Thank you so much, Madam Chair.
As was mentioned, my name is Bennett Jensen. I use he/him pronouns, and I'm the director of legal at Egale Canada.
Egale is Canada's longest standing, largest national 2SLGBTQI organization. It was founded in 1986 and, since that time, has been at the forefront of advocating for the rights of queer and trans communities.
I've been at Egale for just under two years. Unfortunately, in that time, I've had to spend the majority of my time litigating some of the issues that Mr. Lamrock spoke about. I've been counsel in litigation in New Brunswick, Saskatchewan and, late Friday, we filed litigation in Alberta.
I'm incredibly grateful to this committee for undertaking this important study.
As Mr. Lamrock suggested, Egale does have a lot of statistics about just how much the rates of violence and crime against our communities have risen in recent years. What's particularly troubling is that the rate of violent crime in particular has risen. We'll be making additional submissions in writing to this committee. I'm going to use my oral remarks, my time today, to focus on a very specific kind of violence.
Although I'm appearing today as a lawyer, I won't be speaking about the law. I am going to use my time to bring a message to elected officials not just on this committee, Madam Chair, but across the country on behalf of the incredible gender diverse young people who I've had the privilege of getting to know over the past several years. That message is to please leave us alone.
Let me explain. The gender-diverse and trans population is exceedingly small. It is hard to get accurate statistics, but it is almost certainly less than one per cent of the total population. This community, as the Supreme Court recognized in the spring of 2023 in its landmark Hansman and Neufeld decision, is also extremely vulnerable. It is always hard to be different and to be in a minority, but trans people have historically been portrayed as sick, perverse and not real or valid. In the year 2024, I hope that it is not controversial to say, as the Supreme Court has, that there is no basis for this prejudice or stereotyping and that there is absolutely nothing wrong with being trans.
Yet, unfortunately, that is not the message that trans young people across this country have been hearing from some elected officials. As is not unusual with a tiny minority population, trans youth are not well understood by those who do not know them. That's generally okay as long as we continue to live in a country where difference is welcome.
There is well-established and long-established social science and medical expertise on how best to meet the unique needs of trans young people. So many parents of trans youth across the country are doing everything they can to create environments for their kids where they can grow and develop with support and acceptance.
Unfortunately, in recent years, trans youth have been the victims of extensive misinformation and targeting. Much of this has come from political leaders, leading to devastating consequences on the ground, because the truth is, if met with love and acceptance, trans kids are very typical. They have all sorts of different interests and personalities, and, as I have been told countless times, their so-called “transness” is the least interesting thing about them.
For many young people across the country, this ability to just experience their youth has been devastated through harmful political rhetoric. When the restrictions described in New Brunswick were introduced, they were unfortunately accompanied by careless and inaccurate public statements by political leaders. These statements had significant negative consequences, as we've already heard, for young people.
One parent told me how her son, who had been a happy-go-lucky young boy, young man, had to be picked up from a gas station across the street from school where he was hiding in the bathroom because he had been followed off campus at lunch multiple times. She said that she had to spend night after night for weeks on end sitting at the end of his bed because she was scared he would not make it through the night.
The trans youth I speak with want nothing more than to be left alone, removed from political discourse and allowed to just be teens and kids.
As elected officials, you have the power to change the realities of children and youth across this country, yes, through legislation and policy but also through your words. I urge all elected officials in this country to use that power to create a country where all of us, especially children and youth, have the chance to live freely and belong, no matter their identity.
Thank you, Madam Chair.