Danielle Smith takes to social media to clarify statements

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith took to her official Twitter account on Wednesday afternoon to clarify comments she made at a press conference hours after she was sworn in on Tuesday.

The statement in part read that her intention was to underline the mistreatment of individuals who chose not to be vaccinated and were in her view being punished by not being able to work or travel or in some cases seeing loved ones.

"I want to be clear that I did not intend to trivialize in any way, the discrimination faced by minority communities and other persecuted groups, both here in Canada and around the world or to create any false equivalencies to the terrible historical discrimination and persecution suffered by so many minority groups over the last decades and centuries."

Smith also wrote that she is committed to listening learning and addressing the issues affecting minority communities and that over the next few days her office would be reaching out to set up meetings with minority community stakeholders.

"We need to all actively work together as Albertans and Canadians to end all discrimination against all minority communities."

Smith's clarification came after a political brouhaha erupted over her comments in which she stated that she would be willing to look into changing the Human Rights Act in order to protect unvaccinated individuals from what she believes is discrimination. 

Her comments were in response to a question a reporter had asked during the Tuesday afternoon press conference when she asked the Premier about vaccine choice and how she wanted to protect that under the Human Rights Act. Smith was asked how she viewed this in contrast with vaccine choice being equal to issues of race, gender, and sexuality, which are protected under the Human Rights act as those are not choices.

"The community that faced the most restrictions on their freedoms in the last year were those who made a choice not to be vaccinated. I don't think I've ever experienced a situation in my lifetime, where a person was fired from their job, not allowed to watch their kids play hockey, or not allowed to go visit a loved one in long-term care or hospital," Smith said.

In response to Smith's Tuesday afternoon news conference, various opposition party members, including NDP leader Rachel Notley and NDP Justice Critic Irfan Sabir criticized her position on the matter.