CP NewsAlert: Alberta to use notwithstanding clause on three transgender laws

By Canadian Press on September 18, 2025.

EDMONTON — Alberta Premier Danielle Smith plans to invoke the Charter’s notwithstanding clause this fall on three laws affecting transgender people.

An internal government memo sent last week from the justice department, obtained by The Canadian Press, details the plan.

It says Smith’s office has directed the notwithstanding clause be added to the legislation in the fall sitting.

The clause is a rarely used provision that allows governments to override certain sections of the Charter for up to five years.

The three laws establish rules around students changing their names or pronouns in school, ban transgender girls from participating in amateur female sports, and limit gender-affirming health care.

LGBTQ+ advocacy groups Egale and Skipping Stone are challenging in court the school pronoun and health-care laws, calling them discriminatory.

More coming.

The Canadian Press