The Alberta Teachers’ Association (ATA) says Premier Danielle Smith should not be releasing a parental right policy this week. “She says they’ve consulted broadly on these issues, but so far the ATA has not had any conversations about this with the Premier or any government officials,” tweeted the ATA on Sunday. When it comes to policies affecting the operation of schools, the ATA said teachers must be included..Smith said on Your Province, Your Premier on Global News Radio on Saturday she understands parental rights and childhood agency. “We’ve been having a lot of conversations about this as a caucus and we’ve consulted very broadly about it and so we’ll be releasing policy on this next week,” she said. “And I’m really hopeful we can depoliticize the discussion and be thinking about the kids who are listening to us as adults talking about these issues that are impacting them and make sure that we get the right balance.” .Office of the Premier of Alberta press secretary Sam Blackett said Smith will have more to share later this week. “Further, you can refer to the Premier’s comments from the radio show this weekend,” said Blackett. Alberta United Conservative Party members voted at their annual general meeting in November to support a policy resolution to require teachers, schools and school boards to obtain written consent for minors wanting to identify as a different gender. READ MORE: Alberta UCP members pass resolution demanding parental consent for gender changesHowever, the resolution is not binding on the Alberta government.“Our board brought this resolution forward because the 13-year-old grandchild of one of our board members and seven of her school friends all decided they identified as the opposite sex they were born,” said an Edmonton-West Henday Alberta UCP member..Due to a high level of spam content being posted in our comment section below, all comments undergo manual approval by a staff member during regular business hours (Monday - Friday). Your patience is appreciated.
