Two advocacy groups representing the 2SLGBTQ+ community are initiating a legal challenge against the Alberta government’s regulations on names and pronouns in schools. Egale Canada and Alberta’s Skipping Stone Foundation are taking legal action to contest sections of Alberta’s Education Amendment Act (Bill 27) concerning pronouns and gender-related name changes, asserting that these provisions are unconstitutional. The organizations are currently in the process of submitting the necessary legal documents at the Calgary Courts Centre.
Under the new legislation, individuals under 16 years old must obtain parental consent to alter their names or pronouns in a school setting. For students aged 16 or 17, parental permission is not mandatory, but schools are required to inform parents when a name or pronoun change is requested by their child. These regulations went into effect on September 1, 2025, just before the start of the school year for most children in the province.
Adam Goldenberg, a lawyer from McCarthy Tétrault representing Egale, criticized the government’s actions, stating that Alberta has placed gender-diverse youth in a difficult position where they must choose between being involuntarily exposed by the government or being misgendered and misnamed at school. Alberta’s Education Minister, Demetrios Nicolaides, refrained from commenting on the legal proceedings, citing the ongoing court case as the reason for his silence.
In a related development, back in January 2024, Premier Danielle Smith introduced the school policy changes alongside two other transgender-related laws, including restrictions on transgender athletes in female sports categories and limitations on doctors providing gender-affirming care to minors. Egale and Skipping Stone previously contested the healthcare legislation in court, resulting in a temporary injunction issued by a Calgary judge against the law prohibiting doctors from offering gender-affirming treatments to children under 16. Justice Allison Kuntz highlighted the significant legal questions raised by the law and issued the temporary injunction pending a comprehensive hearing on the matter. The provincial government has filed an appeal against this injunction.
