and the risk of suicide decreases by 93% with strong family support. For many, teachers are a safe person they can confide in, and school/the GSA might be the only place they feel comfortable being themselves. Removing that safe space and adult from their lives has proven dire consequences:

Transgender and gender diverse individuals face stigmatization from family members and peers, placing this group at high risk of adverse outcomes including suicidality, substance abuse, and compromised mental health. In the 2021 Census, 100,815 people reported being transgender or non-binary in Canada, approximately 0.33% of the country’s population.

Queer youth report lower levels of parental closeness and elevated rates of parental abuse, and homelessness. Transgender youth also report elevated rates of child abuse compared to cisgender peers.

Queer youth are overrepresented in the homeless youth population in Canada; it has been estimated that 25-40% of homeless youth identify as queer, meanwhile only 5-10% of the general population does. This is a direct consequence of them being outed (either voluntarily or forcibly) to their family, as one of the main causes for young people leaving home or for being kicked out of the house is family conflict due to abuse, homophobia and transphobia. Queer youth are more likely to report family and intimate partner violence, poor mental health, and substance use than cis-hetero youth. Trans and gender non-conforming youth are more likely to be experiencing current, rather than past, family violence.

Over the previous 2 decades, stigma around identifying as a sexual minority has reduced; however, the risk of poor mental health and of suicidality remains high among sexual minority youth. Every year, an average of five hundred Canadian youth take their own life. Approximately half of queer youth have thought about suicide, and they are over four times more likely to attempt suicide than their non-queer peers.

Pride YMM encourages the 2SLGBTQIA+ community and allies to write or call their MLA to express their concern and outrage. Trans Rights YEG has created a Trans Rights Letter Campaign which is available online: https://bit.ly/transrights2024.

We offer our solidarity and full support to fellow 2SLGBTQIA+ advocacy groups such as Egale Canada and Skipping Stone Foundation, who have released a joint statement expressing that they will pursue legal action if Alberta moves ahead with implementation of these changes.