Mr. Speaker, I would like to start by acknowledging that I am joining members from the traditional and ancestral territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation here in Milton.
It is my honour to join the House from my office to discuss amendments to the Criminal Code that would move us one step closer to banning the horrific practice of conversion therapy. While it is daunting to follow my colleague, the parliamentary secretary with the same initials as me, I want to say that I was moved by the idea of making Canada the safest country in the world in which to fall in love.
For far too long, harmful attitudes, stigma and outright bigotry and discrimination have negatively impacted the health and well-being of LGBTQ2+ people throughout the country. That is why this is such an important bill. Conversion therapy is rooted in the wrongful premise that an individual's sexual orientation and gender identity or gender expression can or should be changed. By moving forward with stopping this harmful practice, we are sending an important message. The message is that our gender identities, our gender expressions and our sexual orientations are an essential part of who we are. Nobody should be made to feel less than or as though they should change. It is not people who need to change; it is attitudes.
LGBTQ2+ persons should be understood, appreciated and celebrated. Only then can we have a truly inclusive society. This is true of everyone, whether they happen to be gay, straight, bisexual, cisgender or transgender. However, queer Canadians are the ones who are currently facing the consequences of constantly being told that only heterosexual and cisgender sexual orientations and gender identities and expressions are okay. LGBTQ2+ Canadians should never feel coerced or forced to change into people they are not.
Conversion therapy is known to cause pain, suffering and harm, and it is terrible and wrong. Canadian society needs to include, embrace and celebrate everyone as they are. This includes the full breadth of sexual orientations, gender identities and gender expressions. Regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression, who we are is not only valid but respected and valued.
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted how much work needs to be done to build a truly safe and inclusive Canada. In fact, the evidence is all there. It was there before the pandemic. Discrimination is real in Canada, and harmful attitudes and beliefs are fuelling that discrimination.
As recently as 2014, Statistics Canada found that 31% of lesbian and gay individuals and 39% of bisexual individuals reported experiencing discrimination in the previous five years. This is simply not acceptable. Consider that in Ontario alone, my home province, an ongoing study of transgender people found that 50% of transgender youth lived in low-income neighbourhoods compared with 37% of the general population. In addition, LGBTQ2+ youth are still at particular risk of experiencing homelessness. A national youth homelessness study found that almost 30% of homeless youth are part of the LGBTQ2+ community. A 2017 study found that 75% of transgender youth in Canada aged 14 to 18 reported self-harm in the previous year compared with less than 20% of cisgender youth of the same age.
All of this is totally unacceptable and only underscores the very basic fact that stigma and discrimination are very real and continue to exist. These harmful myths, attitudes and beliefs about the LGBTQ2+ community are persisting, and they need to be stopped.
However, there is some hope and progress. In 1995, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that individuals are protected against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation through the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In 2017, the Canadian Human Rights Act added gender identity and gender expression as prohibited grounds for discrimination. Of course, more needs to be done, but these and other measures have provided incremental progress.
Today's proposed amendments to the Criminal Code regarding conversion therapy are part of that progress. Legislative measures such as these signal a broader acknowledgement that LGBTQ2+ people are valued and appreciated and they must be embraced just as they are. There is no need for the queer community to become heterosexual or cisgender. Rather, the LGBTQ2+ community must be afforded the same opportunity as everyone to be treated with full dignity, which is the same dignity afforded to other Canadians.
Much progress is possible when hearts and minds move forward in their understanding and appreciation of LGBTQ2+ people.
For instance, among transgender youth, suicide attempts are reduced by 93% in cases where parents strongly support their children's gender identity and gender expression. I am going to say that again: Suicide attempts are reduced by 93% in cases of youth with supportive parents. That is all it takes. It is incredibly powerful. If supportive parents can have such a meaningful impact, we should be encouraging more education and deeper, more compassionate understanding so that LGBTQ2+ Canadians, particularly queer youth, can fully participate and contribute without living in fear of having to face attempts to change who they are.
PFLAG Canada is a national charitable organization founded by parents who wish to help themselves and their family members understand and accept their LGBTQ2+ children. Recently, in partnership with Arts Milton and PFLAG Halton, I supported a public art project here in Milton. It is on the side of my community office, just downstairs. Small acts of love go a long way. I want to thank the artist, JR Marr, for telling their story through art and spreading that love.
There is hope in public support. According to the Fondation Émergence, 74% of Canadians say that their knowledge of issues faced by transgender people has increased in the last five years, while 72% of Canadians believe that transgender people are being discriminated against by their employers. Canadians are becoming more aware and more alive to these very real issues and that there are, indeed, real impacts to the stigma and discrimination that LGBTQ2+ people and communities face.
Conversion therapy and efforts to force LGBTQ2+ individuals to change into people they are not reflect ongoing and long-standing views that only heterosexual and cisgender identities are valued, and that only heterosexual and cisgender identities should be valued. This is a myth that must be abolished. Sexual diversity is part of the human experience. Efforts to change and to limit that diversity cause harm, and that harm needs to end. Stopping this harm will protect LGBTQ2+ people throughout Canada, but putting an end to this harm will also benefit Canada overall. We know that there is strength in diversity. There is also strength in inclusion.
When we can all be fully included in Canadian society, when we can all fully participate, and when we can all be fully appreciated and celebrated as we are and as we were meant to be, everyone wins. That is a society that is not only surviving, but a society that is thriving.
I want to close by acknowledging again how meaningful and moving the previous speaker's mention was of creating the country that is the safest one in the world in which to fall in love.