A First Nation is making itself a safe haven from Alberta’s trans youth care ban

On September 9 of this year, during a public gathering for the 150-year anniversary of Treaty 6 — an agreement signed between several First Nations and the British Crown in 1876 that legally recognized the sovereignty of Indigenous communities — leaders of the Saddle Lake Cree Nation said that they will not allow the Canadian government to make decisions involving the welfare of their trans and gender-nonconforming youth. Specifically, the Saddle Lake Cree are invoking the “medicine chest clause” in the very same treaty establishing the nation’s right to comprehensive healthcare, which its leaders say includes gender-affirming care.

“No longer will our children and families have their rights taken away,” Saddle Lake chief Dale Steinhauer said during the gathering, per CBC News. “When one group's rights are removed, we are all affected.”

Instead, Steinhauer announced that the Saddle Lake Cree Nation, located 100 miles northeast of the province’s capital Edmonton, will recruit doctors to provide gender-affirming care services on its land reserve, so that youth within its borders and in surrounding provinces can legally and safely access the care they need.