Thursday, May 21, 2009
MP Siksay Tries Again To Get Canadian Transgender Bill Passed
Posted by Monica Roberts at 3:30 AM

http://transgriot.blogspot.com/2009/05/mp-siksay-tries-again-to-get.html

The conventional wisdom says that the third time you try anything is usually the charm. New Democratic Party MP Bill Siksay (Burnaby-Douglas) is hopeful that the saying is true.

Siksay, the NDP critic for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Issues, introduced a bill May 15 in the House of Commons that addresses the lack of explicit protection for transsexual and transgender people in provisions of the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code of Canada.

"I believe that enshrining explicit protections for transgender and transsexual people in our human rights legislation and our Criminal Code will go a long way towards full equality and acceptance for transgender and transsexuals people."

Would be quite redundant if he did, the case law has already read in discrimination against transsexuals as discrimination on the basis of gender in the provincial Human Rights Codes as well as the Canadian Human Rights Act. But hey, if he wins, cool. And hate crimes stuff in the Criminal Code is so seldom actually used that that's a bit moot too. But cheers to him for bringing the issue up.

Dennis