Category: Human Rights
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Trans Day of Rememberance
Today, November 20th, is the trans day of remembrance. The name is a bit of a misnomer, because gives the impression that it’s about the past when unfortunately it speaks to a very real present. I’d like to share some statistics: 64% of LGBTQ youth report feeling unsafe in their schools. 90% of trans youth…
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A Baby Step Improvement
The company I work for has an employee assistance program through its insurance policy. It’s a self-help website with material focused around health and well-being. A year and some ago, I approached them about their stuff on queer and trans issues. It was just a mess. In particular, their articles touching trans issues were so…
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Bill C-279
I was in Parliament the other day, to attend the vote on the third reading of Bill C-279 in the House of Commons. It passed, despite the Conservative Party being near-unanimous in its opposition. Mr. Speaker, I stand today to present, on behalf of thousands of people who sent these to my office, petitions in…
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What’s in a name?
Before I move on from the issue of gay-straight alliances, I’d like to address one misconception: that this was about a name. As if to suggest that had these support groups been called something else, the Catholic school boards wouldn’t have banned them. This is one of the greatest untruths of this debacle. The objection was…
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Bill 13 Passes
As of a few minutes ago, the Accepting Schools Act (Bill 13) is law. Come September, Catholic schools will no longer be able to ban support groups for queer students. According to the Globe & Mail: Bill 13 passed with 65 MPPs voting in favour and all 36 Progressive Conservative MPPs voting against it. The…
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Bill 13 Approaching Final Vote
Bill 13 is going into final vote, and this has the Catholic leadership, religious groups, and the Sun incensed. It has mobilized protesters and grabbed the national headlines. It’s a fury the likes of which we hadn’t seen yet for this. They say that this is a violation of religious freedoms, that they’ll sue the…
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A Day of Public Hearings
I got up early this morning and headed over to the Marriott hotel where I attended the public hearings for Bill 13 & 14. It was a full-day affair, lasting from nine to five. My boss knew I wouldn’t be in today and was very supportive. There were 29 groups and individuals scheduled to speak,…
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Bill 13 & 14 Public Hearings in Ottawa
The Standing Committee on Social Policy will be in Ottawa on May 22nd to hold public hearings on Bill 13 and 14. Among the confirmed speakers will be the Catholic Women’s League of Canada and the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (“homosexual activists … subvert already weak Catholic sexual teaching in the schools”). When: 9:00am, Tuesday, May 22, 2012 Where: Ottawa…
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Accepting Schools Act (Continued)
This was another day of debate for Ontario’s Bill 13, also known as the Accepting Schools Act. You can read my coverage for the previous debate here. You can read a transcript of today’s events here. The NDP through MPP Cheri DiNovo affirmed their support for the legislation, while re-iterating where they saw avenues for improvement.…
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Accepting Schools Act (Second Reading)
Introduction Yesterday was the second reading for the Accepting Schools Act (Bill 13), the anti-bullying legislation introduced by the Liberal Party of Ontario. The provisions in the bill would create a “bullying awareness and prevention week”, grant the Minister the ability to put a policies and guidelines to deal with bullying, and also the following:…