Evidence of meeting #141 for Health in the 42nd Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was know.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Family Doctor, Spectrum Health, As an Individual
I would reiterate what I said before. I think basically at every level of any kind of health care professional, there needs to be some baseline training on being sensitive to the LGBTQ community and their interactions with them.
Of course, you're going to get more specialized health care professionals or organizations. For us, we work in tandem with community organizations, so it's not just a pure medical clinic. There are different levels, I would say.
Liberal
Chapter Facilitator, Barrie-Simcoe County, Pflag Canada
Yes. Perhaps I could mention the Gilbert Centre, which is an organization that we have here in Barrie. It's a small organization, but they offer community training. They will go to hospitals. They'll go to the police department. They'll go to any company—they go to Tim Hortons—and they'll educate the employees, owners and managers, doctors, lawyers, whomever. That helps a lot. If you could have that kind of training ongoing, that would be great.
Co-Founder, Diversity ED
Locally in Windsor there's an amazing organization called W.E. Trans Support. They've trained all of the hospitals. They've done a whole facilities audit. They also put up a poster that's an accountability clause, that says, “If you haven't been given gender-inclusive service, please contact us at...” That becomes a partnership between W.E. Trans Support and the hospital. It's that middle ground of bringing in an advocate from the community to navigate this situation. I think those will also help people feel safe, because just putting up a sticker or saying you took a course doesn't mean everybody in your organization's going to be a safe person. Having that accountability clause is also super important, as is partnering with a local advocacy organization.
Liberal
Liberal
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
Thank you.
Just for the record, the change of law in gay marriage was really due to the courage of gay couples in this country who took the matter to court. Actually, it was the Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia courts of appeal that struck down the traditional definition of marriage between a man and a woman. That paved the way. That compelled the federal government to eventually pass a law that was then referred to the Supreme Court of Canada. So really it was the grassroots and I think the courage of gay couples that resulted in that change of law. No government or politician should take credit for that.
Dr. Wasserfall, we've heard evidence—I'm not sure if this is correct—that the poorest indicium of health is among people reporting to be bisexual. Do you have any evidence to give on that?
Family Doctor, Spectrum Health, As an Individual
Yes. If you just look at new HIV infections, the people who most commonly infect other people with HIV are the people who don't know they have HIV. Generally, somebody who's really well engaged in health care, let's say a gay guy, gets checked regularly. Now there are online resources. There are other ways of doing it that are low barrier where they can just get tested. But generally it's this population that is out of reach. They don't engage because they don't want to disclose they're having sex with same-sex partners. They don't get tested. They get infected. They don't know they're infected with HIV or syphilis or gonorrhea or any of the others, and they keep on going. It's an ongoing thing.
So definitely from a sexual health-wise point of view—
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
Would there be a similar dynamic with bisexual women? Would they also fall in that category of particularly poor health outcomes?
Family Doctor, Spectrum Health, As an Individual
Of course, women behave better....
Family Doctor, Spectrum Health, As an Individual
No, I'm kidding. That's—
Co-Founder, Diversity ED
We do. No, we just hide it easier.
On that, too, I think you're going to see it more in men because there's way more of a stigma. Because women are so sexualized, when coming out as bisexual, people are like, “Oh, cool.” There's slut shaming and a whole bunch of stuff added to it, but there's not that stigma that men have about coming out as bisexual. Just as with gay men, it's a different way of coming out. I think what you're saying is pretty accurate with men.
Family Doctor, Spectrum Health, As an Individual
Definitely we see that racially, among visible minorities. In Vancouver we definitely see that among people of the non-Caucasian race who are bisexual.
NDP
Family Doctor, Spectrum Health, As an Individual
There's a cultural component to this one.
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
My last question is for you, Ms. Fearman.
You talked about the wait-list. I think we heard evidence that there's only one hospital in the country for gender assignment surgery, and that's in Montreal. I'm curious about what the wait-list for surgery looks like in Canada. How many people are waiting for this surgery? I know your recommendation was that there be, I think, a hospital in every province for gender assignment surgery. Is there a demand for that? What is the wait-list like?
Chapter Facilitator, Barrie-Simcoe County, Pflag Canada
The last I heard, just two weeks ago, the wait-list is two years for Montreal.
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
Do you know how many people are waiting in Canada for that surgery?
Chapter Facilitator, Barrie-Simcoe County, Pflag Canada
That I do not know.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bill Casey
I just want to say that we're so lucky to have the witnesses we have. You put all your cards on the table. You tell us your most intimate secrets. We're so grateful, because it helps us understand the challenges you face. Of all the people we get to hear from, the groups we're hearing from now are the most heartfelt and the most meaningful. On behalf of the committee, I want to thank all of you.
Ms. Fearman, I know it's difficult to do what you've done, to sit here in front of a camera all through this, but you've done a great job. I noticed that you left us for a few minutes, but you came back.
Anyway, on behalf of the committee, thanks very, very much for sharing your views and stories and for helping us understand this. Hopefully, we can help shed a little light on things.
With that, I adjourn the meeting.
