In light of this recent news about “library inspectors” in Alberta, I cannot recommend this documentary enough. It’s a story of defiance and courage and a call to action in the face of ideological authoritarianism. Don’t think this can’t happen here, it is already underway: thelibrariansfilm.com

This separatist government. That’s it. That’s the joke.

Sadly this is probably just what the UCP intended. But the Charter is the supreme law and civil disobedience is only unlawful if government restrictions on fundamental freedoms (expression, peaceful assembly) are found to be justified. Teachers have to be able to teach the Charter, right? Right?

Re-upping now that the decision is finally available on CanLII: Alberta Teachers Association v Alberta (Attorney General), 2026 ABKB 190 (CanLII), canlii.ca/t/kjs9f.

My book Courtroom Science and Trans Youth is out TODAY, just in time for Trans Day of Visibility! It’s about how courts treat science and scientific expertise in family law cases involving trans children, and how we need to do better and stop medicalizing and gatekeeping them.

Signed. Hope others will too. ✊ www.womenfortransrights.ca

So true. And in Alberta, this policing has led to young women refusing to confirm their "biological sex" as a precondition to playing sports. Which has led to - guess what? Decreased participation of girls in sport, completely undermining the purported objective of the UCP. #abpoli

Also of note is that the official version of the decision, an unofficial version of which was shared in court on March 13, is not yet available on CanLII in spite of Justice Mah’s efforts to make his reasons accessible in other ways. Unofficial version is linked here.

New post on the ATA's injunction application re: the Alberta government's use of s 33 to send teachers back to work and "ram down their throats" a collective agreement. Justice Mah has a lot to say about the role of courts in a constitutional democracy and the Bill 21 case is influential here.

Shoutout to “creative academics” everywhere. Some members of the SCC and other courts may say this with criticism, but academic writing is a key branch of the constitution’s living tree. As is the work of NGOs who provide critical context for these arguments

What does a progressive future look like to you? Join us for this important community dialogue!

Justice Rowe just commented on the unifying nature of the Charter in terms of Canadian values. Even he seems to be indirectly questioning the argument of AB, SK, ON & QB that they should have more say in judicial appointments to better reflect regional values.

At the SCC today the gov’t interveners are making submissions on the NWS clause. Only the feds, BC & MB support courts’ power to grant declarations of Charter violations while s 33 applies. AB, SK, ON & QB say no, and released this letter on judicial appointments yesterday www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Apparently financially attacking Albertans with severe disabilities is not enough for our UCP government. Their new budget attacks seniors too, taking away dental and eye health coverage, increasing medication co-pays, clawing back employment income greater than minimum wage, etc. #abpol #ableg

Watched Pride vs Prejudice tonight. It’s a compelling take on such an important story in our constitutional history. But it really hits home how the Klein govt intensely debated using the NWS clause after Vriend and decided against. What a contrast to Danielle Smith and the UCP’s wanton use of s33.

It was terrific to chat with Morgan Meade, a student editor at the Dalhousie Law Journal, about my Christie Symposium paper "Legal Responses to Work-Related Intimate Partner Violence in Canada: Troubling Privatization." You can listen to this podcast on Spotify here: open.spotify.com/episode/5xRM...

Blog posts by @nigelb.bsky.social are always worth a read, especially when they involve my favourite river. Nigel concludes that the CRT modernization “disproportionately benefit[s] the US … at the expense of ecosystem values, Canadian priorities, and reconciliation with Indigenous peoples.”

A thorough examination by colleague [email protected] of recent cases involving provinces that preemptively invoked the Charter's notwithstanding clause, & the interesting legal arguments currently being made to keep our rights and freedoms effective.

In this @ablawg.bsky.social post I discuss litigation in AB, SK & QB that challenges the preemptive use of the notwithstanding clause. I agree with the SKCA’s approach that the Charter was not written in disappearing ink and courts continue to play an important role in declaring Charter violations

And she didn’t restrict herself to the CJ’s reasons. “Anyone in the world who shows up in Canada and makes an asylum claim is entitled to free subsidized daycare if citizens get it too, said all but one judge of the Supreme Court on Friday.” Pedalling xenophobia. The AB premier will no doubt jump on

And the good news is that the SCC majority in Kanyinda undertook an intersectional analysis focused on women refugee claimants. Section 15 Charter wins continue to be reason for celebration given the ongoing uncertainties with the Court’s commitment to equality rights, and with governments’ too.

Please join us on April 10th, 2026 for the 29th Annual Osgoode Constitutional Cases Conference. An exceptional program of speakers will critically engage with the recent caselaw, and the peerless Jeremy Waldron will deliver the annual Laskin Lecture. Registration: www.yorku.ca/osgoode/conc...

Thank goodness for wifi on airplanes. ❤️

A very hard hitting @ablawg.bsky.social post on the new limits on public consultation and the disappearance of previous studies of similar resort proposals from the NRCB website. Shaun Fluker appears to have uncovered something rotten in the state of Alberta…

And another new post from guest author Kent McNeil on issues surrounding recognition of Aboriginal title in Wolastoqey Nations v NB and Canada.

This post went up earlier this week and deals with the arcane but fascinating topic of “received law” in Alberta. Meaning received from the colonizers, and surprisingly, still applicable in some instances. We are lucky to have @ablawreform.bsky.social to delve into such topics.

