Happy Thanksgiving Again, Eh!

Today is Thanksgiving Day for my Canadian readers and my homegirls in Newfoundland and Ontario. I wanted to take a moment and show y'all some love as you folks spend this day with family and friends.

Hope you've had a great year (know they did in Winnipeg now they have their beloved Jets back) and you have plenty of delicious food to eat with all the trimmings on your holiday table.

Today is also a day we take stock of our blessings, and even though I won't get to do that over a turkey until next month, one of the blessings I'm thankful for is the enduring friendship of Renee and Paula.  I'm also thankful to all of you who spend your valuable websurfing time in the Great White North and elsewhere around the world perusing my blog.     

Thank you for showing me the love, and Happy Thanksgiving to you!. 

Big Night Coming In Winnipeg

The 2011-2012 NHL season opens this coming weekend, and nowhere is it being more eagerly anticipated than in Winnipeg.   After 15 years without their beloved Jets, Winnipeggers got the news last May the Atlanta Thrashers were being purchased and relocated to the city.   They snapped up 13,000 season tickets, bought the new gear and jerseys when the redesigned Jets logo was released and have eagerly awaited the October 9 clash with the Montreal Canadiens that opens their 2011-2012 season.

The NHL put off realignment until the conclusion of this season, so for the time being the Jets are in the NHL's Southeast Division 1500 miles away from their nearest division rival.  

But Jets fans don't care.   They have NHL hockey back and they'll be rocking the MTS Centre on Sunday and proving how much they missed it.

Why A Trans Rights Bill Is Needed In Canada

Liberal MP Dr.Hedy Fry and NDP MP Randall Garrison just introduced Bills C-276 and C-279 a few days ago in the Conservative majority dominated Parliament.  

Why did they do so?   Because it's clear that the Great White North and the trans people who live inside its borders need that human rights coverage.

A blatant case of anti-trans discrimination has blown up and become international news centered on the Trail's End Farmers Market in London, ON.

On September 10 Karen Clarke, the cis female owner and proprietor of True 2 You of London, a business that sells candles, oils, air fresheners and incense was called by the manager of the farmer's market and told she could not set up a booth in their 'family friendly' facility the next week if she planned on having a trans person running it. 

Clarke had worked a morning shift in the booth, then left it in the hands of her trans employee Dani Dominick in order to prepare for the next day's business.   She was shocked to receive the transphobic call at 8 PM that evening.

"He said it made everyone uncomfortable and it just wasn't right. This is a family place, a family market and this just isn't right. I just kept insisting what happened that was wrong and he said you walk up to the person and they're dressed like a woman and they've got big hands, a deep voice and tattoos and it's just not right. It's just not a family place he kept repeating that over and over again. And I kept trying to get from him what was wrong, what was so not right, what was it that people were complaining about and there was no details forthcoming that way. He called them 'those people' several times."  

Dani, the employee in question is according to Clarke one of her best employees and has worked without issue at the Children's Festival, Rib Fest, and Food Fest this past summer. In addition to working for Clarke, Dani also lives with her as part of a rent-for-work agreement.

Attorney Michelle Boyce is providing legal counseling to Clarke and a discrimination complaint has been filed with the Ontario Human Rights Commission.   Boyce says that if it rules in their favor, the fall out could be significant.

"We're in the process of filing human rights against Trails End Market, its blatant discrimination of what they've done. I've never seen a case so obvious."

There is a Change.org online petition that has sprung up in support of Clarke and the trans workers discriminated against that has garnered over 3700 signatures .

But let's hope that some of the fallout from this incident that Boyce talked about is a groundswell of positive public opinion that gets the Trans Rights Bill passed even in this Conservative dominated Parliament.

Trans Rights Bill Reintroduced In Canada

One of the legislative casualties because of the Canadian election call earlier this year was Bill C-389, the Trans Rights Bill authored by now retired NDP Critic Bill Siksay that passed the House of Commons 143-135 on Third Reading but was stuck in the Conservative controlled Senate .

The private member's bill Siksay was sponsoring for the third time had it passed would have given trans Canadians explicit rights under the Human Rights Act and the hate-crimes provision of the Criminal Code.

MP Fry was a supporter of the previous bill, and promised the retiring Siksay that if C-389 failed , she would bring it up in the next Parliament.

"I said, 'Look, if you’re leaving and the bill doesn’t get through, I will bring it back for you,'” According to Xtra, Fry sent a letter to the NDP’s Libby Davies about the issue. “I said, 'It’s not about you or me, or the NDP or the Liberals, it’s about trans persons, so let’s come together and work on it.'”

Now that the fall session of Parliament is about to get cranked up north of the border, despite the fact that the Conservatives have a majority in the House of Commons, the Liberals and the NDP are joining forces to try to get civil rights coverage for transgender Canadians.

On September 19, making good on her promises to Siksay and the promise she made during the campaign to reintroduce this bill during the next Parliament if she won reelection, Vancouver Centre Liberal MP Dr. Hedy Fry introduced Bill C-276 in the House of Commons, followed on September 21 by the introduction of Bill C-279 by NDP queer issues critic Randall Garrison of Esquimalt-Juan De Fuca .

Bill C-389 had some Conservative support that included two Cabinet ministers, but now that they have a muscular 167 seat majority, will those Conservative MP's support it?

Fry's Bill C-276 is an exact redraft of the previous Siksay bill, and would amend the Canadian Human Rights Act to include gender identity and gender expression as prohibited grounds of discrimination.  

It would also amend the Criminal Code to outlaw hate speech that advocates genocide against groups distinguished by gender, and to allow evidence that a crime was motivated by hate based on gender to be taken into account during sentencing.

In addition to Dr. Fry's and MP Garrison's support, it also has the support of Green Party leader MP Elizabeth May.

Will be interesting to see how far this one goes in this Conservative controlled chamber.