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Reality of accelerating inequality across the globe is striking

## Advocates are calling on the NWT government to take action amid worries that Alberta’s use of the notwithstanding clause could impact northerners’ access to gender-affirming care. The Alberta government recently introduced legislation, known as Bill 9, that would use the notwithstanding clause to protect from legal challenge three laws that affect transgender and gender-diverse people. Those include Bill 26, which prevents youth under 16 from accessing puberty blockers and hormone therapy in the province. The Northern Mosaic Network and a Yellowknife MLA are urgently calling on the NWT government to redirect all out-of-territory gender-affirming healthcare away from Alberta. Chelsea Thacker – executive director of the Northern Mosaic Network, which supports 2SLGBTQIPA+ people in the NWT – said Alberta’s Bill 9 has brought back feelings of “confusion, fear, anger and frustration” for community members. Advertisement. Advertisement. “Especially for parents of trans kids, they’re wondering what’s next for them, what they’re supposed to tell their kids and how things are going to move forward,” Thacker said. “This is not the direction we want to see our country moving in.” The Alberta government has said exceptions to its hormone therapy and puberty blockers ban would allow youth who are currently accessing that care to continue to do so. Youth aged 16 and 17 would be able to access that care with parent, physician and psychologist approval. Thacker said potential impacts of Bill 9 include that youth on waitlists will not be able to access gender-affirming care, care providers will close their doors, and mental health will be negatively affected. Advertisement. Advertisement. ### People feel unsafe travelling to Alberta Beyond that, Thacker said community members have expressed feeling unsafe travelling to Alberta to access gender-affirming care for quite some time. They added people are often unable to travel with a supportive person when accessing medical care outside the NWT, unless they fund it out of pocket. “We’re really just setting people up to experience harm by passively allowing it to happen by not intervening sooner,” Thacker said. The NWT’s Department of Health and Social Services told Cabin Radio it could not share the number of residents referred to Alberta for gender-affirming care, nor the number on the waitlist, for privacy reasons. Thacker said one solution is for the NWT to establish a gender-affirming care clinic in the territory. “We’re wasting so much money by sending people south and keeping them on the waitlist for years when we could be accessing locums who could come up here,” they said. Establishing an NWT-based gender-affirming care clinic and referring patients to jurisdictions other than Alberta were among recommendations in a recent review of the territory’s guidelines on healthcare for transgender, non-binary and gender non-conforming people. The study was conducted by researchers with the Northern Mosaic Network and University of Alberta. Advertisement. Advertisement. Kate Reid. Ollie Williams/Cabin Radio Great Slave MLA Kate Reid, who has previously advocated for transgender and gender-diverse residents in the NWT, issued a press release last week saying “calls for action have now become a desperate plea.” She said Alberta is “not a safe place for trans folks to receive care” and pointed out the province introduced Bill 9 two days before the Transgender Day of Remembrance. “It is not lost on me that if Bill 9 passes, we will end up mourning trans folks who can no longer safely access life-affirming healthcare,” she wrote. Reid called on the NWT government to work with the Northern Mosaic Network to implement all of the recommendations from the review of the territory’s healthcare guidelines. Reid told Cabin Radio she is passionate about the issue as “people’s human rights are being trampled” and she wants to support friends who are transgender and non-binary. In response to her concerns, Reid said NWT health minister Lesa Semmler has assured her that health practitioners in Alberta are safe and that gender-diverse residents are safe travelling to the province for care. “I trust that is true to an extent,” she said. “However, when there are governmental roadblocks being thrown up by the Alberta government to actually access that care for some trans and gender-diverse residents of both Alberta and the NWT, it’s time to change things.” Advertisement. Advertisement. Health minister Lesa Semmler. Aastha Sethi/Cabin Radio The territorial government committed in February 2024 that NWT residents of all ages would continue to have access to gender-affirming care, even if some services are no longer available in Alberta. In May 2025, health minister Semmler told the NWT legislature she had directed her department to “secure alternate out-of-territory care pathways” for residents. In a statement to Cabin Radio, Semmler said her department “understands there are concerns surrounding the current situation in Alberta” and is “monitoring developments closely.” According to Semmler, most gender-affirming care is provided in the NWT. She said when that care is not available in the territory, the GNWT’s medical travel policy directs patients to the nearest appropriate provider, which remains Alberta in most cases. “Our priority is safe, respectful, and equitable care for all residents, and we are actively planning for alternatives should Alberta become unavailable,” she said. Semmler added that while legislative changes could affect how Alberta physicians can prescribe treatment, that will not prevent NWT physicians prescribing care based on clinical recommendations. Regarding the recommendations on improving NWT residents’ access to gender-affirming care, Semmler said the GNWT has committed to participate in a cross-sector working group led by the Northern Mosaic Network. She said once her department officially receives the study, it will review the report and its recommendations with clinical experts. Advertisement. Advertisement. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith speaks at the 2025 western premiers’ conference in Yellowknife. Emily Blake/Cabin Radio While Bill 9 has not yet become law, the ruling United Conservative Party currently holds a majority of seats in the Alberta legislature and the proposed legislation is expected to pass. The Alberta legislature passed Bill 26 last year, but the court granted a temporary injunction pausing the law’s enactment as it faces a legal challenge. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has argued the legislation will prevent minors from “making permanent and irreversible decisions” that impact their reproductive health. ### Use of the notwithstanding clause The notwithstanding clause in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms allows federal, territorial and provincial governments to pass laws that violate certain Charter rights. The clause expires after five years but can be re-enacted indefinitely. The clause was included in the Charter as part of a political compromise to get premiers to support patriation of the Constitution. Several provincial leaders had expressed concern the Charter could restrict their ability to make laws as they saw fit. This is not the first time in recent weeks the Alberta government has invoked the notwithstanding clause or that a province has used the clause to pass legislation affecting transgender and gender-diverse youth. The Alberta government used the notwithstanding clause last month to end the Alberta Teachers’ Association strike and force teachers back to work. The Saskatchewan government used the notwithstanding clause in 2023 to pass legislation that requires parental consent for children under the age of 16 to use a different gender-related name or pronoun at school. Advertisement. Advertisement. Among the provinces, Quebec has invoked the notwithstanding clause most frequently, largely to override court decisions on language laws. The federal government has never used the clause. Charles Dent, chair of the NWT Human Rights Commission, said he is “personally disappointed” to see increasing use of the notwithstanding clause. “When the Constitution was adopted, I don’t think very many Canadians thought that sort of clause would be used very often,” he said. “Personally, I find it disappointing that people wouldn’t respect the Constitution. I mean, there’s a mechanism for amending the Constitution. If there’s something wrong with it, then you should be able to get a majority of Canadian jurisdictions and Canadians on side to amend it.” Dent said he expects the NWT government will take action to ensure people of all genders have equitable access to healthcare. ### _Related Articles_

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