Advocacy groups shift legal strategy in bid to challenge Alberta’s gender care law

Two national advocacy organizations say they are pivoting their legal strategy as they continue efforts to challenge Alberta’s restrictions on gender-affirming care for youth. Egale Canada and the Calgary-based Skipping Stone Foundation launched a constitutional challenge last year after the province passed legislation prohibiting doctors from prescribing puberty blockers or hormone therapy to people under 16, and from performing gender-affirming top surgery on anyone under 18.

The groups say the path through the Charter of Rights and Freedoms has become significantly more difficult since the provincial government invoked the notwithstanding clause to shield the law from Charter review. They argue that approach now limits the courts’ ability to assess whether the restrictions violate equality, mobility, or security-of-person rights.

Instead, Egale and Skipping Stone plan to frame their case as a matter of federal jurisdiction. They say the law exposes physicians to penalties that include fines or possible jail time if they provide treatments prohibited under the provincial act. Because criminal sanctions fall under federal authority, the groups contend the province has reached beyond its constitutional powers.

The issue has drawn close attention in Alberta communities, including in cities such as Edmonton and Calgary, where health-care providers and families have raised concerns about access to care. The organizations say their revised legal approach aims to keep the case before the courts and maintain public scrutiny on how the legislation affects transgender youth and the medical professionals who support them.