My understanding (and I could be wrong but to the best of my knowledge) the rulings have all been provincial to date. In Ontario there was a ruling that trans people were covered under the broader sex category in the Ontario Human Rights code. Nunavut was the 1st (but I believe there are now 2) jurisdiction to explicitly have gender identity listed as ground for protection.
I've never heard of anyone accessing disability income through GID. You certaintly couldn't do it in Ontario, because we all know being trans is merely cosmetic here.
Indeed things are very different in Québec. Trans rights in Québec have been acheived by arguing privacy rights not gender rights. Québec has the civil code not common law, it changes everything.
Syrus (from ACT and AGO, Nik's partner) is a wonderful resource for Ontario trans stuff, Viviane N. for Québec stuff.
I found the Ontario Human rights commission website, which has a page for gender identity (here:http://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/issues/gender_identity), but I'm not certain if this was actually passed into law or not (the website is copyrighted 2006).
Was it Nunavit that included gender identity first? I thought it was the NWT in 2002 - I could definitely be wrong. Which is the second jurisdiction?
Do you know where to find this kind of information (like the actual document that describes the Ontario ruling that trans people are covered under sex)? I'm wondering if I'm going to have to go trudging into dusty law libraries to find this stuff. I just want to make sure I have the references and appropriate citations to back up my claims.
I'll try my best to get a hold of Syrus. Is Viviane likely to respond to email?
Syrus would have the stuff around the ruling in Ontario. He did a presentation at Sherbourne that covered why anyone of any gender has the right to access a washroom of any gender, etc. a few years ago, backed up with print outs of the rulings/laws that gave us those rights.
NWT is the other one, but I thought nuvavut was 1st because they instituted it when they became a territory in '99. I could be wrong on that, I confess I'm not nearly well enough versed on territory legislation.
No idea bout Viviane, but I know one of her students. If she doesn't respond to you, I'll ask Melanie which is the best way to go. Also, I have 2 of her books, including Sex Change, Social Change which is essentially on Québec and why there is no country wide trans advocacy group because English Canada can't wrap its head on how to advocate for rights without resorting to using gender as the grounds.
No problems. I'm busy coming up with my own applications for another conference south of the border.
Just a little addition in terms of SRS being de-listed and the likelihood of it being re-listed sometime in the near future: Not likely to happen. BECAUSE, they've discovered that if they push to re-list SRS, it would basically force them to also re-list opthamology appointments after the age of 18 and apparently that's not something that they're willing to do. BUT, a little birdie told me that they're currently working on some sort of plan that would provide funding to people seeking SRS without having to officially re-list it. So keep your fingers crossed.
Re: keep in mind...tyresiasNovember 19 2007, 00:44:58 UTC
This only works for common law/English Canada. Genre does not mean what Gender does in English. See my comments above yours for how trans advocace have to argue for rights in Québec.
With the demand that we use the term gender, this activism functions as a means of transforming individuals who do not have English as a mother tongue into English Canadians. -Dr. Vivian Namaste
Comments 14
I've never heard of anyone accessing disability income through GID. You certaintly couldn't do it in Ontario, because we all know being trans is merely cosmetic here.
Indeed things are very different in Québec. Trans rights in Québec have been acheived by arguing privacy rights not gender rights. Québec has the civil code not common law, it changes everything.
Syrus (from ACT and AGO, Nik's partner) is a wonderful resource for Ontario trans stuff, Viviane N. for Québec stuff.
Reply
Was it Nunavit that included gender identity first? I thought it was the NWT in 2002 - I could definitely be wrong. Which is the second jurisdiction?
Do you know where to find this kind of information (like the actual document that describes the Ontario ruling that trans people are covered under sex)? I'm wondering if I'm going to have to go trudging into dusty law libraries to find this stuff. I just want to make sure I have the references and appropriate citations to back up my claims.
I'll try my best to get a hold of Syrus. Is Viviane likely to respond to email?
Thanks for responding so quickly.
Reply
NWT is the other one, but I thought nuvavut was 1st because they instituted it when they became a territory in '99. I could be wrong on that, I confess I'm not nearly well enough versed on territory legislation.
No idea bout Viviane, but I know one of her students. If she doesn't respond to you, I'll ask Melanie which is the best way to go. Also, I have 2 of her books, including Sex Change, Social Change which is essentially on Québec and why there is no country wide trans advocacy group because English Canada can't wrap its head on how to advocate for rights without resorting to using gender as the grounds.
No problems. I'm busy coming up with my own applications for another conference south of the border.
Reply
(The comment has been removed)
(The comment has been removed)
Just for clarification - Hendriks was vice-chair of the Tribunal?
Reply
Not likely to happen.
BECAUSE, they've discovered that if they push to re-list SRS, it would basically force them to also re-list opthamology appointments after the age of 18 and apparently that's not something that they're willing to do. BUT, a little birdie told me that they're currently working on some sort of plan that would provide funding to people seeking SRS without having to officially re-list it.
So keep your fingers crossed.
Reply
(The comment has been removed)
With the demand that we use the term gender, this activism functions as a means of transforming individuals who do not have English as a mother tongue into English Canadians.
-Dr. Vivian Namaste
Reply
(The comment has been removed)
(The comment has been removed)
Reply
Reply
Leave a comment