As governments tighten restrictions on gender-affirming care, one First Nation in Alberta is taking a very different approach. Saddle Lake Cree Nation has announced plans to establish a safe haven for transgender and Two-Spirit people seeking gender-affirming medical care, challenging Alberta’s restrictions by invoking health-care rights it says are protected under Treaty 6.

The announcement came September 9, on the 150th anniversary of Treaty 6, which was signed in 1876 between the Crown and several First Nations. Saddle Lake leaders are invoking the treaty’s “medicine chest clause,” which Indigenous communities have long understood as a commitment to comprehensive health care. The Nation says that provision places health care within its jurisdiction on reserve lands, Global News reports.