Thank you.
Thank you to all the witnesses for being here today.
I want to start by focusing on transphobia. In 2021, of the 30.5 million people in Canada aged 15 or older and living in a private household, only 0.33% identified as trans or non-binary. It's a minuscule portion of the population, yet the rhetoric, misinformation and hate directed at transpeople are quite astonishing, and we see them here in Canada, not just in the United States.
In my riding, there were complaints about drag storytimes at the Oakville Public Library. I don't know that anybody's died at a drag storytime, but they certainly have died because of transphobia. It's not just far-right YouTube channels that are pushing this; Alberta just passed three bills to supposedly protect kids and females in sport.
My assistant Rodney dug up a story that happened in British Columbia. During a track meet, a man stepped forward during an event and began questioning the gender of a nine-year-old because she had a pixie cut. He demanded that her parents provide documentation to prove her sex.
Do you believe this kind of transphobic hate also hurts people toward whom the hate is not even directed? Here's a little girl who's no doubt being traumatized because of the rhetoric that gets into the general discourse.
I wonder if you could talk about the impacts this kind of language and tone have on society.
Maybe we'll start with you, Ms. Dubuc, and then go across.