Members of Parliament, thank you for taking the time to hear my comments today.
I came to Ottawa as a journalism student years ago, excited to learn about Canadian rights and freedoms. I am speaking today because I believe Bill C-6 threatens the rights of all Canadians, but especially LGBT Canadians.
When I lived in Ottawa, I began to see a counsellor to help reduce my unwanted same-sex attractions and behaviour. Sadly, those of us who benefit from this counselling are not included in these discussions. That is why I need to share a statement supported by dozens of my friends who have gone through the same experience. We applaud the government if it wishes to pass legislation that criminalizes, in an explicit manner, coercive counselling practices, but Bill C-6 conflates harmful methodologies with the goals Canadians choose for themselves.
We are Canadians whose goal was to reduce unwanted sexual behaviour or gender confusion. We chose counselling as the methodology to achieve this goal. We were not coerced or harmed by this counselling; rather, this counselling helped us reduce behaviours that we no longer wanted to engage in. For many of us, this counselling saved our lives.
This counselling is threatened by Bill C-6's definition of conversion therapy. The definition is not used by any professional body in North America. The Canadian Psychological Association, the Canadian Psychiatric Association and their American counterparts do not include the phrase “reduce non-heterosexual attraction or sexual behaviour”. Good counselling will always help patients change behaviour they no longer want to engage in.
There are legitimate reasons why Canadians would want to reduce sexual behaviour without changing their orientation. Sexual behaviour can include porn, sexual addiction or extramarital affairs. If Bill C-6 passes, heterosexuals would be able to get supports to reduce these behaviours, but LGBT Canadians will not. Consenting adults would not be able to pay for a professional counsellor and mature minors would have no choice at all. In fact, this bill says that only the counselling sessions of LGBT Canadians will be regulated by criminal law. That would be a violation of our charter rights.
Now, the government argues that this bill would not impact a person's gender transition or person's exploration of their identity or development, but by adding the phrase “reduce non-heterosexual attraction or sexual behaviour” the government is already telling us what we're allowed to conclude from our exploration. We agree with ARPA's proposed amendments and ask you add “coercion” to the definition of conversion therapy.
We are not asking that you agree with our goals. We are asking you to respect our right to set goals for ourselves. In other words, we are simply asking that you recognize we exist.
Thank you.