In late 2016, Canada’s Liberal government officially passed legislation amending its Canadian Human Rights Act (CHRA) to include perceived transgressions against transgender individuals. The bill passed with no recorded votes — meaning the publicly elected legislators passed it via secret ballot. The bill’s implications were largely lost in the news cycle amidst the heated US presidential election.
In summary, Bill C-16 amends the CHRA, adding “gender identity” and “gender expression” to the list of prohibited grounds of discrimination.
Going further, the bill also amends the Criminal Code of Canada (CCC) by extending protections against ‘hate propagada” to individuals who distinguish themselves by “gender identity” or “gender expression”
The bill can be read here in its entirety.
After actually reading it, you will notice that the bill does not even attempt to define “gender identity” or “gender expression.” Basically the Canadian version of, “we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it.”
Liberal Member of Parliament Jody Wilson–Raybould originally introduced the bill back in May. She elaborated on its vagaries:
“Gender identity is a person’s internal and individual experience of their gender. It is the deeply-felt experience of being a man, a woman, or being somewhere along the gender spectrum.”
Well, it’s comforting to know that the governing Liberal Party is amending the CCC based on people’s “internal feelings.” I suddenly feel like I fit into the lowest income tax bracket. Will that be okay, Canada Revenue Agency?
Raybould continued her elaboration on gender:
“Conversely, gender expression is how a person publicly presents their gender. It is the external and outward presentation of gender through aspects such as dress, hair, make-up, body language, and voice.”
As made clear by its author, Bill C-16 legally recognizes that one’s outfit and hairstyle supersede one’s biology as defining characteristics of gender. It’s a human rights violation to argue that a man – with all male parts – in a wig and dress is still a man. Apparently, the only thing that sets women apart from men is a ten-dollar Walmart shopping list.
Still, staunch vanguards of this Soviet abomination suggest that Bill C-16 in no way criminalizes “misgendering” – refusing to call someone by their self-defined, preferred pronouns.
University of Toronto professor Jordan Peterson begs to differ. After he spoke out against the Canadian government’s plan to pass Bill C-16, the publicly funded university sent him letters, demanding he stop his inane babbling and get back in line. The public university actually claimed that refusal to adhere to the gender-neutral pronouns could amount to prohibited discrimination.
Liberal media, however, simply cannot get enough of the CCC amendment. Left-wing columnist Michael Coren extolled C-16 in the pages of Toronto Star, calling it “a glorious display of Canada at its finest.”
CBC reporter Susana Mas wrote that Bill C-16 would guarantee legal and human rights protections to transgender people across Canada. She described it as “the latest in a Liberal tradition of human rights advancements.” She must be referring to that long list of other Liberal human rights advancements such as Paul Martin’s refusal to recognize the Armenian Genocide, Trudeau’s restoring 25 million dollars in funding to UNRWA, or Trudeau praising China’s communist dictatorship and calling Fidel Castro a “remarkable leader”.
The Huffington Post tried bolstering the case for Bill C-16 by citing a poll showing the majority of Canadians actually supporting it.
What the Huffington Post fails to mention, however, is that the polling question has nearly nothing to do with the bill itself, and conveniently omits any mention of the bill’s vagueness. All it asks is, “Do you think the rights of transgender Canadians should be protected?”
Great! So the Huffington Post can successfully report that most Canadians think other Canadians should be protected by our laws.
Sycophantically fawning over Justin Trudeau and any progressive legislation from his cabinet, liberal journalists have utterly failed to address any of the serious issues associated with Bill C-16.
Liberals claim that Bill C-16’s opponents are merely fanatic “phobes,” suggesting that criticism stems from an irrational fear of transgender people.
This couldn’t be further from the truth. Nobody is afraid of individuals suffering from gender dysphoria. What we actually fear, and rightly so, is the government putting a gun to people’s heads and insisting they acquiesce to an alternative reality where biology is not a determining factor in one’s gender.
The Ontario Human Rights Commission plainly lays out just that, “gender based harassment can involve refusing to refer to a person by their self-identified name and proper personal pronoun.”
The callous crime of “misgendering” can in fact land you in a Human Rights Tribunal. The resulting penalty here is a monetary fine, government seizure of your assets, or compulsory training programs; all of which of course are backed by the government’s gun.
The fact that liberals and the vast majority of mainstream news outlets either don’t care about any of this or don’t bother actually reading the bill, researching and reporting its implications should worry you.