Can Alberta Deliver on Its New Gun Rights Promises?

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith speaks to party faithful at the United Conservative Party annual general meeting in Calgary, Nov. 4, 2023. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith recently announced a plan to amend the Alberta Bill of Rights, and strengthening the right to gun ownership is one of the goals.

Alberta and Ottawa have been in a tug-of-war over guns before, and Smith says she’s ready to go to court over it if the feds challenge this new move to protect gun rights.

Both the province and the federal government claim jurisdiction over gun ownership, but on different grounds, says Calgary-based lawyer Leighton Gray. On the one hand, firearms can be considered personal property, and property rights are the province’s exclusive purview, he told The Epoch Times. On the other hand, the federal government is responsible for criminal law, and it has taken action on gun control on the grounds that guns can serve as crime tools.

“We’ve got the right to protect the private property rights of our citizens,” Smith said in an interview with the Western Standard on Sept. 25, the day after she announced her planned amendments for the bill of rights.

“I’m prepared to put a line in the sand and fight that out in the courts,” she said, specifically referring to the amendment on gun rights. Other proposed amendments include strengthening property rights and bodily autonomy, including the right to refuse vaccines and other medical treatments.

She said the federal government should be focused on “the criminal use of firearms,” like gun smuggling and firearm-related crimes, not on their ownership. “They should not be going after the law-abiding citizens,” she said.

The Alberta Bill of Rights was first introduced in 1972 by then-premier Peter Lougheed, and Smith said an update is needed to address current affairs. The federal push for gun control to address violent crime has made it necessary to firm-up gun rights, she said.

The province already passed its Alberta Firearms Act last year, which effectively prevented municipalities and law enforcement from participating in a federal firearms confiscation program. Among the act’s requirements were that Alberta authorities receive permission from the province before entering into firearms-related funding agreements with Ottawa or participating in the seizure of firearms.

In that case, Alberta used its jurisdiction over local law enforcement and municipalities to prevent the execution of federal policy. It seems in the case of amending the bill of rights, Smith is taking a different approach, appealing to Alberta’s jurisdiction over property rights. The amendments are expected to be tabled in early November, and the precise language of the amendments may shed further light on the matter.

Won’t Have an Impact, Says Opposition

Smith will also be undergoing a leadership review on Nov. 2, and Alberta Opposition Leader Naheed Nenshi says her Bill of Rights amendments are more about “playing to her base” than shoring up Albertans’ rights legally.

“Canadians’ fundamental human rights are protected by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and this, or any, provincial bill does not override this,” he said in a Sept. 24 X post.

Alberta’s past attempts to oppose Ottawa have also been called largely symbolic. Alberta invoked its Sovereignty Act for the first time in November of 2023. The act sets out processes for the province to refuse to enforce federal policies that “violate the jurisdictional rights of Alberta.” The province invoked the act in opposition to the federal Clean Electricity Regulations, which Smith said set impossible goals.

Federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault said at the time that Ottawa would not take Alberta to court over it, as it was merely a “symbolic” gesture.

Smith told the Western Standard that her changes to the Bill of Rights will at least make Ottawa think twice before taking any action on guns and vaccines that may be challenged by Alberta.

Jurisdictional issues may also arise in regard to the proposed amendment to shore up bodily autonomy rights.

Medical Decisions

Gray said provinces have exclusive jurisdiction over health, and that this is why lockdown orders during the pandemic were different in every province, with some more restrictive than others.

During the pandemic, however, the line dividing provincial and federal authority over health care was blurry. Gray cited the case of federal employees who had to comply with the government’s mandatory vaccination policy. The mandate applied to all federal employees, including remote workers, regardless of province.

Smith said the new amendment enables provincially regulated workplaces, which she says are the majority, to opt out of medical procedures in the event of future health mandates.

“We have to start somewhere,” she said. “I believe we’ve got a start by creating an environment for freedom in our province.”

If Smith’s amendment to the Alberta Bill of Rights is implemented, Grey said, a future vaccine mandate dictated by the government would be illegal if applied to Albertans.