News

As I left my office one day this week, I was struck by the diverse, full-throated birdsong that greeted me. When I arrived home, I threw open the windows, despite the cold drizzle, to invite the sound of that joyful chorus indoors.

Like birds in the springtime, our voices as the parents of trans children are beginning to be heard and heeded. As an example, the following events have taken place since January:

PFLAG Canada has selected three individuals/organizations from across Canada to receive its inaugural National Champion Against Homophobia Award, and I’m pleased to report that because of you, I am one of them. This award belongs to all of us. We are all on this journey together, and I am so very proud of us.

What is particularly thrilling about the National Champion award is the public recognition that PFLAG Canada is giving to trans persons and their families. It helps to validate TransParent Canada and raises its profile immeasurably, becoming much more visible to families seeking support.

I addressed close to 2,000 students at the local university about trans issues and our personal journey as a family.

First Unitarian Congregation of Toronto, the third-largest Unitarian congregation in Canada, invited me to deliver a sermon about trans issues. To read the address, please go to http://www.firstunitariantoronto.org/Sermons/Wiley.htm. The sermon was also reproduced and distributed to delegates at the annual Breaking the Silence Conference at the University of Saskatchewan in March.

I received approval to facilitate a workshop about trans families at the Sexual Health and Human Rights Conference at the University of Guelph in Guelph, Ont., on June 20.

TransParent was featured in the Canadian Unitarian Council’s Spring 2007 national publication. To read the story, please see http://www.cuc.ca/canu/spring07_web.pdf. We’re on page 13.

I will be representing TransParent at a Social Justice Forum in April at the local university where one session will be devoted entirely to speakers involved in the trans community.

TransParent will have a greater presence in the 2007 Toronto Pride Parade; the theme this year is “Unstoppable.” (Like us!) For details, e-mail me at trans-parent@hotmail.com. Please join us.

My trans friends in Ireland asked permission to use some of the elements on the TransParent Canada website on their own emerging website. They also report that this year, for the first time in history, there will be a trans presence in the Dublin Pride Parade.

Our voices are being heard, not just here in Canada, but south of the border and overseas as well. Like the birds in springtime, we have a lot to sing about.

On March 21, 2007, Ontario MPP Cheri DiNovo (NDP, Parkdale-High Park) introduced Bill 186: An Act to Amend the (Ontario) Human Rights Code respecting Gender Identity.

The private member’s bill specifically demands that the words “gender identity” be included in the human rights code.

The bill is known as Toby’s Bill in honour of the late Toby Dancer, a trans person who as a studio musician produced albums for many artists, including Ian Tyson.

Bill 186, if passed, would make Ontario the first province, and the second jurisdiction after the Northwest Territories, to include a visible ground of gender identity in human rights codes in Canada.

The bill is also supported by Barbara Hall, the Human Rights Commissioner for Ontario.

To send letters of support to Cheri DiNovo, e-mail her at dinovoc-qp@ndp.on.ca

Following is the proposed bill:

An Act to amend the Human Rights Code respecting gender identity

Note: This Act amends the Human Rights Code. For the legislative history of the Act, see Public

Statutes – Detailed Legislative History on www.e-Laws.gov.on.ca.

Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Ontario, enacts as follows:

1. Section 1 of the Human Rights Code is amended by adding "gender identity" after "sexual orientation".

2. Subsection 2 (1) of the Act is amended by adding "gender identity" after "sexual orientation".

3. Section 3 of the Act is amended by adding "gender identity" after "sexual orientation".

4. Subsection 5 (1) of the Act is amended by adding "gender identity" after "sexual orientation".

5. Section 6 of the Act is amended by adding "gender identity" after "sexual orientation".

Commencement

6. This Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent.

Short title

7. The short title of this Act is Toby's Act (Right to be Free from Discrimination Because of Gender Identity), 2007.

______________

EXPLANATORY NOTE

The Bill amends the Human Rights Code to specify that every person has a right to equal treatment without discrimination because of gender identity with respect to,

(a) services, goods and facilities (section 1 of the Code);

(b) accommodation (subsection 2 (1) of the Code);

(c) contracting (section 3 of the Code);

(d) employment (subsection 5 (1) of the Code); and

(e) membership in a trade union, trade or occupational association

or self-governing profession (section 6 of the Code).

Legislative Assembly of Ontario

Official Records for March 21, 2007

MEMBERS' STATEMENTS

VISITOR

Ms. Cheri DiNovo (Parkdale–High Park): On a point of order, Mr. Speaker: I just want to introduce someone well known to many here who is in attendance today: Susan Gapka, who is one of our noted transactivists in the community. Welcome, Susan.

INTRODUCTION OF BILLS

1350

TOBY'S ACT

(RIGHT TO BE FREE FROM DISCRIMINATION BECAUSE OF GENDER IDENTITY), 2007 / LOI TOBY DE 2007 SUR LE DROIT À L'ABSENCE DE DISCRIMINATION FONDÉE SUR L'IDENTITÉ DE GENRE

Ms. DiNovo moved first reading of the following bill:

Bill 186, An Act to amend the Human Rights Code respecting gender identity / Projet de loi 186, Loi modifiant le Code des droits de la personne en ce qui concerne l'identité de genre.

The Speaker (Hon. Michael A. Brown): Is it the pleasure of the House the motion carry? Carried. The member may wish to make a brief statement.

Ms. Cheri DiNovo (Parkdale–High Park): Toby's Act is named after one of Canada's great musicians. Toby Dancer was a producer of Ian Tyson albums, a studio musician and a transsexual. This bill adds two words to the Human Rights Code, "gender identity," so that people who are transsexual or transgender can be protected along with their lesbian, gay and bisexual brothers and sisters. Currently, as Barbara Hall has attested in the Toronto Star, this protection is not extended to them, despite the abuse, oppression and discrimination the trans community has faced. We want to change that and ask that this bill be made law by this government immediately, before another life in that community is lost. In honour of the life that was Toby Dancer's.