The Federal Court has ordered Ottawa to honour a settlement reached in a human rights complaint by an immigrant who was born with ambiguous genitalia and who asked to change her citizenship ID from male to female.

In 2012, Audrey Chedor, 53, filed a complaint with the Canadian Human Rights Commission based on sex identity and citizenship after immigration officials required her to provide proof of sex change surgery to amend the gender designation on her citizenship certificate.

Chedor, an immigrant from Germany, came to Canada and first became a Canadian citizen identified as male based on her German ID, but decided in 2010 to change the gender on her identification to female, an identity she has grown comfortable with. She told the Star she was born with “ambiguous genitalia.”

Although Chedor was able to obtain a birth registration from the province of Quebec, where she resides, to declare herself female, she couldn’t change the gender designation on her citizenship certificate because as an immigrant, she also needed to provide the sex change documentation. However, she has never had any sex reassignment surgery.

In settling the human rights complaint in February 2015, the federal government issued Chedor a citizenship certificate reflecting her sex as female, and agreed to revise its policies within a year to “remove” the requirement for evidence that they have undergone sex reassignment surgery in addition to the provincial documentation indicating a gender change.

In return Chedor agreed to terminate the complaint and not to seek damages. The settlement was approved by the Canadian Human Rights Commission in March 2015.

The terms of the settlement had remained confidential until recently, after Chedor went before the Federal Court earlier this year claiming Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada had breached the agreement.

According to Chedor’s claim, immigration officials had not revised and updated their policies, application forms and instruction guides after a year. She also made anonymous calls to the immigration call centre as a test and was told she needed to submit medical proof of a sex change.

“The settlement is to a very great extent for the general benefit of a broad group of disadvantaged people facing gender or sex discrimination. ‘Transgender’ is an umbrella term for people whose gender identity differs from what is typically associated with the sex they were assigned at birth,” Justice Luc Martineau wrote in his recent ruling in favour of Chedor.

“The fundamental question, in this evolved society, is whether the sex designation appearing on a birth certificate always corresponds with the individual’s gender or sex identity, that is, the one the individual really identifies with and is comfortable living with.”

In granting the conversion of the terms of the settlement agreement into a court order, the judge said he was satisfied Chedor acted in good faith and the government “had not fully complied with its obligations.”

“In a courageous move, the applicant resisted (the Immigration Department’s) pressures to provide proof of sex reassignment surgery and made a complaint,” praised Martineau, who awarded Chedor $1,200 in costs.

“It turns out that the applicant had nothing to gain personally . . . and has made this application for the benefit of a large group of disadvantaged individuals.”

Despite the October 31 court order, Chedor said the Immigration Department has not removed the proof of sex change surgery from its instruction guides. She notified the Justice Department as well as Immigration Minister John McCallum this month that she was giving officials 30 days to comply with the settlement by removing the reference or else she would take the matter back to court.

In a reply to Chedor, lawyers for the government said the Immigration Department offers gender change applicants a number of options other than proof of sex change surgery, though that remains one of the choices.

The department’s “identity management” program delivery instructions, they said, also provide “an express caveat” that immigration officials do not require proof of sex reassignment surgery to amend the sex designation on documents.

“This is in compliance with the settlement and simply recognizes that there are individuals who may prefer to forego adducing documentary evidence and submit proof of surgery,” wrote government attorney Daniel Latulippe. “This is always an option — never a requirement.”

Immigration spokesperson Remi Lariviere said the department has already taken steps to facilitate changing the sex designation on passports and travel documents, citizenship certificates and documentation for temporary and permanent residents.

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“Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) is committed to facilitating the issuance of identification with a sex designation that reflects a person’s gender identity,” Lariviere told the Star, adding that officials are currently reviewing its forms and products to better reflect gender inclusiveness.

Chedor, who has represented herself in both the human rights and court proceedings, said she was raised by her parents as a boy and had undergone treatment to conform to the society’s gender expectations. A person should not have to undergo a surgery to claim his or her self-identity, she noted.

“There is no word to express how disappointed I’m. It is just bad faith what the government is doing here,” said Chedor, who believes the government is still not complying with the agreement. “I will keep fighting till the end.”