I grew up in Macklin, Saskatchewan, a small prairie town where queerness and transness weren’t words anyone said out loud. Like many kids, I learned early which parts of myself were welcome and which were not. I hid. I stayed quiet. I built a life around what others expected, because the cost of honesty felt too high.
It took me more than three decades to finally come out and live as my authentic self, despite knowing I was trans since I was a teenager. When I finally came out, it was both a deep relief and a moment of real fear.
What stopped me wasn’t uncertainty but rather, fear of what my life would look like. I had no trans or queer mentors, and popular culture often framed us as jokes, threats, or stereotypes. We’ve made progress since then, but what we’re seeing now is a deliberate effort (locally, nationally, and globally) to push queer and trans people back to the margins. To make it uncomfortable for us to simply exist.
This is at the core of the Alberta government’s recent threat of using the Notwithstanding Clause to force through anti-trans legislation, along with the so-called “book ban” targeting materials with queer and trans characters. These policies have immediate, harmful consequences for trans youth: denying access to necessary healthcare, restricting participation in sports, preventing them from reading stories with families that look like their own and forcing young people to hide who they are or risk physical and emotional harm. They also signal to others that discrimination is acceptable, fuelling more harm across our communities.
Beyond these specific bills, the use of the Notwithstanding Clause points to something more dangerous. If a government can decide that trans rights don’t matter, who’s next? Who will be told that the Charter of Rights and Freedoms doesn’t apply to them? This isn’t just about trans people. It’s about whether any of us can trust that our rights will be upheld when it’s politically convenient not to. As we’ve seen with the recent use of the Notwithstanding Clause forcing teachers back to work, it seems like the Notwithstanding Clause is simply viewed as another tool to achieve political aims with expediency.
Alberta prides itself on being a place of freedom and enterprise, a province built by creative, hard-working people determined to build a good life for their families and communities. But freedom for who? The ongoing attacks on queer and trans Albertans make it clear that freedom, for now, doesn’t extend to all of us.
As a Chamber, our work is rooted in the belief that every person deserves the freedom to build, create, and contribute. When governments undermine those freedoms, it affects not just individuals but innovation, entrepreneurship, and Alberta’s economic future.
Our province faces real crises in healthcare, education, infrastructure and other areas. These are the issues that families, communities and businesses are desperate for leadership on. Instead, our government is choosing to target transgender Albertans and our families.
Our Chamber members understand what happens when you lose focus. Entrepreneurs, professionals, and creatives across Alberta know that success depends on staying true to your mission and directing resources where they matter most. Waste time and energy on the wrong things, and you fail your people, your company, your community, and your future. That’s exactly what this government is doing. They are turning away from its responsibilities to wage a culture war no one asked for. Good governance, like good business, is about focus, accountability, and integrity. Alberta deserves leadership that invests in people and prosperity, not division.
To my non-queer, non-trans neighbours, I ask: Who actually benefits from this? Who gains when our government spends its political capital overriding the rights of trans people instead of focusing on building a province where people want to invest and thrive in?
To my queer and trans community: I wish you peace, courage, and the confidence that you know who you are. Trans Albertans live here too. You cannot legislate us out of existence. We belong here every bit as much as anyone else. And we are not going anywhere. We envision a world in which queer and trans people not just survive but thrive and continue to build a life on their terms.
In solidarity,
Elli McDine (she/her)
Executive Director
