Dear Ministers Sawhney and Schow,
As the Students’ Association of MacEwan University, we write to oppose the recent Bills 22, 27, and 29, all of which will directly violate the human rights of transgender and gender non-conforming (GNC) students at MacEwan University.
We express concern that MacEwan students under the age of 18 who use a preferred name or pronouns will require permission or notice to their parents before those preferences are used in the classroom. Students who live in unsafe or unwelcoming home environments, even once they have reached post-secondary education, will be forced to choose between being forcibly outed at home or using an incorrect name and pronouns at school. For students who use a name and pronouns that align with their gender identity, they will risk conflict or abuse at home. According to research conducted at the University of British Columbia, 23% of transgender youth in Alberta do not feel safe at home, a reality which will be worsened by the implementation of this bill. We affirm that students who feel safe and welcome at home can and do decide to share their identity with their parents. In the University setting, young adults often have the opportunity to live independently and make choices for themselves as adults for the first time. By singling out transgender and gender non-conforming students and removing this autonomy, those students will no longer have the opportunity to practice making decisions for themselves in a safe setting, potentially negatively impacting their success at university.
Suicide and suicidal thoughts are real and present concerns for transgender and gender non-conforming youth, including university students younger than 18 years old. Research suggests that 46% of 2SLGBTQ+ youth aged 13-17 have considered suicide in the past year. It has been shown that trans and GNC students who have access to gender-affirming spaces, such as at university, are less likely to attempt suicide than those who do not. For students with parents unaccepting of their gender identity, this legislation revokes the opportunity for supportive instructors to make that difference in a student’s life, and prevent suicide in our community.
Additionally, access to health care for students on campus is an integral aspect of students’ well-being. By limiting access to gender-affirming care for these students, this legislation will increase unnecessary labour demands for providers by unnecessarily requiring permission from parents, and decrease the accessibility of necessary health care for these students on the basis of their gender. Notably, on-campus health care providers will be forced to discriminate against transgender and gender non-conforming students under 18 years of age, as these same medications will continue to be available to cisgender students.
The proposed legislation presents challenges to MacEwan University’s human rights law compliance. Post-secondary institutions are prohibited from inquiring about or testing the gender or sex of athletes participating in sport, however, Bill 29 would require institutions to make decisions about athletes’ eligibility based on this protected information. These inconsistencies will open university sports programs to severe ethical and legal problems when they are expected to identify and remove trans women from teams. Additionally, because governing sport bodies on the provincial and federal level (such as Canada West, U Sports, the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC), and the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA)) follow inclusivity policies which allow transgender participants, Alberta University sports programs, such as MacEwan’s, may be excluded from provincial and federal competition. Alberta Universities will likely be disallowed from hosting sports events under these organizations, limiting opportunities for our athletes. Under Bill 29, both transgender athletes as well as all Alberta University athletes will lose integral opportunities.
We urge Minister Sawhney and Minister Schow to reconsider these Bills and to meaningfully consult transgender students, their Students Associations, and their Institutions in any further legislation on this topic. The Students’ Association of MacEwan University support our transgender youth community members and seek to ensure their safety and inclusion.
