Minister: activist push to make Calgary a queer “sanctuary city” is U.S.-style politics
A push from queer advocacy groups for Calgary to declare itself a “sanctuary city” has been met with firm opposition from Alberta’s municipal affairs minister.
A push from queer advocacy groups for Calgary to declare itself a “sanctuary city” has been met with firm opposition from Alberta’s municipal affairs minister, who says the idea carries no legal weight.
In a letter to Calgary’s mayor and council that Global News obtained, Queer Citizens United urged the city to declare itself a sanctuary for queer rights by refusing to comply with provincial policies that restrict transgender health care, mandate parental consent for pronoun changes in schools, and ban biologically male athletes from competing in female sports.
Victoria Bucholtz, a.k.a. Karla Marx, of Queer Momentum called the move unprecedented but necessary, citing “a huge uptick in hate crime incidences specifically targeting the queer and trans communities.”
Municipal Affairs Minister Dan Williams rejected the notion outright, drawing a comparison to American politics.
“The notion of sanctuary cities is a fabricated import of American politics and has zero legal force of law in Alberta,” said Williams.
He stressed that municipalities are bound by provincial law and warned that cities could not legally defy directives from the legislature.
“Municipalities in Alberta are required to adhere to provincial laws, and I expect the City of Calgary will do so,” Williams said.
Buscholtz previously became renowned for meeting with Alberta MLA Jennifer Johnson, where the trans activist berated the politician for refusing to accept her assertion that transgender women were women, refusing even to agree to disagree.
The interaction caught global attention, with J.K. Rowling sharing the clip and Elon Musk reacting to it.
Amelia Newbert of the Skipping Stone Foundation added that the proposal is meant to show vulnerable residents that “somebody does have your back and governments do care about you.”
Williams added that the government’s legislation is intended to “protect and preserve children and youth from potentially irreversible decisions, keep young women in sports safe, strengthen parental rights, and ensure books with graphic pornographic images do not end up in the hands of children.”
In the United States, sanctuary city policies are most often used to limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. In 2018, Edmonton’s city council similarly approved a sanctuary status to aid illegal immigrants.
The battle develops as Alberta prepares to invoke the Charter’s notwithstanding clause to protect three transgender-related laws from court challenges.
Using the notwithstanding clause for the legislation follows Smith’s issuing of new mandate letters to four of her ministers.
One of the letters, sent to Tourism and Sport Minister Andrew Boitchenko, instructed him to use every legal and constitutional option at his disposal to enforce Alberta’s new sports law.
The new legislation requires any athletes 12 years of age or older to confirm they were female sex at birth, with parental consent required for minors. These females will be able to compete in female-only sports leagues, free of intrusion by men pretending to be women.
The Tourism and Sport Ministry told True North that it will vigorously defend any laws should they be challenged in any way.
“Alberta’s government is working to ensure the full implementation of the Fairness and Safety in Sport Act using all available legal and constitutional means necessary to protect the integrity of our province’s female athletic competitions. We strongly encourage other provinces and territories to follow Alberta’s lead to ensure safe, fair and accessible sport for all,” said a ministry spokesperson.
Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek acknowledged the call but said her priority was safeguarding human rights.
“Once the human rights of one group of people start getting compromised, a lot of people are next,” she said.
Despite the advocacy groups’ push, it remains unclear what practical effect such a declaration would have, given the province’s authority over municipal governments.
I support Danielle Smith 100% on this and so do most Albertans. We do not want this in Calgary! Gondek will be gone soon thank goodness.
The queer and trans organizations have become politically militant, and have merged coordination with their efforts of militancy with violent organizations such as Antifa. They have become a cancer upon on our society. The western governments have been using these organizations, via funding by Soros/Open Society and spin off organizations to strangle freedom of expression and invent "hate" speech laws of which go against the Canadian charter of freedom of expression. The western governments are tolerating these far left wing/marxist/gender/queer/trans/Antifa people as they also serve a political purpose for left wing governments. This is attacking conservative and other voices who criticize far left wing governments. These governments are only too happy to see these organizations foment anti-conservative speech whereby they believe that anyone who dares to have different opinions of the left about anything that differs from their far left opinions, should be cancelled, doxed or charged with "hate speech" crimes......We have witnessed the public, violence, arsons, property destruction and social upheaval of the Soros/Open Society/Trans/Queer/Antifa organizations have reaped on our streets over the last decade. They have become militant, violent and extremely unruly and have no respect for their fellow citizens and recently, one of these hooligans, commited the violent murder of public speaker, Charlie Kirk. How many more violent attacks and cases of murder does a peaceful society have to endure before these radical extremists are dealt with? They are clearly out of control and only getting more and more emboldened into committing more violence against society. Why on earth would the city of Calgary even consider becoming a sanctuary city and give these violent thugs a safe haven to continue committing their violence against innocent citizens? The absolute gall of considering such lunacy is outrageous and insane. These Marxists aim to create a lawless area for which they can freely and openly, without consequences of thier violent actions, operate their thugery, violence, intimidation and propagate their crimimal behavors. For the sake of law and order and the safety of the public and sanity dont give these militants that opportunity......