Bill C-204 (Historical)

An Act to amend the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code (gender identity and gender expression)

This bill was last introduced in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session, which ended in September 2019.

Sponsor

Randall Garrison  NDP

Introduced as a private member’s bill. (These don’t often become law.)

Status

Outside the Order of Precedence (a private member's bill that hasn't yet won the draw that determines which private member's bills can be debated), as of Dec. 9, 2015
(This bill did not become law.)

Summary

This is from the published bill. The Library of Parliament often publishes better independent summaries.

This enactment amends the Canadian Human Rights Act to include gender identity and gender expression as prohibited grounds of discrimination.
It also amends the Criminal Code to include gender identity and gender expression as distinguishing characteristics protected under section 318 and as aggravating circumstances to be taken into consideration under section 718.2 at the time of sentencing.

Elsewhere

All sorts of information on this bill is available at LEGISinfo, an excellent resource from the Library of Parliament. You can also read the full text of the bill.

Canadian Human Rights ActRoutine Proceedings

December 9th, 2015 / 3:15 p.m.
See context

NDP

Randall Garrison NDP Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke, BC

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-204, An Act to amend the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code (gender identity and gender expression).

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce a bill that, in fact, was passed twice by the House of Commons: in the 40th Parliament and again in the 41st Parliament, each time only to be blocked by the unelected Senate.

Before we can take up consideration of this bill again, more than five years will have passed since the House first voted to explicitly guarantee transgender and gender-variant Canadians the same rights and protections the rest of us already enjoy. Meanwhile, transgender people continue to suffer from high levels of discrimination and all too often, violence.

I was pleased to hear that the new government was prepared to act quickly on this fundamental rights question. I look forward to working with the Minister of Justice and members from all parties to ensure that either the government's bill or my bill is adopted as soon as possible.

Since I introduced Bill C-279 in 2001, seven provinces have added these same provisions to their human rights codes.

Let us start down the road toward full equality for transgender Canadians by acting quickly to fill this significant gap in our human rights legislation.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)