FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Alberta Civil Liberties Research Centre Faces Precarious Future Following Ministerial Refusal of Approved Grant

Calgary, Alberta — February 3, 2026

The Alberta Civil Liberties Research Centre (the Centre) is an independent charitable organization dedicated to advancing public understanding of civil liberties, human rights, and constitutional freedoms in Alberta through research, education, and public engagement. Our work is entirely educational; we do not engage in advocacy. We were founded in the early 1980’s by Sheldon Chumir and Janet Keeping, both well-known promoters of respect for civil liberties and human rights in Alberta.

For over 40 years, the Centre has received over 95% of its funding in grants from the Alberta Law Foundation (ALF), which supports access to justice and public legal education across the province. These grants are not public funds; they are derived from interest on lawyers’ trust accounts and are allocated by an independent, arm’s-length board, through a merit-based process, governed by factors set out in the Legal Profession Act. Until this year, the Minister of Justice and the Government of Alberta have had no direct involvement in the grant approval process.

In 2025, after a rigorous vetting process, ALF approved the Centre’s 2026 grant application for approximately $780,000 in accordance with the factors set out in the Legal Profession Act. However, the Alberta government recently passed legislation requiring any grant by ALF over $250,000 to be approved by the Minister of Justice.

The Minister decided to override the ALF board’s decision and denied our grant application in its entirety, citing concerns about ALF’s financial management and oversight of grant processes. In their decision letter and their subsequent discussion with Centre representatives, Alberta Justice representatives did not cite any concerns with the Centre’s work or performance. Instead, they claimed that their concerns were with ALF’s management of finances and the fact that the Minister had other priorities for “this year” favouring front-line legal services. These supposed priorities of the Minister have never been made public nor communicated to ALF or to grant applicants prior to the Centre’s application being submitted.

As a result of the Minister’s decision, the Centre has suddenly lost its primary source of operational funding and now faces a precarious future. We simply do not have other significant sources of funding to enable us to carry out our mandate. The Centre’s ability to continue its long-standing, independent work in legal research and public legal education is at serious risk and we are facing an existential threat to our continuing viability.

We understand that the Centre is the only ALF grantee that has had the Minister deny its entire funding renewal application. While the Minister’s staff were adamant that this decision was not political, the singling out of our organization raises the concern that it does in fact have much to do with the nature of the Centre’s work in promoting awareness of human rights and civil liberties in Alberta.

The Centre remains committed to its mandate and is assessing next steps in light of this decision.

For more information, please contact:

Cam Stewart
Executive Director
Alberta Civil Liberties Research Centre
Cameron.stewart@ucalgary.ca

Michael Greene, K.C.
Chairman of the Board of Directors
mgreene@sgimm.ca