Canadian Transgender Rights Bill Passes House Of Commons

[Butterfly]

Canadian Transgender Rights Bill Passes House Of Commons
Pam's House Blend
by: Autumn Sandeen
Thu Feb 10, 2011 at 10:30:00 AM EST


http://www.pamshouseblend.com/diary/18629/canadian-transgender-rights-bill-passes-house-of-commons


As Private Members' Bill C-389, An Act to Amend the Canadian Human Rights Act and Criminal Code (gender identity and gender expression), is put to third and final reading today, the Ontario Federation of Labour is calling on all members of parliament to vote in favour of the bill to protect the rights of trans-identified Canadians.

"This bill is about extending human rights to some of the most vulnerable among us," said Sid Ryan, President of the Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL). "Denying the rights of some has never protected our society and has always undermined our integrity. It is past time that we extend human rights and criminal code protections to trans-identified people."

The Canadian Human Rights Act and federal hate crimes laws do not explicitly protect people from discrimination based on gender identity or expression. Bill C-389, proposed by NDP MP Bill Siksay (Burnaby-Douglas, B.C.), seeks to correct that by amending legislation to include gender identity and gender expression as prohibited grounds of discrimination and adding crimes motivated by transphobia to the list of crimes treated as potential hate crimes.