Editor:
This letter is in response to individuals in support of Premier Danielle Smith’s new policies targeting the trans and gender non-conforming youth of Alberta. As a transgender woman myself, and someone who has lived through my teen years as such, I figured I’d throw my hat in the ring.
I would like to begin by saying that gender-affirming care is nearly universally supported by every major health organization worldwide. The World Health Organization, the American Medical Association, or to speak of Canada specifically, the Canadian Psychological Association, the Canadian Paediatric Society, and many, many more all support gender-affirming care of minors. These organizations represent the most current medical consensus based on studies and research from around the world.
The experts have spoken, and gender-affirming care for minors is in. Furthermore, in Canada, the age of medical consent under the Advanced Health Care Directives Act is 16 years old. So, when Danielle Smith's policies ban individuals 17 years or younger from consent to their own top surgery for gender-related reasons, she is stripping the rights of a specific, and already very vulnerable, population.
Smith’s regulations put heavy emphasis on the thought that parents should be privy to what’s going on in their child's lives, and be responsible to make decisions for their child. I don’t doubt that many parents truly do have the best interests of their children at the forefront of their mind, but the fact remains there are also parents who do not.
Letting kids have private information that their parents don’t have access to does not affect positive parent-child relationships founded on good communication – a child of a loving and supportive family will not feel afraid to express themselves in that way – it merely protects those children unfortunate enough to have been born under an unsupportive roof by giving them spaces like school where they feel safe enough to truly be themselves.
So why should we leave these children to the fate of a home they didn’t choose? To the parents who support this legislation, I say this: you do not own your child. They are their own amazing, independent beings who deserve the right to privacy just as much as any adult. I understand you only want to protect your children, but there is a fine line between safeguarding and control, and I urge you to reflect on that.
Danielle Brett,
Canmore
