Great news!
The federal government has today announced that it will add 'gender identity' and 'gender presentation' to federal human rights legislation.
Although trans people are already protected under the ground of 'sex', this fact is little known either within or outside trans communities across the country.
And protection on the grounds of gender presentation means that anyone - cis, non binary, trans - who doesn't "look like" someone says they should look will be protected. This may have interesting consequences for example in work places with dress codes.
Morgane Oger, chair of B.C.'s Trans Alliance Society, says "The Protection of gender identity and gender expression is already law in most of Canada: Alberta, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island already explicitly protect both gender identity and gender expression. Manitoba, Northwest Territories, and Saskatchewan explicitly protect Gender Identity, and British Columbia, New Brunswick, Nunavut Territory, Quebec, and the Yukon Territory interpret transgender protection under other grounds.".
In B.C. Spencer Chandra Herbert has introduced a private member's bill to add these protections to BC's Human Rights Code without success. B.C.'s Liberals continue to refuse to protect trans people explicitly.
The federal government has today announced that it will add 'gender identity' and 'gender presentation' to federal human rights legislation.
Although trans people are already protected under the ground of 'sex', this fact is little known either within or outside trans communities across the country.
And protection on the grounds of gender presentation means that anyone - cis, non binary, trans - who doesn't "look like" someone says they should look will be protected. This may have interesting consequences for example in work places with dress codes.
Morgane Oger, chair of B.C.'s Trans Alliance Society, says "The Protection of gender identity and gender expression is already law in most of Canada: Alberta, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island already explicitly protect both gender identity and gender expression. Manitoba, Northwest Territories, and Saskatchewan explicitly protect Gender Identity, and British Columbia, New Brunswick, Nunavut Territory, Quebec, and the Yukon Territory interpret transgender protection under other grounds.".
In B.C. Spencer Chandra Herbert has introduced a private member's bill to add these protections to BC's Human Rights Code without success. B.C.'s Liberals continue to refuse to protect trans people explicitly.
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