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Queer Ontario Sees Bill C-279 As Step in Right Direction, But Still Lacking

March 14th, 2013 Comments off
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Toronto, ON March 14, 2013 – Queer Ontario unequivocally sees federal Bill C-279* as a step in the right direction; however,we harbour serious concerns with the dropping of ‘gender expression’ from the original bill.
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Individuals need to have rights and protections not only with respect to how they identify their gender (including individuals who do not identify in terms of gender) but also how they express their gender. Indeed, we recognize that attacks on individuals based on their ‘sexual orientation or ‘gender identity’ are the result not of their sexuality or gender identity, per se, but rather, of the particular ways they express their sexuality, gender, or affections – that is: in a way that contradicts the attacker’s expectations of how that individual is supposed to look, speak, act,dress, or show affection, based on their perception of their target’s sex or gender.
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We see this Bill has having the potential to extend its rights and protections to all individuals based on their gender identity and gender expression, not only those who identify as transsexual or transgender. This includes individuals who are intersex, agender, bigender, genderqueer,two-spirited, androgynous, genderfluid, and not gender-identified. This also includes individuals who are cisgender but gender non-conforming (given the tolerances of the people in their close vicinities).
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It is for these reasons that we believe the federal Conservative Government has made a serious error in calling for the removal of ‘gender expression’ from Bill C-279, inexcusably denying the bill’s rights and protections to Canadians in need.
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Although Queer Ontario sees Bill C-279, in its amended form, as a necessary first step, we would like to send the message that the government’s protective work is far from over. We stand by the position that both ‘gender identity’ and ‘gender expression’ must be included inhuman rights legislation (as is the case in Ontario, Nova Scotia, and Sweden), and thus, we are committed to continue the pursuit of their inclusion in a future amendment.
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* The bill to amend the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code of Canada to include ‘gender identity’ and ‘gender expression’ as protected grounds against discrimination and hate crimes.
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Queer Ontario is a provincial network of gender and sexually diverse individuals – andtheir allies – who are committed to questioning, challenging, and reforming the laws,institutional practices, and social norms that regulate queer people.
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Contact: Nick Mulé
————- Chairperson
————- info@queerontario.org
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Downloadable Version: QO-BillC279-Statement
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Updates on the Amendment of the Federal ‘Gender Identity’ Bill

March 7th, 2013 Comments off

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Today, the House of Commons heard the second hour of debate on the proposed amendments to Bill C-279, the bill to amend the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code of Canada to include ‘gender identity’ and ‘gender expression’ as protected grounds. This second-hour of debate was followed by a vote on the proposed amendments.
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Most significantly, the House of Commons voted in favour of:
(1) moving forward with the motion to remove ‘gender expression’ from the bill, to leave only ‘gender identity’; and
(2) moving forward with the motion to add the proposed definition of ‘gender identity’ to the bill, which is:

Gender identity means, in respect of an individual, the individual’s deeply felt internal individual experience of gender, which may or may not correspond with the sex that the individual was assigned at birth.

The final vote on the amendments and the final bill will take place March 20th.
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Moving Forward…

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If you haven’t already done so, please write to your MP to request that they support the bill.
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A list of current MPs, with a link to their contact information, can be found here: http://www.parl.gc.ca/MembersOfParliament/MainMPsCompleteList.aspx
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If you are unsure of who your MP is, you can find your riding here http://www.elections.ca/scripts/pss/FindED.aspx and search for it in the MP list above.
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Feel free to share this note with your contacts
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Notice of final Debate and Vote on Federal ‘Gender Identity’ Bill

March 6th, 2013 Comments off

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Sarah Manns, the parliamentary assistant to MP Randall Garrison, has provided the following update on Bill C-279 (the bill to add ‘gender identity’ and ‘gender expression’ as protected grounds in the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code of Canada):

Bill C-279 will be back up for its final hour of debate tomorrow, Thursday March 7th from 5:30 to 6:30pm. You can watch the debate live on CPAC (check your local listings) or stream it for free online at http://­­www.cpac.ca/­eng/­direct/­cpac1.

If you are here in Ottawa and would like to watch the debate live from the public gallery of the House of Commons the debate is open to the public. I would suggest arriving at Centre Block by 5:15pm as you will have to go through both general security on the ground floor and security for the public gallery.

The final vote will take place on Wednesday March 20th and will be followed be followed by a small reception. Details on that to come.

Thank you again for following and supporting the bill.

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Moving Forward…
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If you haven’t already done so, please write to your MP to request that they support the bill.
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A list of current MPs, with a link to their contact information, can be found here: http://www.parl.gc.ca/MembersOfParliament/MainMPsCompleteList.aspx
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If you are unsure of who your MP is, you can find your riding here http://www.elections.ca/scripts/pss/FindED.aspx and search for it in the MP list above.
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Feel free to share this note with your contacts,
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The Queer Ontario Steering Commitee
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