2020-03-15 • Toronto • Chris Ambidge, soc.motss
The Federal Government of Canada has introduced Bill C-8, which will ban Conversion Therapy, the (all-too-frequently religiously based) attempt to turn homosexuals into heterosexuals. The bill was part of the platform of the governing Liberal party in last October's federal election. The new section 320 of the Criminal Code will create five new criminal offences:
- causing a person to undergo conversion therapy against the person’s will;
- causing a child to undergo conversion therapy;
- doing anything for the purpose of removing a child from Canada with the intention that the child undergo conversion therapy outside Canada;
- advertising an offer to provide conversion therapy; and
- receiving a financial or other material benefit from the provision of conversion therapy.
Whereas conversion therapy causes harm to the persons, and in particular the children, who are subjected to it;
Whereas conversion therapy causes harm to society because, among other things, it is based on and propagates myths and stereotypes about sexual orientation and gender identity, including the myth that a person’s sexual orientation and gender identity can and ought to be changed;
And whereas, in light of those harms, it is important to discourage and denounce the provision of conversion therapy in order to protect the human dignity and equality of all Canadians;
Now, therefore, Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows:...
It also amends the Criminal Code to authorize courts to order that advertisements for conversion therapy be disposed of or deleted.
Four provinces: Ontario, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island, already have measures in place to prohibit Conversion Therapy, but Bill C-8 will have effect across the country. It will also have the force of criminal law (which is exclusively federal jurisdiction in the Canadian confederation).
You can find, and contact, your Member of Parliament to tell them you support this bill, via this link: https://www.ourcommons.ca/members/en/search
