A hearing has yet to be scheduled regarding nine human rights complaints filed by transgender and intersex people in British Columbia., after an unsuccessful settlement meeting eight months ago.
The complaints—which call for the removal of gender from all provincially issued birth certificates—were filed against B.C.’s Vital Statistics Agency between November 2013 and December 2014.
When a human rights complaint is filed, a settlement meeting is scheduled by the tribunal under B.C.’s Human Rights Code, giving both parties a chance to confidentially resolve the complaint without the need for a hearing.
According to documents obtained through B.C.’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, the B.C. government had a human rights settlement meeting scheduled for August 2015.
Excerpt from briefing binder for Minister of Health’s Estimates Debates, 2015
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Angela Frattaroli, a Ministry of Health spokeswoman, said in an email she was unable to comment on the matter because the complaints were now before the tribunal, adding the province “welcomes participation from the transgender community in policy discussions and looks forward to working with the community to address concerns on an ongoing basis.”
However, lawyers representing many of the complainants said the ministry argues that designating gender on birth certificates is not discriminatory.
The Vancouver-based law firm said gender markers expose more transgender, intersex, and gender variant people to risk, and increase their chance of harassment.
Dr. Brian O’Neill, a professor of social work at the University of B.C., said this discrimination isn’t always deliberate. “We don’t notice it. It’s kind of like the air that we breath. You can say these policy or procedural changes are sort of bureaucratic niceties, but I think that on the real world they have an actual real effect.”
Source: UBC
Transgender refers to a person who does not identify with the gender assigned to them at birth, whereas an intersex person is born with ambiguous sexual anatomy, meaning it is incorrect to label them as either male or female at birth. The complainants argue doctors should wait to assign the gender of a baby, instead of immediately after birth.
In 2014, the B.C. government made changing gender on birth certificates easier by removing the need for proof of gender-reassignment surgery. But not every transgender person identifies as either male or female and O’Neill said adding another box isn’t enough.
“The concept of categorizing is problematic,” he said. “Does it really solve the problem to have another box that you can check off? To have male, female, or transgender? The gender binary is the problem.”
O’Neill said having an official change—like the removal of gender on birth certificates—could be a big step forward in social equity.
“I think the challenging of the gender boundaries is revolutionary,” he said, adding this tribunal decision, whatever it is, could have a ripple effect on transgender and intersex issues throughout Canada.
“It would be transformative for everyone, not just trans people,” a representative from the law office said. “It would be the beginning of having gender treated the way race is treated on the birth certificates, that is to say, something which is self-defined and irrelevant of a categorization.”
Additional documents and ATIP requests:
Status of Women Canada_previously released records