Carney has been silent as Alberta attacks trans youth. Parents and advocates have a plan to change that

Parents of trans youth in Alberta, alongside advocacy groups, are calling on the federal government to launch an inquiry into the harms being caused by the province trampling on the rights of trans youth.

Because here’s the thing — while Prime Minister Mark Carney has, thankfully, still attended Pride parades and affirmed his support for transgender people publicly on social media, he’s failed to directly address Alberta’s increasingly deadly agenda.

Quite the opposite, in fact. Carney has been incredibly cozy with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith. Just today, he joked alongside Smith that the premier has “seen more of me than her husband.”

“I’m pleased,” he added.

It was Carney’s tenth time in Alberta since winning the federal election a little over a year ago.

That fact, the prime minister said, “reflects how much Premier Smith and I and our governments are doing together, because we have shared ambitions and a shared sense of purpose and urgency to get things done."

However, absent during any of these visits has been any real pushback on the province’s disturbing agenda of rolling back the rights of trans youth.

Now, parents of trans youth and advocacy groups are hoping to force the federal government to acknowledge the kids whose lives are being endangered as a result of these policies.

The policies Smith has enacted are both unscientific and represent an attack on freedom, according to advocacy groups.

“We live in a country where trans Canadians, living in Alberta face significant hardships accessing healthcare, education, and freedom, compared to those living in other provinces,” said Dr. Victoria Bucholtz, executive director of TransAction Alberta, in a press release.

“This is a national crisis looming in Alberta and we need a federal inquiry immediately to determine what can be done and what’s happening in our province.”

Smith’s government has passed several laws that directly attack trans youth’s ability to access lifesaving medical care and prevent them from having their gender identity respected at school and on sports teams.

These measures, Smith claimed at the time, are “in the best interests of children.” It’s a ludicrous claim, given she felt the need to use a clause that allows her to override charter rights for up to five years to shield the laws from legal challenge.

She’s also just factually wrong.

On average, kids develop a strong sense of their gender between the ages of three and five. It can be really upsetting to go through the puberty-related changes of a gender you don’t identify with, or to be surrounded by people who tell you that you aren’t the gender you know yourself to be.

Among trans youth, one study found more than half had thought about suicide at least once and a third had made at least one attempt. But with access to gender affirming care, another study found 60% lower odds of depression and 73% lower odds of suicidality compared to those who didn’t access that care.

Meanwhile, as outlets like the National Post are constantly spotlighting stories of people who regret transitioning, creating a false sense of how many trans folks regret seeking out gender-affirming care, the figures tell a different story.

A systematic review of regret rates after gender-affirmation surgery found the regret rate was just one per cent.

As I’ve reported many times before, gender affirming care saves lives. Stepping between a youth and their doctor to deny them that care is not “in the best interests of children.”

In fact, it makes them more likely to leave us — which is exactly why the federal government needs to step in to protect those kids.

“I don’t want to live in a Canada where some kids have fewer rights than others,” said Queer Momentum’s Fae Johnstone in a video statement she shared with me.

“That’s why TransAction Alberta and Queer Momentum are calling on the House of commons to conduct an inquiry into the violation of charter-protected rights and the harm that Danielle Smith’s anti-trans legislation has caused.”

The groups are specifically pushing for the House of Commons Justice and Human Rights Committee to study the issue, which would put it on the parliamentary agenda and force members of Parliament to directly confront the impact of these laws.

The push comes amid not only Carney’s apathy towards the Alberta policies, but the Conservative Party’s outright support.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has defended Smith’s transphobic policies, despite studies proving that this care saves lives. Not only that, but he refused to attend any Pride parades this year. Poilievre has also attacked and spread misinformation about gender-affirming care, has called for trans women to be unable to access bathrooms and changerooms that correspond with their gender, and called for trans women to be barred from playing on their gender’s sports teams.

Just yesterday, his team sent out a survey (with a donation link just one click away) asking about the participation of trans people in sports. In the email, the Conservatives quoted Poilievre as saying “female spaces should be exclusively for females, not for biological males.”

In short, things are pretty bleak on the federal political scene when it comes to defending trans rights. That’s why it’s so important to know that people are fighting back — and to link arms with them when they do so.

In this case, Fae has an easy way for us to do exactly that.

“If you want to speak up for these families, for these kids and for trans Albertans, head to www.queermomentum.ca/inquiry.”