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A controversial local activist who gained notoriety for a high-profile human-rights case has been arrested in Metro Vancouver after showing a Taser on social media.

On August 5, Langley RCMP received several reports about a woman in Langley allegedly displaying a weapon on a live-stream social-media platform. The weapon was not deployed toward any individual.

After reviewing the video and confirming reported information, officers arrested 32-year-old Jessica Yaniv of Langley for possession of a prohibited weapon.

When officers used a search warrant at the woman’s residence, they seized two conducted electrical weapons.

Langley RCMP announced today (December 16) that the B.C. Prosecution Service has approved two charges of possession of a prohibited weapon.

Yaniv will appear in provincial court in Surrey on January 13.

Yaniv made international headlines after filing a B.C. Human Rights Tribunal case against several Lower Mainland aestheticians who refused to wax her scrotum. Yaniv, who identifies as transgender, claimed discrimination against her gender identity and expression.

However, the tribunal ruled that the beauticians, who provided waxing for female genitalia only, did not discriminate against her and that Yaniv targeted Asian ethnic groups based on her perception that they had anti–LGBT agenda. Yaniv's application for reconsideration was also dismissed.

The case has prompted concerns from LGBT communities for the negative impact that it has had upon perceptions of transgender people or has contributed to transphobia.

Prominent B.C. transgender activist Morgane Oger pointed out in a commentary about Yaniv in the Globe and Mail that although transgender women are women and everyone has a right to access services, “special services may not necessarily be available to accommodate everyone”.