Juno News - Has an MP finally stepped up to take on Bill C-16？

Bill C-16 is a law that passed in 2017 adding the terms gender identity and gender expression to the Canadian Human Rights Act and to the Criminal Code. However, some women were concerned from the get-go that this means that any biological male who self-identifies as a woman becomes entitled to enter female changing rooms, washrooms, and shelters.

00:00:00.000 Hi everyone, last week I brought you the story of a renewed grassroots effort to get Bill C-16

00:00:10.940 modified or repealed. Bill C-16 is a law that passed in 2017 adding the terms gender identity

00:00:17.800 and gender expression to the Canadian Human Rights Act and to the Criminal Code. However,

00:00:22.660 some women were concerned from the get-go that this means any biological male who self-identifies

00:00:28.500 as a woman becomes entitled to enter female changing rooms, washrooms, prisons, and shelters. 1.00

00:00:35.040 So if you watched my previous video, the name Jennifer Anne will be familiar to you. She's

00:00:40.260 the activist who has been trying to get an MP to sponsor her petition to release a gender-based

00:00:46.520 analysis or GBA on Bill C-16. Back in 1995, the government of Canada had committed to performing

00:00:54.020 a GBA, now it's known as GBA+, on all future legislation and policies in order to eliminate

00:01:02.240 gender inequality. However, a GBA on Bill C-16 is nowhere to be found and that's kind of suspicious.

00:01:09.660 In fall 2019, Jennifer Anne launched a House of Commons e-petition to demand that the Liberal 0.91

00:01:15.440 government release this GBA. But as the next step, Jennifer Anne had to find an MP willing to sponsor 0.79

00:01:21.580 and present the petition. And her first choice, MP Candice Bergen, did not respond in 30 days,

00:01:29.160 so the opportunity expired. So Jennifer Anne asked the next MP, Diane Finley, who declined the petition.

00:01:36.180 Her third choice, Alain Reyes, sent her an email saying he would not take it on.

00:01:40.840 Gérard Delthel then refused. Liberal Marwan Tabara refused, as did New Democrat Rachel Blaney.

00:01:47.960 Liberal Yasmin Ratassi also refused, saying she is taking the position of other MPs and not

00:01:55.020 supporting the petition. And that kind of response is quite indicative of a herd mindset. And Ratassi's

00:02:01.920 biography outlines how one of her accomplishments as an MP over the past several years has been

00:02:08.140 championing gender-balanced budget and gender-based analysis plus to alleviate poverty and enhance

00:02:14.940 equality. So gender-based analysis plus. Apparently, Yasmin Ratassi is a champion of gender-based

00:02:22.020 analyses. However, she does not support any kind of efforts to release the GBA that was done on Bill

00:02:29.260 C-16. However, the tides have turned because True North received confirmation yesterday that

00:02:35.820 Conservative MP Derek Sloan has agreed to sponsor the e-petition. Sloan is currently a Conservative

00:02:42.760 Leadership Race contender, and he said that after he expressed concerns about Bill C-16 on CTV's

00:02:49.300 Power Play, he was contacted by dozens of women's groups across the country, and he believes sponsoring

00:02:55.580 the petition is the right thing to do. Sloan just has to wait until February 11th to formally sponsor the

00:03:01.260 e-petition, because at that time it will be released from the previous MP who didn't want it. Sloan says he

00:03:08.020 will be bringing up this issue more and more throughout his leadership campaign, which he

00:03:12.880 suspects will not make him a friend of the mainstream media.

00:03:16.560 I'm Lindsay Shepard for True North.

00:03:20.100 Thanks for watching.

Juno News - February 09, 2020

Has an MP finally stepped up to take on Bill C-16？

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