Canada's Trans Rights Bill C-389 Dies At Election Call
Filed by dentedbluemercedes
March 26, 2011
http://dentedbluemercedes.wordpress.com/2011/03/26/canadas-trans-rights-bill-c-389-dies-at-election-call/On June 8th, 2010, Bill C-389 moved onward from Second Reading in Canada's Parliament to the next stage. On February 9th, 2011, it passed.
With Friday's election call, Bill C-389, An Act to Amend the Canadian Human Rights Act and Criminal Code (gender identity and gender expression dies. Although a CBC report confuses things by mixing up prorogation with election calls, Bill Siksay confirms on his Facebook page that Private Members bills do not carry over after an election, and will have to start from zero again.
I watched Second Reading unfold live last summer on CPAC (due to work, I ended up missing Third Reading). It was an inspiring moment — the first time, in fact, that trans issues were voted on in Parliament — with some powerful speeches by supportive MPs, including Bill C-389′s champion, Bill Siksay. And yet as Mr. Siksay concluded second reading debate, there was something that troubled me in his tone.
