A Lack of Color

Controversial Bill 44 passes in Alberta legislature

By Trish Audette, Edmonton JournalJune 2, 2009

EDMONTON — The Alberta government ushered in controversial changes to Alberta’s human rights laws early Tuesday morning, bringing a five-week battle over the nature of rights to a close.

Bill 44 introduced to Alberta’s Human Rights Act the right for parents to pull their children from classrooms in which teachers discuss sexual orientation, sexuality, or religion. The parental rights amendment was included with a motion to enshrine gay rights in the province.

Although Premier Ed Stelmach had allowed his caucus a free vote, Bill 44’s third reading passed by a margin of 35 to seven after hours of heated debate, with all of the Tories in the house supporting and all of the Liberal and NDP opposition members voting against the bill.

Critics had said the bill would create a two-tier Human Rights Act and force teachers and school boards to defend themselves before quasi-judicial human rights commissions for discussing sexual orientation and religion in the classroom.

In turn, a “chill” against discussing controversial issues might set in among teachers, opposition parties alleged.

But the government had been largely immoveable. For weeks, the minister responsible for enshrining parental rights and protecting gay rights has said little will change at the end of the day.

“This will come to pass, (and) you guys will forget about this in another month,” Culture Minister Lindsay Blackett told reporters last week. “Talk to me in a year.”

MLAs spent part of the night debating a Liberal amendment to stop Bill 44 in its tracks.

Halting the changes to the Human Rights Act, the Liberals said, would hold off a “chill . . . that will adversely affect Alberta’s education system.”

Through the evening, prior to a final vote on the Act, opposition NDP and Liberal MLAs attacked the parental opt-out provision, questioning the long-term fallout for Alberta’s classrooms.

“We will all spend a lot of money to be told Alberta’s human rights code is substandard to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms,” Edmonton-Strathcona NDP MLA Rachel Notley said, wondering at potential costs to the province for future appeals of the parental rights provision.

Calgary-Buffalo Liberal MLA Kent Hehr called the parental rights clause a compromise to bring in protections for sexual orientation. “I think at the end of the day it was a dirty little trade.”

Education Minister Dave Hancock said his job would now include working with the Alberta Teachers’ Association, who fervently opposed the proposed law.

“Once the bill is in place then we work together to make sure that it doesn’t put the chill effect that they’re concerned about in the classroom.”

Last week, the province clarified some of the language in the bill, highlighting teachers should still be free to talk about sexual orientation or religion incidentally without notifying parents. Also, the proposed changes indicate people complaining to the human rights commission should show they first went through other avenues of complaint.

Edmonton’s gay and lesbian community organized two small protests on the legislature steps Monday, one before noon and one at 5 p.m.

“I am so very embarrassed to be an Albertan today. This government had a very simple task to do,” longtime gay activist Murray Billett said Monday morning, noting the Supreme Court of Canada urged the province to enshrine gay rights 11 years ago.

He called the expected changes “state-sanctioned discrimination.”

Lance Anderson called the legislation an affront to his family.

He and husband Blair Croft fought for years to adopt their sons, now six and seven years old.

“This legislation tells these children that their families, their parents, are less than others around them,” he said. “It’s not OK to pick on my kids because you don’t like me.”

Like many others in Alberta’s gay, lesbian, transgender and queer community, Anderson said adding protection for gay rights to the Human Rights Act isn’t worth it if it means compromising to add parental rights.

“I don’t need the Tory government to use these rights as a punching bag to hurt my children and their education,” he said. “I fought this government before to adopt my children. I won. I’ll do it again.”
© Copyright (c) Canwest News Service