“The fact that this tragic event in #TumblerRidge immediately inspired calls for restrictions on gender-affirming care and trans rights at large in Canada should raise huge alarm bells for trans people and our allies.”

Horrified at the misinformation and hate that is being spewed right now. Sending love, strength and solidarity to trans folks and their communities. 🏳️‍⚧️

I agree with my colleagues. The ACLRC is an invaluable part of our legal community. Its Executive Director of 30 years, Linda McKay-Panos, built it into a critical resource. Linda died in 2024, and I am heartbroken to see such callous disregard for her legacy and for civil liberties in Alberta.

"Democracy & justice in Alberta are being threatened. Alberta is being abused by its own government much the same way the United States of America is being abused by its current president." Over 180 Lawyers have penned an open letter calling out Smith's attack on the law. #abpoli #ableg #cdnpoli

“If the Government of Alberta is genuinely concerned about access to justice, it should invest in court infrastructure rather than leverage funding to advance demands that are inconsistent with the Constitution.” Canadian Bar Association #AbLeg cba.org/our-impact/s...

And this! The ACLRC is part of our law school. Part of the community. Supports access to justice in numerous ways. And now another target of the UCP’s ideological warfare.

So Smith claims Alberta has “distinct legal traditions” as the basis of her threat to withhold $$ for new judicial appointments without more say. It increasingly feels like the distinct legal tradition here is absence of the rule of law, though that is pretty new. apple.news/AEaOehjN7TtK...

A statement from Alberta’s chief justices: “A properly functioning democracy requires three separate branches of government that exercise their power and authority independently according to the Constitution…” This should go without saying, but they had to say it www.albertacourts.ca/kb/resources...

Absolutely! But failing the UCP doing the right thing (!), it is excellent to see advocacy organizations pushing back at the use of the notwithstanding clause. Groups like Egale and Skipping Stone should not have to expend their scarce resources on this, but we are fortunate that they are.

The People's Consultation on AI launched today! Whether you have in-depth expertise in AI issues, or don't consider yourself an "expert" but have firsthand experience with AI or its impacts and want to have your say, this is for you. Participate by March 15, 2026: www.peoplesaiconsultation.ca

“Why should a portion of the interest in a landlord’s trust account stop accruing to the tenant’s benefit and start accruing instead to the landlord’s benefit just because the tenancy ended? … Why should it now have the free use of a tenant’s money as an investment?”

New Post: The New Brunswick Court of Appeal Weighs in on Aboriginal Title and Private Lands ablawg.ca/2026/01/14...…nd-private-lands/

Equality nerds! Joshua Sealy Harrington and I wrote a chapter on s 15 of the Charter for The Canadian Constitutional Law Open Access Casebook, 2nd ed (Richard Moon, Howard Kislowicz, and Asha Kaushal, eds), that is now available on SSRN as a handy reference: ssrn.com/abstract=603....

This year's @ablawg.bsky.social year in review post has lots to say about the state of democracy in Alberta and elsewhere, a major theme on the blog this year. Wishing all our readers a 2026 in which state actors are held to the highest standards of democratic accountability and justice.

Beyond the Lecture Hall is a terrific podcast hosted by @robertalexier.bsky.social & Lee Easton. Earlier this month they facilitated a discussion on the UCP's use of the notwithstanding clause with @profsmithsask.bsky.social, Victoria Bucholtz & me. Listen in at: open.spotify.com/episode/5oCI...

The Wirring decison is out. The Alberta Court of Appeal held that the requirement that candidates for enrolment with the Law Society of Alberta take an Oath of Allegiance infringes the appellant’s religious freedom under s 2(a) of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. www.canlii.org/en/ab/abca/d... 👏

Sadly I predict a bill targeting universities in the new year. There’s the Mintz report, and Bill 13 limits DEI, cultural competency training and more for professional regulators, as well as the ability to sanction members for expression (this is their “Jordan Peterson” law). We are likely next.

This is a complete, plain language summary of the devastating changes being made to supports for disabled Albertans by the UCP's blandly named Bill 12: The Financial Statutes Amendment Act, 2025, including ideas helping to resist these attacks. #abpoli www.zacharyweeks.ca/blog/bill-12...

The UCP's latest attacks on vulnerable Albertans -- on trans youth in Bill 9 and on disabled Albertans in Bill 12 -- are despicable. Using their majority to ram through this law that destroys human rights in the middle of the night with minimum discussion suggest they know how bad they are. #abpoli

December 10 is International Human Rights Day, and only last night the UCP rammed through Bill 9, which adds the notwithstanding clause to three statutes that limit the rights of trans youth. Hansard isn't available yet, but the NDP reports that those in the government caucus joked while doing so.

The UCP’s branding of Bill 13 as the “Jordan Peterson” law takes on a whole new meaning with this revelation. How can we possibly tolerate a second law in this man’s name?

Great to see Amy Matychuk back on the @ablawg.bsky.social roster!

To take another example, Fraser #2 is now before the courts. Although the SCC found the RCMP violated substantive equality by not providing pension buyback rights to job sharing members, mostly women, the RCMP refused to apply the ruling to part-time members. Guess what? Also mostly women. Sigh.

Just saw this important film today. Thanks to the Calgary Underground Film Festival, Calgary Public Library and Justice Film Society for bringing the documentary to Calgary. Hug a librarian today, they are on the front lines of the ideological battleground that is book bans. 💜