By Blue Jay
Public Safety & Emergency Preparedness Minister Ralph Goodale (left), Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada Jody Wilson-Raybould, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Liberal MP Randy Boissonnault raise the Pride and Transgender flags on Parliament Hill (June 14, 2017) Photo credit: Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press
Justice Minister David Lametti (LaSalle-Emard-Verdun – Quebec) has been trying to force a controversial ban on conversion therapy for two years. In December 2021 he was finally successful. After trying with Bill C-8 (2019) and Bill C-6 (2020), he and the Liberal government somehow persuaded the entire parliament and senate to unanimously pass Bill C-4 last week.
The official Opposition (in name only) actually put forward the motion. Then in an incredible act of coordination rarely seen, the House of Commons passed the bill through all three legislative steps with all-party unanimous consent, and the same happened in the Senate. All within 48 hours!!! No debate or improvements. No voice given to anyone with any concerns about gender identity being conflated with sexual orientation or how damaging affirmation for self-identified children and youth could be.
Our Opposition Parties, who are supposed to represent all constituents not just those who believe in gender ideology, completely failed the hundreds of thousands of Canadian parents, detransitioners and doctors who opposed the addition of gender identity to this bill.
A list of the briefs (24) and other documents received by the Senate’s Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs with regard to Bill C-6 (2020) can be found here.
A list of the briefs (290) and other documents received by the House of Commons’ Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights with regard to Bill C-6 can be found here.
Gender Dissent opposes the addition of gender identity to this bill for the following reasons:
1. This bill has made it illegal to have your child receive any supportive therapy to help them accept the body they were born in, once they claim to be trans by self-identification (no age restrictions seem to have been discussed).
Children are permitted to give informed consent to permanent medically induced changes to their bodies at age 14, before they have the capacity to understand what that even means, or have seen one psychiatrist or counsellor to understand if there are any comorbidities (childhood trauma, cutting or self-harm behaviours, autism, ADHD, feelings of shame for same-sex attraction, depression, anxiety) or any number of issues that face teenagers which may be causing them to hate their bodies.
Research has shown that 61-98% of children have a high rate of natural resolution of gender dysphoria and reidentify with their biological sex. Regardless of this fact, Canadian parliamentarians from all parties have mandated with Bill C-4 the automatic ‘affirmation’ of every individual’s view of themselves (no matter their age) as transgender and the provision of medical interventions can now happen without any psychological assessments. How many children who might have grown out of it, will have been made into unnecessary lifelong medical patients? Puberty blockers can start as early as 9 years old.
2. This bill is the new gay conversion therapy – meaning that the parents of gay children can now convince them they aren’t actually gay, they are trans, so they are really straight. Legally subjecting these children to lifelong medical interventions.
3. The language of this bill is vague. Gender identity or expression has not been defined in any of the legislation put forward by the Liberal government (ex. Bill C-16 – adding gender identity and expression to the Canadian Human Rights Act). There are also concerns with the definition of ‘conversion therapy’.
Bill C-4 Definition of conversion therapy
320.101 In sections 320.102 to 320.104, conversion therapy means a practice, treatment or service designed to
(a) change a person’s sexual orientation to heterosexual;
(b) change a person’s gender identity to cisgender;
(c) change a person’s gender expression so that it conforms to the sex assigned to the person at birth;
(d) repress or reduce non-heterosexual attraction or sexual behaviour;
(e) repress a person’s non-cisgender gender identity; or
(f) repress or reduce a person’s gender expression that does not conform to the sex assigned to the person at birth.
For greater certainty, this definition does not include a practice, treatment or service that relates to the exploration or development of an integrated personal identity — such as a practice, treatment or service that relates to a person’s gender transition — and that is not based on an assumption that a particular sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression is to be preferred over another.
See Dr. James Cantor’s blog about his opposition to the previous conversion therapy Bill C-6 here. He states “the definition of conversion therapy repeats a common error: It treats sexual orientation and gender identity as the same. As pointed out previously however, there is no such thing as conversion therapy for gender identity: The existing evidence pertains to sexual orientation and only to sexual orientation.”
4. We are concerned about how therapists will interpret the law in their daily practice to avoid being charged. This act does not provide any guidance about what types of ‘exploration’ of gender identity are permissible, or not.
Bill C-4 amends the Criminal Code to create a criminal offence for:
· causing another person to undergo conversion therapy;
· do anything to remove a child from Canada with the intention of making that child undergo conversion therapy;
· promoting or advertising conversion therapy; and
· receiving financial or other material benefit from the provision of conversion therapy.
Concerned Canadians are worried about the experimental nature of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and radical surgeries being conducted on Canadian children, youth and adults. Currently the American Academy of Pediatrics provides no evidence about how these treatments are beneficial to the patients.
Excerpt from brief provided by Canadian Gender Report
Most Canadian gender clinics rely on the World Professional Association of Transgender Health Standards of Care (WPATH) but this document does not meet international standards for a reliable clinical guideline and has not been accepted by any guideline review organization.
Yet, Canadian parliamentarian purposefully conflated sexual orientation and gender identity in this bill without truly understanding the differences. While this is a win for the transgender lobby which is backed by funding from the federal government under the Trudeau Liberals, it’s a huge loss for Canadian parents, who have children and teenagers grappling with mental health issues.
Please visit our Resistance Column for more gender critical websites you can explore.
The text of Bill C-8 (2019) can be found here.
The text of Bill C-6 (2020) can be found here.
The text of Bill C-4 (2021) (passed) can be found here.
5. No one seems to be discussing the additional burden gender affirming hormones are making on the environment, since they are all flushed down the toilet, nor the cost of the sex reassignment surgeries and additional procedures that these unnecessary amputations are putting on an already taxed health care system. Oh, and btw, totally paid for by the Canadian taxpayer.