Saddle Lake Cree Nation moves to secure gender-affirming care on reserve
The Saddle Lake Cree Nation announced plans to provide gender-affirming medical services on its reserve, invoking Treaty 6 to sidestep Alberta’s recent anti-trans legislation.
Saddle Lake Cree Nation is asserting its treaty-based jurisdiction to deliver gender-affirming health services on its reserve and surrounding territories. Chief Dale Steinhauer emphasized the community’s duty to protect its people’s health and reject any infringement on basic human rights, referencing past harms such as residential schools. By invoking the “medicine chest” provision of Treaty 6, the nation seeks to place these services beyond the reach of Alberta’s Bills 26, 27 and 29, which ban certain transgender treatments and limit name or pronoun changes.
The proposal would bring Canadian-trained doctors, including two-spirit family physician James Makokis, to provide uninterrupted primary, specialist, and gender-affirming care. The move aims to address rising suicide attempts among Indigenous and transgender populations, offering a legal blueprint for other First Nations. It also challenges the provincial government’s authority, framing the Alberta laws as a breach of treaty obligations.
