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EDMONTON – Premier Danielle Smith says she plans to reinforce the right to decide whether to receive a vaccination or other medical treatment in changes to Alberta’s Bill of Rights.
In an online video posted Tuesday, Smith said her government would soon introduce legislation amending the document to ensure the right to make informed medical decisions without fear of undue pressure or government interference. The legislature reconvenes at the end of October.
“It is my firm belief that no Albertan should ever be subjected to or pressured into receiving medical treatment without their full consent,” he said.
The Alberta Bill of Rights only applies to matters under provincial authority.
Smith, speaking to the right-wing online media outlet The Western Standard, said on Tuesday that she hopes that if Alberta shows “it won’t go along with whatever edicts the federal government brings down ,” Ottawa “would be much wiser in coming. through with any kind of policy like (vaccine mandates) again.”
University of Calgary law professor Lorian Hardcastle said it’s hard to know the effects without seeing the reform legislation itself.
“I would say it’s worrisome,” he said. “And we’re not as well prepared if we were to possibly go into another pandemic.”
Hardcastle said the Alberta government has already removed itself from the authority to enforce mandatory vaccinations during a public health crisis when it made changes to the Public Health Act during the COVID-19 pandemic.
It is unclear whether employers could be prohibited from requiring employees to receive certain vaccinations, he added.
“What tools are we possibly taking out of the hands of employers who work with vulnerable people or the like in terms of not being able to respond effectively to a public health crisis, or even just the public health status quo?”
Smith told the Western Standard that Ottawa could still enforce vaccination requirements for federal workers, but her government has authority over provincially regulated workplaces.
Hardcastle added that the proposal would likely conflict with the United Conservative government’s plan to introduce legislation that gives the police and family the authority to force drug users into treatment.
“Their new legislation (addiction treatment) could be subject to a legal challenge under these changes to the Bill of Rights.”
Other changes to the Bill of Rights outlined by Smith Tuesday would also ensure that the state respects “the right of individuals to lawfully and safely acquire, keep and use firearms.”
Smith said she believes law-abiding gun owners have been targeted by the federal government, and hopes the changes will better protect farmers, ranchers, hunters and sports enthusiasts.
The legislation would also state that Albertans cannot be dispossessed without due process of law and fair compensation, Smith said.
Eric Adams, a professor of constitutional law at the University of Alberta, agreed that it was too soon to tell what effects the proposed changes might have.
A draft version of the new Alberta Bill of Rights approved by the United Conservative Party board includes 21 rights, including the three Smith mentioned in his video on Tuesday.
Adams said any new right introduced that goes beyond what is already contained in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms would lead to a “new legal landscape in Alberta”
“You are expressing something fundamental about the state, about its judicial system, about the power of courts and about limits that are placed on governments,” he said.
Adams added that such an important change to Alberta’s legal landscape should be subject to a “robust” engagement process that would determine the potential implications of each new right, especially during public health and safety emergencies.
“All those questions and concerns I think would want to be fully discussed at a public level if the government is introducing extensive changes to the Alberta constitution.”
Smith swept into her leadership promising to crack down on COVID-19 complaints, firing key public health officials who served during the pandemic shortly after taking office and now working to dismantle and replace the state’s health authority .
Members of the United Conservative Party have been pressing Smith to recognize rights that go far beyond the Canadian Constitution and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, including around guns, parental rights and taxes.
Smith’s announcement comes as she faces a party leadership review in early November.
Alberta’s conservatives have been known to boot their own leaders from the top job, including former UCP premier Jason Kenney, who resigned after winning lackluster support in a leadership review.
This report was first published by The Canadian Press on September 24, 2024.
(Except translation, this story has not been edited by achinews staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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