Monday morning, Alexe Frédéric Migneault filled a car with blankets and took the road to Quebec.
Once in the provincial capital, the non-binary person from Montreal set up camp in a park near the Régie de l’assurance santé du Québec and hasn’t eaten since.
Alexe Frédéric Migneault is on a hunger strike to put pressure on the RAMQ to add a third gender option, “X”, to Quebec health insurance cards. This is the culmination of its more than two-year effort to secure an alternative to the traditional “M” or “F” identifiers for men and women.
“I’m going on strike to show them that it’s urgent, that we can’t wait forever,” Alexe Frédéric Migneault said on the phone. I want to encourage them to act as quickly as possible. »
More than just a gesture, adding the “X” designation would help protect members of Quebec’s non-binary community and ensure that medical records reflect accurate information, in his opinion. “It’s a question of health, physical health, mental health, [pour] the entire community concerned. »
Although Quebec began allowing a non-binary gender marker on birth and death certificates last year, the Régie de l’assurance santé has not yet implemented this option on its cards, which are necessary to access publicly funded health care.
In addition to the “M” and “F” symbols on the cards, the Régie includes a code according to the sex of Quebecers in the unique numbers of their health card.
In a press release, RAMQ said its health insurance cards and numbers are essential to ensure that diagnoses, treatments and care are “attached to the right person.” She added that the Quebec Ministry of Health is currently analyzing the consequences of the introduction of a third gender designation on the province’s health and social services network.
This is the fourth time that Alexe Frédéric Migneault has resorted to a hunger strike to force progress on this issue. His last strike, in September, ended when the Ministry of Health confirmed that it would eventually introduce the possibility of gender “X”.
This time, Alexe Frédéric Migneault does not intend to abandon his strike until his health insurance number has been changed and his health insurance card does not identify “X” as his gender.
Water, sports drinks and vegetable broth are his only means of sustenance.
Transgender rights activist Céleste Trianon says Quebec is the only province not to issue an identity document with inclusive gender markers. She says she has been in contact with Alexe Frédéric Migneault and has been following his efforts for almost two years.
Other provinces allow non-binary gender markers on driver’s licenses, health insurance cards or government-issued photo IDs. The federal government has made option “X” available on citizenship certificates, passports, permanent resident cards and other travel documents since 2019.
Mme Trianon says the designation is an essential element of recognition for non-binary people and that its absence results in discrimination.
“All Canadians have an identity,” said Céleste Trianon. All Canadians deserve to be able to assert their identity, not the one that governments impose on them. »
The Quebec Secretariat for the Status of Women says that the RAMQ participates in an interministerial committee responsible for producing guidelines on sex and gender markers for provincial government agencies. The secretariat, which oversees this committee, says guidance will be available soon, but has not given a date.
“I think the only real obstacle we face right now is indifference,” said Alexe Frédéric Migneault.