Transpeople around the world are watching along with our Canadian trans cousins as C-279, the Trans Rights Bill passed another step in its nerve wracking journey through the Canadian Senate to become law in the Great White North. After more spirited debate on May 23 in which the Conservative opponents of the bill did their best to flush it out of existence with 'bathroom bill' and trans predator rhetoric, C-279 passed Second Reading in the Canadian Senate on May 29 and was referred to the Senate Standing Committee on Human Rights the same day.
The committee is scheduled to meet today at 4:00 PM EDT and on the committee's agenda is a hearing on C-279. The bill if it becomes Canadian law would add gender identity to the list of protected grounds under the Canadian Human Rights Act and under the hate crimes section of the Criminal Code.
The persons who are scheduled to testify in front of the Standing Committee On Human Rights this afternoon are:
- Greta Bauer,
Associate Professor, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics (University of Western Ontario) - Ryan Dyck, Director of Research and Policy (EGALE Canada)
- Ian Fine, Secretary General (Canadian Human Rights Commission)
- Randall Garrison, M.P., Sponsor of the Bill in the House of Commons (House of Commons)
- David Langtry, Acting Chief Commissioner (Canadian Human Rights Commission)
While this bill is a step closer to becoming Canadian law, it still has to get out of this committee, to the Senate floor for two more hours of debate and a final vote. If C-279 passes Third Reading, it would then go to Governor General David Johnston for Royal Assent, which would make it Canadian law.
So keep crossing your fingers, rubbing your good luck charms and saying your prayers for our Canadian trans cousins and hoping that by the end of this month, they will have a federal law protecting their human rights in their home and native land.
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