Ottawa has been a difficult place to push for transgender rights in recent years, with essential bills ensuring basic human rights being killed over issues such as bathroom accessibility, but priorities in the justice minister’s mandate letter suggest the level of debate under the Liberal government will be more sophisticated.

On Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s list of policy priorities for Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould, alongside high profile campaign promises like the legalization of marijuana and the partial repeal of C-51, new legislation is being promised to add gender identity as a prohibited ground for discrimination under the Canadian Human Rights Act, and to the list of distinguishing characteristics of “identifiable group” protected by the hate speech provisions of the Criminal Code.

“It’s very encouraging to hear this is going to be a priority for this government,” says Alex Neve, Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada, who has been advocating for this kind of legislation for years.

“This is such a change from previous efforts, which have always been through private members bills, but to have this done through government legislation is such a welcome change.”

The last attempt to amend the Canadian Human Rights Act to include transgender rights was private members Bill C-279, put forward by NDP MP Randall Garrison in 2012.

C-279 passed through the House by 18 votes, including four from Conservative cabinet ministers, but was delayed in the Senate until the end of the session when last minute amendments were tacked on and the bill was sent back, doomed to die on the order paper.

The most offensive of the amendments was the so-called ‘bathroom amendment’, which would exclude freedom of access to “premises restricted to one sex only”, including correctional facilities, crisis centres, victims shelters, locker and changing rooms, and, most commonly, public washrooms.

This was as far as the debate had gotten in Ottawa after eight years during which other legislative attempts to protect transgender rights came and went without success.

The Liberals campaigned on the promise to revive C-279, promising it would go without the ‘bathroom amendment’ that ultimately stalled it in the Senate, a promise Neve is glad to see the Liberals fully intend to keep.

“For the transgender community and for human rights groups in Canada, this is something we have been campaigning for now for about a decade,” says Neve. “So to see this go forward will be immensely welcome.”

@Claire_Wahlen

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