A working group co-chaired by NDP MLA Nicole Goehring will look at ways to ban conversion therapy in Alberta.
The working group will meet over the next five months to develop ways to ban the practice in the province, the Alberta government said Friday in a news release. Recommendations will then be made to the minister of health.
Goehring, the MLA for Edmonton-Castle Downs, had been working on a private members’ bill to ban the discredited practice, which tries to change people’s sexual orientation, gender identity or expression through counselling or religious practices.
She is co-chairing the group with Glynnis Lieb, executive director of the Institute of Sexual Minority Studies and Services at the University of Alberta.
The group includes an Anglican archdeacon, the executive director of the Edmonton Pride Centre, a theologian and a survivor of conversion therapy.
The current NDP government said it is committed to banning conversion therapy.
The group’s deadline goes beyond the end of May, the latest date when Albertans are expected to go to the polls. It’s not clear what would happen with the group’s recommendations if there is a change in government.