The Alberta government has invoked the Charter’s notwithstanding clause to prevent court challenges to a trio of laws impacting transgender youth and adults.
The clause is part of a bill now before the house, and Premier Danielle Smith says the move is necessary to protect children’s health and well-being.
She says their health could be jeopardized if challenges to the laws are tied up in court for a long time.
The notwithstanding clause allows governments to override Charter rights if deemed necessary as a way to balance the authority of both politicians and the courts.
The clause relates to laws that put restrictions on student pronoun changes at school, on girls’ and women’s sports, and on medical therapies for young people looking to transition.
Two of those bills are facing court challenges on the grounds they are harmful and unconstitutional.
We need to remove that clause from the Charter. The only thing it’s ever used for, is to violate people’s rights. The Charter means absolutely nothing, as long as that clause is included.
If the government has a free way to say “nah” when it comes to your rights then you don’t actually have rights.
I could not agree more. I understand the original intent, but nowadays it’s literally a “get out of fucking over your civil rights - free card”.
Unerpaid essential employee? No strikes! Your usefulness defines you as a slave, you know, unless you want to quit the industry that you have trained for and worked in.