Last month, Alberta Prime Minister Danielle Smith announced her intention to include new rights (new window) in this law dating from 1972, including that of owning a firearm and that of refusing medical treatment.
The provincial government therefore wishes to make five changes to the Alberta Bill of Rights.
The first two aim in particular to strengthen the right of Albertans to refuse any medical treatment going against their consent, including the injection of a vaccine.
The key element of the changes is to ensure that consenting people have the ability to make decisions about their medical treatment and procedures without intervention, without coercion, without pressure from a government, says Mickey Amery, Minister of Health. Justice.
One of the other proposed changes to the law aims to allow Albertans to obtain, possess and use firearms in accordance with the law, strengthening the right to lawful possession and affirming the government’s intention that provincial laws should not interfere with the right to possess legally acquired firearms.
What is the Alberta Bill of Rights?
The Alberta Bill of Rights is a provincial law, passed in 1972, that protects the rights and freedoms of Albertans. All provincial laws must respect the human rights mentioned therein.
It also governs interactions between citizens and provincial entities, such as ministries, agencies, municipalities and police services.
However, it does not apply to federal laws or private companies.
Source: Government of Alberta
For too long, the federal government has unfairly targeted law-abiding gun owners for simply exercising their rights, says Danielle Smith.
These amendments to the Alberta Bill of Rights are not just legal changes. They reaffirm the values that make Alberta one of the freest jurisdictions in the world. A quote from Danielle Smith, Premier of Alberta
The Smith government also intends to amend the Alberta Bill of Rights to strengthen citizens’ property rights, ensuring that no Albertan can be deprived of their property without due process of law and fair compensation.
Ultimately, the government wants to expand the right to freedom of expression to include expressive activities that go beyond written and spoken language, such as images and posters.
A symbolic significance
The professor specializing in human rights and freedoms at the Faculty of Law of Laval University Louis-Philippe Lampron believes that amending the Alberta Bill of Rights is a way of broadening the application of provisions already provided for by law.
In fact, in the Alberta declaration and in constitutional law in general, it has long been established that the right to life, the right to liberty, protects the right to refuse medical treatment, he explains.
We then really seem to want to give not only a stronger symbolic scope to the Alberta declaration, but also a broader concrete scope, by affirming that any authority and any public body in Alberta will have to respect the regime provided for by the Alberta Declaration of Rights, adds -he.
Who requested these changes?
Shortly before the bill was tabled on Monday, the leader of the Alberta New Democratic Party, Naheed Nenshi, criticized the Alberta government’s desire to propose these changes.
Who asked [ces changements]asked Naheed Nenshi.
He believes that Danielle Smith is proposing these changes in order to collect votes during the vote of confidence of members of the United Conservative Party, scheduled for Saturday, in Red Deer. He adds that the Prime Minister does not take into account the concerns of Albertans, such as the cost of living, health and education.
[Les ministres] will introduce 12 to 14 bills this session. None of them talk about access to an affordable cost of living. The only thing they say about health care is that some young people are denied gender-affirming care, says Naheed Nenshi.
A quarter of their legislative session is based on these kinds of changes that no one asked for, simply because the Prime Minister seems to believe that it will help her on Saturday, he concludes.
