Saddle Lake Cree Nation asserts treaty right to provide gender-affirming care

Saddle Lake Cree Nation is moving to establish gender-affirming care services on its reserve lands and territories, invoking sovereign rights under Treaty 6 to operate outside provincial jurisdiction.

The initiative responds to Alberta Bills 26, 27, and 29, which placed restrictions on transgender youth and families including bans on medical treatment, name and pronoun changes, and sports participation. Chief Dale Steinhauer said the nation would not allow what happened during residential schools to happen again. "When we are being stolen from our parents and experienced genocide in Indian residential schools, we wondered, 'Who are the people that will help us?' Today, we are those people. Today, we offer our help, support and jurisdiction to override these dehumanizing laws."

The plan relies on the "medicine chest" clause of Treaty 6, which Saddle Lake argues protects the First Nation's right to regulate health care on treaty lands. The nation would bring Canadian-trained clinicians to provide gender-affirming care, primary care, and specialist services on reserve. Dr. James Makokis, a two-spirit family physician who operates a clinic for transgender patients in Edmonton, supports the initiative. "Premier Smith's anti-trans laws are a profound violation of Treaty 6. They fail to uphold the spirit and intent of the 'medicine chest' clause in our treaty," Makokis said.

According to Saddle Lake Cree Nation, studies show a significant increase in suicide attempts within Indigenous communities who don't receive supportive medical care. Transgender and non-binary people in Alberta face wait times and a lack of expertise and information that often keep patients from accessing proper care.

The source did not specify an implementation timeline, funding source, or cost of the initiative.