CUPE Alberta and the Alberta Indigenous Council are calling on the UCP Government to repeal Bill13 The Regulated Professions Neutrality Act, in the upcoming spring session of the Alberta Legislature.
Bill 13 bans the mandatory cultural competency training for all lawyers implemented by the Alberta Law Society following a recommendation by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
“The passage of Bill 13 is an outright rejection of the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and Indigenous Albertans,” said Council co-chair and Senator Glenda Keating.
Action 25 of the Commission states:
Federation of Law Societies of Canada to ensure that lawyers receive appropriate cultural competency training, which includes the history and legacy of residential schools, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Treaties and Aboriginal rights, Indigenous law, and Aboriginal–Crown relations. This will require skills-based training in intercultural competency, conflict resolution, human rights, and anti-racism.
Alberta lawyers in an overwhelming majority voted to support Action 25 and maintain a requirement for mandatory Indigenous Cultural Competency training for practicing lawyers,” said the Senator, “but now the Government legislated away the rights of these professionals to satisfy a small minority, some of whom believe the residential school system was a good thing.”
CUPE Alberta President Raj Uppal not only expressed concern for the passage of this legislation, but also with how the member from Cypress Hill – Medicine Hat described mandatory training.
“CUPE is committed to implementing the calls to action within our work and our locals, and Bill 13 and its prohibition on the bodies that regulate our diverse members could have dangerous consequences for not only our members, but the Alberta public that they support,” said Uppal.
“The risk of this only increases when a UCP MLA likens mandatory training to “authoritarian ideological re-education camps… fuelled by far-leftist Marxist ideology and propaganda, brainwashing for social justice mafias.”
Indigenous Council Senator Glenda agrees, stating that “Every day I work to support Albertans impacted by domestic violence so I know first hand how important it is that all of us in the system have the training to meaningfully support Indigenous Albertans – from the head of Government through every department my clients and peers interact with like Health, Education, Justice and Community and Social services.”
“Bill 13 is a step backwards and risks erasing progress that has been made in the last decade.”
The Spring sitting of the Legislature could start as early as February 10th.
:clc/cope 491