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Bill C-16 a huge win, says local LGBTQ community

Jun 20, 2017 | 5:00 PM

The leader and founder of the Battlefords and Area Gender and Sexuality Alliance believes the passing of Bill C-16 is a huge win for the local LGBTQ community and will help eliminate discrimination.

Last Friday the Senate passed Bill C-16, which will amend the Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms (CHRF) and the Criminal Code of Canada to include the protection of transgendered people. In summary the bill states that transgendered people cannot be discriminated against when it comes to employment and courts have the authority to rule on sentences to include hate crimes towards transgendered.

According to Kay-Lynne Collier, founder and executive director of the Battlefords and Area Gender Alliance, this is a big step for the LGBTQ community.

“We are really excited about it. It is great news and a victory for trans people all over Canada,” Collier said. “It now protects trans people in the same way it would race and sexuality under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In the past, they were able to be legally discriminated against in the workplace, which has led to high rates of trans unemployment and homelessness.”

Collier added many of her trans friends have said they’ve been turned down from jobs because of their gender identity. She spoke of one particular situation where a friend was in a job interviews. She believed the interview was going great until she mentioned that she was getting surgery. Colliers said her friend didn’t get the job after that.

Collier added as great it is to protect transgender people under the CHRF, it is equally as important to protect them under the criminal code. She talked about a friend of hers who grew up in North Battleford, but felt the need to move to Saskatoon.

“She said he had to move away because of the level of verbal assaults she would get,” Collier said. “She said people would threaten her, so she felt she would be safer in a place like Saskatoon because there are more resources there for LGBTQ people.”

Collier added North Battleford has been making huge strides in acceptance.

“I think that it is getting better,” Collier said. “I think people are more open to having a dialogue about it. People may not know everything and they don’t have to. I think having an open mind is really important.”

The passing of bills like C-16 don’t come without controversy and this is one no exception. There are groups who want a legal definition as to what makes someone transgendered. Their problem pertains to the use of bathrooms and some are afraid sexual predators will take advantage of the new rules. Collier didn’t think that was a transgender issue.

“I don’t think that is a transgender problem as much as it is just a really creepy thing for a male to do,” Collier said. “I think the onus would be on them for doing something like that, not ‘oh we shouldn’t allow trans people in washrooms.’”

Collier added statistically transgender people are far less likely to commit assaults, so a hypothetical situation like the one these groups describe shouldn’t affect the trans community.  

The news about C-16 comes just over a month before PRIDE festivities kickoff in the Battlefords. PRIDE week will run from July 24-30 with the parade happening on Saturday, July 29.

 

Greg.higgins@jpbg.ca

On Twitter @realgreghiggins