Category: Human Rights

Bill C-16 was introduced this past Tuesday. The bill is officially known as “An Act to amend the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code” and is to include gender identity and gender expression as grounds for explicit protection. The contents of the bill is almost identical to the failed Bill C-279 of the…

During Pride week, a beautiful mural was erected to commemorate for the transgender women of colour who had been murdered over the past year. The mural featured the names of the murdered women, among them Sumaya who had been killed in Toronto earlier this year. The artist behind the mural was Kalkidan Assefa, whose website is…

Note: I’ve replaced slurs for trans women in the quotes below with the appropriate terms. These substitutions are identified with brackets. The bill informally known as the “trans rights bill” is dead. Bill C-279 was introduced in September 2011 as An Act to amend the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code (gender identity and…

On February 25th, I headed to Parliament to attend a Senate committee meeting on the fate of Bill C-279, An Act to amend the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code (gender identity.) This was my third time at Parliament to observe the progress of this bill through the legislative process. I was in the House…

It’s been almost two years since I made the following comment: I’m currently spending lots of my time questioning how I see myself, in particular in relation to my body. I identify as male, that lines up with my sex, I use male pronouns, and have a mostly masculine gender expression. I don’t expect that…

I’m scared that some of the most wonderful people I’ve come to know won’t be here in five years. They share stories of abuse and I bear witness to a creeping apathy to life. I see them become numb to the words of kindness from those who love them. I see those who love them feel so small because they know they…

Last Thursday, I attended the meeting for the Senate committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs. On the agenda was Bill C-279, An Act to amend the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code to add protections on the basis of gender identity. The plan was that I’d work from home from 5 AM until…

I think Ottawa’s Capital Pride serves as a good case study on the mechanics of prejudice. Capital Pride purports to represent the interests of the queer community in Ottawa and Gatineau. In practice they only serve white, upper or middle class, able-bodied, working-age, anglophone, cisgender gay individuals. For the purposes of this article, I’ll shorten this latter group to…

An acquaintance wrote a good piece the other day that discussed how violence was just another part of her everyday like brushing her teeth. She begins: So I’m playing a nice relaxing puzzle game online, trying to be a little less depressed so I can study for finals, and I happened to glance over at the…

I was deeply dismayed when the Globe and Mail published a transphobic article written by Margaret Wente over the weekend. I bring it up because on the outset that article seems innocuous. Clearly the editorial staff didn’t see any problem with it. To give a bit of context, this article follows a positive piece done by MacLean’s on…