The Liberal government is about to table a tighter version of its dead-on-order bill to ban “conversion therapy” for gay people.
Nicholas Schiavo of “No Conversion Canada” says government officials told him the new bill “would leave less room for loopholes”. The bill would now make it illegal to try, through “conversion therapy”, to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity, even if that person had given their “consent” to a practice in the past. remaining discredited.
Less ambitious, the previous Bill C-6 wanted to prohibit forcing adults into conversion therapy “without their consent”. In addition, this practice was banned outright for children, who would be too young anyway to give their consent.
The House of Commons had passed the bill, but it could not be passed later in the Senate until the upper house adjourned for the summer, and C-6 ultimately died on the order paper when the first Minister Justin Trudeau called an early election in August.
However, the Liberals promised to resubmit the bill within the first 100 days of a new term, which began when ministers were sworn in on October 26.
Chantalle Aubertin, press secretary to the Minister of Justice, David Lametti, who presented the first bill, assured that the Liberal government was determined to “completely ban” conversion therapy. Mr Schiavo does hope that the new version will have more bite and that it will be tabled in the first weeks of the new session in Parliament, which begins next Monday.
“What we have heard, and what we want, is that the next bill provides for a complete ban on conversion practices, with no loopholes based on age, gender identity or faith, ”he said. “We have spoken with several jurists who say that such a total ban would stand up to any challenge based on the Canadian Charter” of Rights and Freedoms.
What will the Conservatives do?
Bill C-6 had been heavily amended and contested by more than half of the Conservative caucus, but strongly supported by the other parties in the Commons.
Progressive voices nonetheless deplored a serious basic flaw in the bill: “consent” to conversion therapy could not be valid, since it is already a harmful and discredited practice. Many young people who had “consented” to the practice did not understand what they were getting into, or accepted under duress from family or spiritual leaders, believes the organization “No Conversion Canada”.
Conversion therapy sometimes included electric shocks and intensive sessions to suppress any attraction that was not heterosexual. This practice is already banned in many countries around the world, including Malta and Germany; New Zealand is preparing to do so.
The Liberals consulted with other parties to try to gain political support before the new bill was introduced. The Bloc Québécois, the New Democratic Party and the Conservative leadership should support it. Erin O’Toole has already spoken out against conversion therapy, as have several Conservative MPs. But others voted against previous attempts, saying Bill C-6 risked criminalizing a simple conversation with a spiritual leader or therapist.
The bill is expected to include provisions to guarantee freedom of expression, including private discussions and sermons in religious contexts, as well as any discussion of gender identity, it says. Schiavo hopes the Conservative leader will ensure that all his MPs support the new bill this time around. “I don’t believe there should be conscientious votes on issues that are out of the question,” he said.
A survivor of “faith-based” conversion therapy said the experience had prompted him to attempt suicide. Another recalled that he was 19 when, with encouragement from his family, he joined an evangelical church in Kingston, Ontario. He said he had undergone rituals that involved fasting for days before church members laid their hands on him to cast out the demon.