Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Thank you again to all the witnesses for agreeing to return today, despite the rudeness that sometimes appears in our parliamentary procedures.
Before I ask you some questions, Ms. Watts, I have some remarks on your brief, because it's been presented to a House of Commons committee, and I believe that some of it cannot go unchallenged. I have to say to you, without any personal rancour, that some of what you say in your brief is, frankly, offensive. The connection that you attempt to draw to pedophilia—anyone who's taken the time to inform themselves on the issues before us would know and should know that there is no connection between the issues we have before us of gender identity, gender expression, and pedophilia.
Much of the rest of what you presented is simply inaccurate. This includes your references to medical and scientific evidence, which is either outdated or often given a very distorted interpretation. This includes your reference to the rejection of the terms “gender identity” and “gender expression” at the United Nations. In fact, you mentioned in your brief just two weeks ago that the UN resolution on extrajudicial summary or arbitrary executions was adopted, which contains the reference to the rights for protection against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.
This also includes your reference to the use of gender identity protections in attempts to use bathrooms for unlawful activities, such as assault or voyeurism. In fact, on this point, just today—unfortunately, the letters I received from the United States were not able to be translated in time, but I've tabled them with the chair. These are letters from human rights organizations in four states that have protection against discrimination on the basis of gender identity in their legislation. These are Iowa, Colorado, Washington, and California. In each letter, the officials confirm that there have been no complaints and no incidents regarding attempts to take advantage of protections afforded against discrimination based on gender identity in order to use a bathroom or locker room to engage in inappropriate behaviour, such as voyeurism or assault; there have been no incidents in those states that have this protection.
I have in front of me details of 10 requests to meet with your organization from transgender organizations. My question to you first is, if you're appearing here as a witness, why did you ignore these requests or refuse to meet with transgender organizations, who tried their best to get a meeting with you before this meeting today?