‘There’s something deeply inconsistent about protecting minors by overriding their rights’

Three dozen Alberta law professors, legal researchers and staff have published an open letter to Premier Danielle Smith that calls on her to reverse the province’s forthcoming transgender policies that they warn violate multiple sections of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The six-page letter, whose signees work at the University of Alberta and University of Calgary faculties of law, was posted online Thursday. It outlines the authors’ concerns with the policy changes announced by Smith two weeks ago.

Those include bans on hormone therapy for children aged 15 and under, as well as limits on sports participation for transgender athletes, an opt-in system for sexual education, and parental consent requirement to alter the name or pronouns of children under 15.