At the Juno Awards in Halifax on Sunday night time, Calgary-raised pop duo Tegan and Sara obtained a standing ovation after talking out in opposition to insurance policies Alberta’s authorities is proposing that might have an effect on transgender youth.
“If the world were not so hostile to 2SLGBTQ+ people, we would see ourselves purely as musicians,” Sara Quin informed the group as she and her sister accepted the Juno Humanitarian Award for his or her work to advocate for LGBTQ2 individuals. “Advocating for our community’s rights is a great privilege, and we are dedicated to confronting any form of discrimination that threatens the well-being of our community.
“Like the Alberta government’s attempt to prevent trans youth from accessing vital care.”
Tegan and Sara settle for the humanitarian award on the Juno awards, in Halifax on Sunday.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darren Calabrese
Tegan and Sara had been offered with the award by actor Elliot Page.
Page, the Oscar-nominated star of Juno, Inception and The Umbrella Academy, got here out as transgender in 2020.
Elliot Page embraces Tegan and Sara as they settle for the humanitarian award on the Juno awards, in Halifax on Sunday.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darren Calabrese
This winter, Premier Danielle Smith introduced a brand new wide-ranging set of proposed insurance policies by way of social media that might have an effect on transgender youth in Alberta.
She mentioned her authorities plans to introduce insurance policies requiring dad and mom to be notified or to offer consent for his or her youngsters who need to change their names or pronouns at college.
She additionally mentioned Alberta plans to usher in restrictions associated to hormone remedy and surgical procedure for transgender youth in addition to new guidelines governing who transgender athletes can compete with in sporting occasions.
Smith additionally introduced her authorities will purpose to make sure there are extra docs in Alberta with experience in gender-affirming procedures and the care wanted for individuals who have these procedures.
On Sunday, Global News reached out to Smith’s workplace to ask for a press release in response to Tegan and Sara’s speech on the Juno Awards.
“The government is introducing these policies across several ministries to preserve the choices children and youth have before potentially making life-altering and often irreversible adult decisions,” Sam Blackett, the premier’s press secretary, wrote in an e-mail. “To reaffirm our support for the transgender community, we are also providing additional supports to assist transgender adults to secure the health care they need like bringing medical professionals who specialize in transgender care to Alberta.
“We’re also developing a private registry of medical professionals who specialize in this field to make it easier for transgender Albertans to access needed medical treatment and care. Additionally, we’re developing a counselling pilot project to help youth identifying as transgender and their families work through often difficult and complex issues and discussions.”
Tegan and Sara are an identical twin sisters, who had been born and raised in Calgary.
On Sunday night time, Tegan Quin described a few of the current insurance policies proposed in some Canadian provinces as a “movement against trans youth.”
“We shouldn’t be complacent,” she mentioned.
“We should step up. … I also think we have a voice to remind our government we should be focused on more important things like climate change, the fentanyl crisis, the housing crisis.”
— with information from The Canadian Press
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