Canadian Women’s Declaration

CA — . On November 21, 2019, a group of Canadian women publicly launched a petition calling for the repeal of “the most retrograde legislation to be passed during contemporary times.” As legislation that “infringes upon women’s rights to be defined as female and to have legal sex segregated spaces”, the petition states that Bill C-16 is essentially “state-sanctioned gaslighting”.

Bill C-16, passed in June 2017, added “gender identity or expression” to the list of prohibited grounds of discrimination in the Canadian Human Rights Act. A number of women are becoming increasingly concerned that “C-16 has been abused and weaponized by many rights-campaigners who have not been acting in good faith”.

The declaration notes that the Government of Canada has not released any information related to its Gender Based Analysis (designed to determine how women might be impacted), despite repeated requests under the Access to Information and Privacy Act. Nonetheless, the declaration highlights a number of examples of negative consequences for women, including:

Individuals launching complaints or threatening legal action against female aestheticians or women-only spas for refusing to wax male genitalia (including most recently Jessica/Jonathan Yaniv) or allow male bodies into spaces where women are undressed

Crimes committed by males being classified as female violence, when perpetrators self-identify as women

Male inmates being transferred to low-security female correctional facilities when the inmates identify as women

Women being evicted from women’s shelters for objecting to having to bunk with males who identify as women

Lesbians receiving rape and death threats for rejecting males who consider themselves lesbians

Vancouver Rape Relief facing violent threats because it enforces a legal woman-only policy

Women losing their jobs for questioning gender identity politics

Women being suspended from social media platforms, notably Twitter (often for “misgendering or deadnaming of transgender individuals”)

De-platforming women who support women’s sex-based rights

Males who identify as women being permitted to compete as women in sports competitions

Planned Parenthood teaching elementary students that anatomy “isn’t male or female”

The declaration’s organizers ask that individuals read their introduction and explanatory notes *before* signing the declaration and/or making inquiries, which can be found here.

Those wishing to sign the declaration can do so here:

English version: CANADIAN WOMEN’S DECLARATION; AN APPEAL TO REPEAL BILL C-16

Version française : DÉCLARATION DES FEMMES CANADIENNES : APPEL À L’ABROGATION DU PROJET DE LOI C-16

On January 8, 2020, a copy of the letter and signatures (with contact information) will be emailed to elected Government representatives, such as Members of Parliament, Senators, Premiers, and Mayors.

As of November 25, 117 individuals had signed.