Event Details

Trans Rights in Alberta: Implications of the Government's Proposed Policies

In February 2024, in the wake of related developments elsewhere in Canada, the Government of Alberta announced its intention to roll out a series of sweeping new policies regulating trans youth, sex education in schools, and trans women in sport. These policies include restrictions on access to gender affirming care (including hormone blockers), rules requiring parental consent for name and pronoun changes in schools, and a new "opt-in" system for sex education lessons in schools. In response to these developments, this online panel brings together a group of experts to discuss the legal and ethical implications of the government's proposals.

Speakers

Florence Ashley

Assistant Professor, University of Alberta

Florence Ashley is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Law and member of the John Dossetor Health Ethics Centre. An award-winning transfeminine jurist and bioethicist who moves through academia using a profoundly transdisciplinary approach, Florence conducts broad-ranging research on issues faced by transgender people in the legal and healthcare systems. Florence holds BCL/JD degrees and an LLM (Bioeth) from McGill University, and received their SJD from the University of Toronto. In 2019-2020, they served as the first openly transfeminine law clerk at the Supreme Court of Canada in the chambers of Justice Sheilah Martin. They were also honoured with the 2019 Hero Award by the Canadian Bar Association SOGIC (LGBTQ2S+) Section.

Rachel Loewen Walker

Assistant Professor, University of Saskatchewan

Rachel Loewen Walker is an Assistant Professor and the program chair of the Women's and Gender Studies program in Political Studies at the University of Saskatchewan. She also teaches in the College of Law. Prior to this she was the Ariel F Sallows Chair in Human Rights with the College of Law (2020-22) and the Executive Director of OUTSaskatoon (2013-2020), a 2SLGBTQ community centre. While at OUTSaskatoon she started Pride Home - a long-term, 2SLGBTQ+ group home - and worked with 2SLGBTQ+ leaders across Canada to develop The Enchanté Network, a national organization that aims to build the capacity and reach of Two Spirit and LGBTQ Centres country-wide.

Cheryl Milne

Executive Director, Asper Centre for Constitutional Rights

Cheryl Milne is the Executive Director of the Asper Centre, and teaches a clinical course in constitutional advocacy, and Children, Youth and the Law at the University of Toronto, Faculty of Law. Prior to coming to the Centre, Ms. Milne was a legal advocate for children with the legal clinic Justice for Children and Youth where she led the clinic’s Charter litigation. She was the Chair of the Ontario Bar Association’s Constitutional, Civil Liberties and Human Rights section, and the Chair of the Canadian Coalition for the Rights of Children and Justice Children and Youth. She is a member of the Steering Committee of the National Association for Women and the Law (NAWL) and the Child and Youth Law Section Executive of the Canadian Bar Association. In 2018 she received the Law Society Medal from the Law Society of Ontario for her contributions to the profession through her child rights advocacy and legal education.

Event Date(s):

March 11, 2024, 5:00 pm to 6:00 pm

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Centre for Constitutional Studies
448D Law Centre
University of Alberta
Edmonton, AB T6G 2H5