Gender marker change in Canada

[Vancha]

Does anybody know whether this is possible and how one goes about doing this in Canada?  The few trans people I know here do not feel that it is possible, and far harder to do than in the US, so I find myself feeling very hopeless about this lately.  Any Canadians have any experience and knowledge and can chime in?  I really hope there is a way... Otherwise I think I'll have to find a way to move.

[matt]

hey man, i can sympathise. i was born in canada but i currently live in the uk. so i can totally understand your frustration. recently i had been checking how i could change the gender marker on my birth certificate. from different sources i learnt that you need to have hysterectomy or some form of bottom surgery in order to change your birth certificate. However, lately i also heard that they have relaxed the requirement. but again no solid info.

I also tried calling the Vital Stats dept for my province, the lady was again very vague. She said she would mail me some forms (apparently they don't have any digital formats), I'm still waiting for those. One huge problem is that she said that they will NOT change my name on my BC as I will need to live in canada for 3 months in order to do so. i think this is ridiculous in this day and age!

good news is that I managed to get some .pdf documents for changing the gender marker on your birth cert from another canadian transguy. i would upload them here, but i'm not sure how...?

Another thing I checked out was for passports. it seems like for the canadian passports it's a lot easier. check this link: http://www.voyage.gc.ca/faq/homosexuality_homosexualite-eng.asp#3. it clearly says that they can change ur passport to a gender different from your BC. i also phoned the passport office in canada, again they said it is possible.

So in short, it is all very chaotic and confusing. There are also no clear instructions anywhere online for trans people. I can't believe an advance and open country like canada would be worse than the US and UK in this respect. 

[Vancha]

Wow, very helpful, thank you very much.  Everyone I've spoken to here is extremely pessimistic about it, but I did feel there was an easier way around it.  I heard the only way you could change the gender on your birth certificate was with SRS, no way around it, no "wiggle room", so to speak.  I know that's generally the rule in the US, from what I recall, but a carefully-worded note from a surgeon after top surgery (saying that it was an irreversible surgery, or something akin to that) would do the trick.

If you can indeed change the gender on your passport that will make traveling a lot more comfortable... I like that idea a lot, seeing as I was thinking of traveling to the US this summer.  I'll have to look into that more.

Thankfully, I have been living in Canada for the entirety of my life so that is not an issue... It would be really brilliant if we could try to find out whether they have relaxed the requirements and, if so, how... I think we should band together in trying to figure this out because a lot of people I've spoken to are very hopeless about getting these things addressed, people who have been living in the correct gender for years even, and I hate to see that.

As for the .pdfs, I'd love to have them, I'll send you a PM with my email address so you can contact me, so you can attach the files that way.  That would be really great.

As for how confusing it is in Canada... Yes, it really is deplorable.  I think we should rightly be on the same level as the UK in this respect.  I sometimes really wonder what is wrong.

[matt]

Documents sent!

Good luck with everything and if you find out more info on this please come back and let us know

[Tad]

Depends where you are in Canada. I'm in alberta and all it took was one visit to the GID specialist - however any psych can write a request for a gender marker change. Super simple. Got it changed on both my drivers and my health care card with this, can change my passport too with this once I get the money.

[Vancha]

I'm in Saskatchewan... Is it possible to find out the requirements for my province alone, or should I just ask around?  I'll have to ask my psychiatrist next time I see her.

[matt]

Just thought I would post a solid update on getting your Canadian Passport changed to your new gender when your birth certificate still has your old info.

I have submitted my application, and today I got a call from the lady processing my passport. Basically they offer us trans people "a choice".

Choice 1:
Have your new gender on your passport, but the passport will only be valid for two years (same fees as a 5 year passport though). In addition, you will need to write a statement declaring that you will not sue the Canadian Passport office if you encounter difficulties abroad. (The lady said this is for situations when foreign immigration sees that your birth certificate is different from your passport... but how often does one go through immigration with your birth cert?? but anyway..) 

Choice 2:
Get a fully valid 5 year passport, but with your old gender marker.

I guess we should be grateful that they are willing to change our passports to allow for easy travel. But having it only valid for 2 years is a real pain. This is worsened by the fact that in order to change your Birth Certificate, currently one must have SRS.

This means that trans people MUST have surgery in order to have a fully valid passport that everyone else in Canada is naturally entitled to. Somehow to me this sounds slightly draconic. 

[Linus]

In regards to Choice 2 (and this applies to Ontario, not sure about other provinces) "surgery" is what is deemed as SRS surgery by you and your doctor. They do not check which surgeries you've had (as that would violate laws). So all you need is a letter  stating that you've had SRS surgeries or surgery to satisfy gender reassignment standards. This is the route I'm going to take. Once top surgery is done, I'm going to look into getting an updated passport, BC and other I.D.

[matt]

Hi Everyone,

I have some really good news regarding birth certificates I got mine today in the post and it now says "MALE"!!!

So, further to my update regarding the Passport situation, I have another major update regarding the situation with Birth Certificates and the gender marker in Canada, specifically in British Columbia. Hopefully this will be simple to follow.

In order to change your gender marker on your birth certificates you will need to do the followings:-

1) Obtain a special application form for the change of gender for birth certificates from Vital Statistics. These cannot be downloaded from their website. (I have a digital copy of the documents if anyone needs them, please PM me)

2) Get your SRS done. I am afraid this step cannot be circumvented as they specifically require a form of surgery to change your gender marker. Interestingly they do not specify what type of SRS you need, and top surgery is acceptable at present.

3) Get your surgeon and an independent doctor to sign those forms. You also need to fill in one side of the form.

4) Submit application forms, surrender old birth certificates and pay fees.

5) Receive your new birth certificate! Congratulations!

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NOTE:
1. If you want your new name to be on your birth cert, you need to separately apply for a change of name. This involves a separate fee and requires finger printing at the local authority.

2. After you get your new birth cert, you can then apply for your new passport. This passport will not be a limited validity one, instead it will be a full five year passport. And from now onwards, you will be able to apply for passports normally without all the hassle I mentioned in the previous post.
On the other hand, if you do not update the gender marker on your birth cert, when your temporary passport comes to an end, you will need to go through all the hassle I mentioned (see old post) each time your passport expires after 2 years.

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I hope this is clear, and hopefully this will prove helpful to someone. I am posting this as I myself found the whole process extremely confusing and vague. There simply wasn't clear information around or on their website.

Anyway, good luck to all you Canadians out there!   

[Electric Wizard]

In regards to Choice 2 (and this applies to Ontario, not sure about other provinces) "surgery" is what is deemed as SRS surgery by you and your doctor. They do not check which surgeries you've had (as that would violate laws). So all you need is a letter  stating that you've had SRS surgeries or surgery to satisfy gender reassignment standards. This is the route I'm going to take. Once top surgery is done, I'm going to look into getting an updated passport, BC and other I.D.

Yes, I am in Ontario too and this was what I was told. So, basically for me, changing my gender marker would be the last step in my transition, since surgery is the second last one (and can't come a second too soon).

[brandnewman]

In Quebec, you need to get a hysterectomy to get the gender marker change. However, you can get the legal name change without it.