Most Canadians are now increasingly in favor of extending human rights to transgender people and would support legislation that protects them from discrimination, according to a new poll.



But the Canadian public remains split on some of the more contentious issues relating to trans people, including whether government identification should be based on gender identity or biological sex and whether trans people should be able to choose which bathrooms they use.

The poll, published this week by the Angus Reid Institute (ARI), shows that more than eight in 10 Canadians support expanding non-discrimination laws to gender identity. It also suggests that 78% of respondents view society’s increasing acceptance of trans people in a positive light.

The poll also showed broad support for Bill C-16, legislation introduced in May by the governing federal Liberals that, if passed, would guarantee legal protections to transgender Canadians by adding “gender identity and gender expression” to the list of prohibited groundsfor discrimination.

Canada has not escaped the so-called bathroom wars, though they never reached the same fever pitch as in the US, where conservative states are locked in a legal battle with the Obama administration over the president’s attempt to require all public schools to give transgender students access to bathrooms that align with their gender identity.

A previous iteration of Bill C-16 failed in 2015 after a federal senate committee added amendments that would have exempted locations like public bathrooms and changing rooms from the legislation.

In January, Alberta set new policies for school boards across the province that allowed students to use washrooms that correspond with their gender identity after an Edmonton Catholic school’s decision to require a transgender girl to use a single stall washroom caused public outcry.

On the use of bathrooms, the ARI poll indicates that while more than 40% of respondents told the pollsters they agreed that transgender people should be allowed to use bathrooms that correspond with their gender identity, 22% felt bathroom use should be restricted by biological sex and 37% said it should depend on factors like the type of facility, personal preference and location.

Laws surrounding gender identity on official identification such as birth certificates, driver’s licenses and passports has also proved divisive, with 24% of respondents saying identification documents should show a person’s biological sex while 17% supporting the idea that ID should show a person’s gender identity.

Nearly 40% of respondents support the addition of a third, or “other” option.

Identification laws vary across Canada, with some jurisdictions requiring transgender people to have had gender reassignment surgery in order to change the gender designation. No province includes an “other” option for people who do not identify as either gender, though Ontario is expected to introduce gender-neutral identification in 2017.