The Federal government proposes legislation to outlaw conversion therapy within Canada

Key takeaways: 

• Related legislation proposed beginning this year was dropped when the election was declared.
• At Calgary’s Pride march in 2019 many banners were calling for conversion therapy to be forbidden.

Conversion therapy to be outlawed in Canada: 

The federal government today declared new legislation that would completely outlaw the application of conversion therapy in Canada.

Marci Ien, the minister for women and gender justice and youth, told an afternoon press conference that the introduced legislation — titled Bill C-4 — will be “among the most comprehensive in the world.” Source – cbc.ca

Conversion therapy is the undermined practice of attempting to change an individual’s sexual introduction to heterosexual, to turn an individual’s gender identification to cisgender, or to alter their gender composition to meet the sex they were designated at birth.

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The Liberal government had deferred similar legislation to ban the practice beginning this year, but the late summer election cleared out the offer before it could match the law.

The new legislation seems to be sterner and more extensive than the version that was lost with the end of Parliament before the election.

The latest version would make “causing another person to undergo conversion therapy” a criminal transgression. The earlier version, known as Bill C-6, called for a criminal fine only if conversion therapy was done on a grown-up without permission. Source – cbc.ca

The change implies that no person will be permitted to engage in conversion therapy if the bill becomes legislation — notwithstanding approval.