Category: Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Page 1 of 2

Case Commented On: Wirring v Law Society of Alberta, 2025 ABCA 413

PDF Version: Religious Freedom and the Oath to the Sovereign, Revisited

On December 16, 2025, the Alberta Court of Appeal overturned a decision of the Court of King’s Bench which had held that the Oath of Allegiance required of candidates for enrolment in the Alberta Law Society did not infringe the religious freedom of the claimant, Mr. Wirring. At the relevant time, the text of the Oath was as follows:

I ________swear I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second, Her heirs and successors, according to law (quoted in Wirring v Law Society of Alberta at para 2).

The Nuclear Option: An Update on Alberta’s Legislation Targeting Trans and Gender Diverse Youth

By Jennifer Koshan

On November 19, 2025

In Constitutional, Equality, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, Human Rights, Injunctions, Youth and the Law

By: Jennifer Koshan

Case and Bill Commented On: Egale Canada v Alberta, 2025 ABKB 394 (CanLII); Bill 9, Protecting Alberta’s Children Statutes Amendment Act, 2025, 2^nd Session, 31st Legislature

PDF Version: The Nuclear Option: An Update on Alberta’s Legislation Targeting Trans and Gender Diverse Youth

On November 18, 2025 the UCP government introduced Bill 9, which seeks to amend three statutes that were passed last year restricting the rights of trans and gender diverse youth. The Protecting Alberta’s Children Statutes Amendment Act, 2025 invokes s 33 of the Charter, such that if the Bill is passed, the three statutes will apply notwithstanding several Charter rights and freedoms, the Alberta Bill of Rights, RSA 2000, c A-14, and the Alberta Human Rights Act, RSA 2000, c A-25.5. This is the second time s 33 has been used in recent weeks, with Bill 2, the Back to School Act, SA 2025, c B?0.5, invoking s 33 to end the teachers’ strike and impose a contract on them in late October (see an ABlawg post on Bill 2 by Shaun Fluker et al here).

An Open Letter to Premier Danielle Smith Re: “Preserving choice for children and youth” Announcement

By Admin

On February 15, 2024

In Constitutional, Equality, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, Youth and the Law

Matter Commented On: Government of Alberta, News Release, “Preserving choice for children and youth” (1 February 2024)

PDF Version: An Open Letter to Premier Danielle Smith Re: “Preserving choice for children and youth” Announcement

Editor’s Note:

This post is a reproduction of a letter sent by faculty members, legal researchers, and staff at the University of Alberta and University of Calgary Faculties of Law to the Premier of Alberta regarding the government’s announcement of restrictions targeting transgender youth.

Premier Danielle Smith
Office of the Premier
307 Legislature Building
10800 – 97 Avenue
Edmonton, Alberta
T5K 2B6

By email: premier@gov.ab.ca

12 February 2024

Dear Premier Smith:

Re: “Preserving choice for children and youth” announcement

We are faculty members, legal researchers, and staff at the University of Alberta and University of Calgary Faculties of Law. We have come together to express our deep concerns with the government’s announcement of restrictions targeting transgender youth. These restrictions will harm Two-Spirit, trans, and gender diverse children and youth by undermining their education, restricting their access to healthcare, and narrowing their sport and recreation opportunities. We believe these restrictions violate their rights, as enshrined in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (the “Charter”).

Bridging the Digital Divide: Encouraging Societal Participation in the Face of an Increasingly Digital World

By Hasti Pourriahi

On June 26, 2023

In Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, Internet Law

By: Hasti Pourriahi

Matter Commented On: Bank of Canada Public Consultation and the Digital Divide

PDF Version: Bridging the Digital Divide: Encouraging Societal Participation in the Face of an Increasingly Digital World

The Bank of Canada’s pursuit to introduce a digital Canadian dollar is often prefaced by reference to the necessity of this development, should digital currencies issued by other countries become widespread enough that they begin compromising centrally issued currencies. Most recently, in May of 2023, a public consultation was launched around a potential central bank digital currency (CBDC) which accepted responses until June 19, 2023. The Bank of Canada recognizes that a decline in cash use could leave groups of Canadians financially excluded, especially considering ongoing unequal levels of access to technological resources and advancements.

R v Hills and R v Hilbach and Section 12 of the Charter: The Twelfth Dimension of Sentencing

By Lisa Silver

On February 9, 2023

In Criminal, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, Indigenous, Sentencing

By: Lisa Silver

Cases commented on: R v Hills, 2023 SCC 2 (CanLII); R v Hilbach, 2023 SCC 3 (CanLII)

PDF Version: R v Hills and R v Hilbach and Section 12 of the Charter: The Twelfth Dimension of Sentencing

Editors’ Note: This is the third in our series of posts to mark Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Week at the University of Calgary, which deals with the impact of mandatory minimums sentences on the Charter rights of Indigenous persons.

We live in four dimensions of space, famously described by the space-time continuum imagined by Albert Einstein. In legal terms, a courtroom is an example of this kind of space we perceive when practicing law. If we look outside of law and further into the field of physics, even more dimensions are possible – upwards of 26 according to the Closed Unoriented Bosonic String Theory. This article is concerned with a previously unacknowledged dimension of the law, found within the confines of the sentencing hearing. In the recent Supreme Court of Canada decisions of R v Hills, 2023 SCC 2 (CanLII) and R v Hilbach, 2023 SCC 3 (CanLII) a new dimension of the sentencing hearing is revealed through the application of s 12 of the Charter, which protects the right “not to be subjected to any cruel and unusual treatment or punishment”. Specifically, in Hills and Hilbach this section is engaged by the minimum terms of imprisonment mandated by the offence provisions, both of which involve firearms. The subsequent s 12 inquiry is, like the dimensions conjured by string theory, not necessarily perceived by everyone in every sentencing hearing but is an ever-present reminder of core sentencing principles, like proportionality and parity, which ensure the continual presence of human dignity in the sentencing process. Although this twelfth dimension has been revealed by virtue of the Hills and Hilbach decisions, the s 12 inquiry itself reveals much about the limits of sentencing and the frailties of our system of justice.