First of all, I want to say welcome to the officials from the Department of Justice and from the Department of Heritage. Thank you for joining us.
Thank you to Mrs. Atwin for participating and suggesting amendments, and thank you to Mr. Garrison for moving this point.
It's a difficult issue. What I can indicate in terms of my thinking on this—and I think it reflects a number of people, including my fellow Liberal colleagues—is that we're trying to ensure that we address conversion therapy in its most pernicious form and addressing those who are most vulnerable. That's the first point.
Second, we're trying to carefully balance the bill, and in carefully balancing it, although one can never guarantee matters, we're trying to diminish risk from a constitutional perspective. What I would say to those who want to ensure that the ban that currently exists in the law, which is vis-à-vis children, and, as it's currently stipulated in the bill, it also talks about a ban with respect to adults who are participating in conversion therapy against their will.... Put that aside for a second, because I think that language can be improved, and there are some amendments on the table that relate to that. But when you remove the ability of adults to voluntarily participate in this, we do risk potential exposure on this legislation, and I think that would be to the detriment of all Canadians, particularly LGBTQ2 Canadians, because having this bill struck down would serve no one's interest.
I think the bill tries to craft a careful balance, protecting those who are vulnerable from the harms of conversion therapy but also protecting the rights and freedoms of those who may choose different types of interventions based on their own autonomous choices. A complete ban would be inconsistent with that balancing we're trying to achieve. I think where we've landed right now, where there is an outright ban for children and including a ban where adults are coerced or influenced against their will, is important. I do think that we can improve the language on adult protections, and I think we'll get to that later on during the course of our discussions at clause-by-clause.
So, not to risk jeopardizing this important protection, which would be neutered, effectively, through a successful constitutional challenge, my view is that we should oppose this amendment to keep it where it is subject to further protections for non-consenting adults, which we'll deal with later.
I will be voting against this proposed amendment.
Thank you.