CUPE Toronto District Council

Sisters & Brothers,

Please read and circulate.

Please Note! – A correction on this. This legislation includes ‘gender identity’ but unfortunately not ‘gender expression’ as protected grounds.
Still, with positive projections of smooth passage through our appointed Senate, this is a critically important piece of legislation for Canadians.

Ottawa Canada 20.03.2013 – Today is the day the proposed amendments to Bill C-279 (the federal bill to amend the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code of Canada to include ‘gender identity’ and ‘gender expression’ as protected grounds) will be voted on by the House of Commons. It is also the day the Bill will supposedly be given its third and final reading by the House. The amendment votes are set to take place after 5:30 pm (there is only one business item before it). The proceedings can be viewed at: cpac.ca

Sisters & Brothers,

Immediate Action needed! Please read below and send message!

LGBTQ allies & caucus members will want to call or send an email to MPs * asap. Conservative MPs are key.
Here’s a sample email:
TO: bob.rae@parl.gc.ca
Dear Bob, What are the chances of winning over sufficient votes to pass Bill 279, the long-overdue Trans Rights bill? What can we do to assist?

Sincerely, Stephen Seaborn
M5A X3X

Federal trans rights bill in the House Feb 27
FEDERAL POLITICS / Garrison is hopeful Bill C-279 will pass
Bradley Turcotte / National / Tuesday, February 12, 2013

NDP MP Randall Garrison is optimistic his private member’s bill, C-279, will retain support from 15 Conservative MPs when it is reintroduced in the House of Commons at report stage Feb 27.

The bill aims to amend the Canadian Human Rights Act and Criminal Code to prevent discrimination against trans Canadians.

On the final day of debate at the standing committee on justice and human rights, Dec 6, a group of Conservative MPs, including Dave Anderson and Brent Rathgeber, filibustered the debate in the hope of killing the bill.

The filibustering Conservatives succeeded in using up all allotted time, thereby sending the bill back to the House unamended. Without the amendments, which include removing the term “gender expression” and adding a definition for “gender identity,” a group of 15 Conservatives, including Shelly Glover and Kerry-Lynne Findlay, will not support the bill.

Since the committee passed two amendments before time ran out, Garrison says it was obviously in favour of the amended bill.

“We should have had time to deal with the rest, and that was prevented only by the filibuster,” he says.

NDP public safety and LGBT critic Randall Garrison is hopeful Speaker Andrew Scheer will allow amendments to the federal trans rights bill, C-279, when it returns to the House Feb 27.(File photo)
Garrison submitted a package of amendments, which include the needed compromises, Feb 7.

If Speaker Andrew Scheer confirms the amendments are in order, the bill can be debated and voted on in the House.

Garrison says he knows the majority of trans Canadians would like to see “gender expression” included in the bill, but they must understand the effect a Conservative majority government has on a private member’s bill.

“No one is excited to have to compromise to get it through,” he says. “But we have managed to find enough sympathetic Conservatives to get a meaningful bill through the House, and I think that’s what’s important.”

Susan Gapka, outgoing chair of Ontario’s Trans Lobby Group, says Garrison should be applauded for his tenacity.

Gapka was instrumental in the passage of Toby’s Act, Ontario’s trans rights bill, which includes both “gender expression” and “gender identity.”

Although Gapka is puzzled as to why “gender expression” is too controversial to be included at the federal level, she says trans people need to be protected, period.

“We need to protect people on the grounds of gender identity,” she says. “We need to do that — not tomorrow, not today, but yesterday. That’s why this bill has our full support.”

Gapka adds that “gender expression” can be added to the bill in the future under a different party’s government.

“We would never want to see the weekend crossdresser, drag queen or drag king lose their employment, be denied service or be thrown out of their housing because of that. That would be wrong,” Gapka says, regarding members of the trans community who rely on the term “gender expression.”

Amanda Ryan, of Ottawa trans support group Gender Mosaic, who called the actions of the filibustering Conservative MPs “blatant discrimination,” would also prefer that “gender expression” remain in the bill but concedes that the bill with only “gender identity” should still be passed.

Gapka and Ryan encourage supporters to contact their MPs to facilitate the bill’s passage.

“When they know there are trans people and supporters in their community, that helps educate them,” Gapka says.

Feb 10 marks the second anniversary of Bill C-389, C-279’s predecessor, achieving consent at second reading. The similar bill then died on the table due to an impending election.

Tags: amanda ryan, bill c-279, randall garrison, susan gapka, transLGBTQ allies & caucus members will want to call or send an email to MPs * asap. Conservative MPs are key.