BY BTL STAFF
Photo courtesy of Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press
Canada's federal trans rights bill passed the Senate on June 15. It previously passed the House of Commons. All that remains is royal assent. That is a formality. It should happen quickly, likely before Toronto Pride on June 25.
The bill amends the Canadian Human Rights Act to add gender identity and gender expression to the list of prohibited grounds of discrimination. It also amends the Criminal Code to extend the protection against hate propaganda set out in that Act to any section of the public that is distinguished by gender identity or expression and to clearly set out that evidence that an offense was motivated by bias, prejudice or hate based on gender identity or expression constitutes an aggravating circumstance that a court must take into consideration when it imposes a sentence.
