Final C-389 Update
Submitted by admin on Tue, 04/12/2011 - 04:13
Bill Siksay
http://www.capitalpride.ca/final-c-389-updateDear Friends,
As you know, Parliament has now been dissolved and a federal election has been called for May 2nd. Sadly, this means that Bill C389-An Act to Amend the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code (gender identity and gender expression) has died.
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Let's remember the positive side of Bill C389. For the first time in the history of our Parliament, the situation of transgender and transsexual Canadians was debated. Many new allies of the trans community were identified among the elected representatives of the Canadian people-12 MPs seconded the bill (nine New Democrats including NDP Leader, Jack Layton and three Liberals) and 143 MPs voted in favour of it at third reading (all NDP and Bloc Quebecois MPs, almost all Liberal MPs, and six Conservative MPs). New awareness was created in the broader community about the lives of trans Canadians thanks to debate on the bill. As well, the fact that the House of Commons supported making trans rights explicit in our human rights law will hopefully be taken into consideration by tribunals, commissions and the courts. And never forget that thanks to successful complaints launched by trans people, human rights protections for transgender and transsexual people have already been established in Canadian law using the existing prohibitions against discrimination on the basis of sex and disability.
