Bill 2 is an egregious abuse of Charter rights

By Lethbridge Herald on November 6, 2025.

Editor,

Despite what you may think from the media coverage, what’s going on in Alberta goes far beyond a teacher’s strike. Regardless of your position on the strike, you should be deeply concerned about Bill 2, which was rushed through the legislature on October 28th, and the implications it has for our rights as Albertans.

Most people watching the dispute expected back-to-work legislation to be passed last week. As we’ve seen with other recent strikes like the 2024 Canada Post strike, the striking workers would have been ordered to return to work, and the dispute would be sent to binding arbitration. An independent group would then look at both positions and come to a decision that both sides must accept. Usually neither side is happy, but kids would return to school and life would go on.

Instead, the UCP government invoked the Notwithstanding Clause, a part of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms that allows the government to acknowledge they are writing a law that violates Charter rights, and pass it anyway. You might think rights like freedom of religion, expression, and association are guaranteed. 

Unfortunately, losing them is as simple as a government deciding they’re inconvenient. If you’re a teacher, this is no longer a hypothetical – on Oct. 27 you had freedom of association, and now you do not.

If that sounds concerning, the man who proposed the Notwithstanding Clause agrees. Peter Lougheed, the Progressive Conservative former premier of Alberta, helped create the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Later, in 1998, he wrote an essay where he shared concerns about the way the clause was being used – arguing that it should be amended to require at least 60 percent of the elected representatives to agree, and that it should not be allowed until all judicial determinations had been exhausted. If we had heeded his warning, either amendment would have prevented what we saw last week.

This was not necessary to get kids back in classrooms. This is a government flexing their muscles, seeing if Albertans will fight back when their rights are ignored. The UCP has been trying to distract us with new license plates with the words ”Strong and Free.” If we allow Bill 2 to stand, we are neither strong nor free.

Keilan Scholten

Lethbridge