X Close

Canada’s trans activism goes into overdrive

December 1, 2023 - 3:15pm

Canada has long prided itself as a bastion of LGBT rights, and over the last year it has been doubling down on its support for the transgender movement. 

In the year since Canada announced its Federal 2SLGBTQI+ Action Plan, the country has poured tens of millions of dollars into gay and transgender initiatives at home and abroad. This includes a government-funded marketing project aimed at increasing public support for the LGBT community, numerous research projects, disease prevention efforts and funding for LGBT entrepreneurs.

So far, the action plan’s achievements include an expansion of “unjust 2SLGBTQI+ offences” eligible for “expungement” — such as certain public indecency, nudity and obscenity offences. For example, Canada made convictions related to indecency in bathhouses eligible for expungement, noting that bathhouses are “safe spaces for the two-spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, and intersex (2SLGBTQI+) communities”. 

The Canadian government is also putting indigenous peoples at the heart of its LGBT activism. Across the government, the term “LGBTQ2” has been replaced with “2SLGBTQI” so that two-spirit people are recognised at the front of the acronym. The Federal 2SLGBTQI+ Action Plan has funded 17 organisations aiding indigenous LGBT populations and four organisations promoting indigenous LGBT voices as part of a broader push to support intersectional LGBT populations. One such programme received more than $500,000 to “[foster] connections between Indigenous and non-Indigenous organisations [and] create opportunities for 2SLGBTQQIA+ individuals to network, share ideas, compare work, and learn from each other in a way that respects their uniqueness.”

The plan also involves the Canadian government spending more than $10 million on LGBT causes globally, including raising awareness of such issues in various European and Asian countries and supporting the Sydney World Pride event in Australia. Here, Canada’s LGBT efforts tend to target the marginalised: indigenous people, migrants and the poor. 

There are at least 10 publicly funded Canadian hospitals which offer cross-sex medical interventions to minors, though the exact number is unclear. Canada, like the US, doesn’t have a legal age of consent for cross-sex medical interventions. Instead, doctors are responsible for determining whether a child should undergo these procedures, and they typically follow WPATH guidelines which explicitly endorse these procedures for minors. 

Moreover, Canadian doctors routinely prescribe puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to minors. Since 2018, there have been 602 medical visits for gender reassignment mastectomies in Canada for patients under 18, including 300 who were under 17 and one 14-year-old, according to data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information. Hospitalisations and day surgery visits for gender-related mastectomies nearly doubled from fiscal year 2018-19 to 2022-23. The data excluded several hospitals and clinics which are considered industry leaders in gender-related mastectomies.

Canada has laws on the books that curtail free speech in the name of sensitivity towards transgender people, and it is considered a human rights violation to intentionally misgender someone. A Canadian man named Rob Hoogland was jailed in 2021 for publicly speaking out about a messy legal battle involving his child, who transitioned from female to male with the help of school staff without Hoogland’s knowledge or consent. A judge determined he could cause psychological harm to his child by publicly denying the child’s transgender identity. 

Meanwhile, Conservatives in the country have begun pushing back against the tide of trans activism, and have passed measures requiring parental consent for children under 16 to change their names and pronouns at school in New Brunswick and Saskatchewan, while a similar effort is underway in Ontario

Activists organised protests of trans content in schools in 77 Canadian cities in September, which were heavily attended by Christians, Muslims and immigrants. The events were met with massive counterprotests and a wave of articles expressing concern about Muslims affiliating with supposedly anti-LGBT contingents. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau responded by condemning the protests as hateful.

Transgender ideology has come under scrutiny throughout the Western world, with several European countries and American states restricting child transitions and a growing pushback against the inclusion of males in female spaces under the auspices of trans inclusion. In Canada, however, where transgender activism is baked into the functions of the government and is increasingly viewed as part of the progressive country’s national identity, there’s no end in sight.


is UnHerd’s US correspondent.

laureldugg

Join the discussion


Join like minded readers that support our journalism by becoming a paid subscriber


To join the discussion in the comments, become a paid subscriber.

Join like minded readers that support our journalism, read unlimited articles and enjoy other subscriber-only benefits.

Subscribe
Subscribe
Notify of
guest

37 Comments
Most Voted
Newest Oldest
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Vir Raga
Vir Raga
10 months ago

And then there’s Amy Hamm, a nurse who publicly supported J K Rowling, and has been hounded through the courts for doing so over the last 3 years. They’re trying to get her struck off as a nurse, for supporting women’s sex-based rights in hospitals. The only women who matter in Trudeau’s government are men.

Champagne Socialist
Champagne Socialist
10 months ago
Reply to  Vir Raga

Amy Hamm is a disgrace to her profession and fully deserves to be kicked out of it.
Good riddance to bad rubbish.

Last edited 10 months ago by Champagne Socialist
Andrew R
Andrew R
10 months ago

The deranged solipsistic Left have come for Amy Hamm, no great surprise.

Let the two minute hate begin.

Champagne Socialist
Champagne Socialist
10 months ago
Reply to  Andrew R

Imitation truly is the sincerest form of flattery!!!

Chana Shor
Chana Shor
9 months ago

Because?

Peter Johnson
Peter Johnson
10 months ago

“This includes a government-funded marketing project aimed at increasing public support for the LGBT community”. The irony of course is the relentless banging on about LGBT issues – particularly in schools – has undermined support for the entire community. The people who attended those marches were not all religious – many were just ordinary parents sick of the indoctrination of their children. Surveys in Canada show that while most Canadians believe in treating trans people with respect – over 80% of Canadians do not believe that people can change their sex. As to when this will all stop? Quite a lot of it will stop as soon as the government changes as most of the advocacy is funded through government money.

Terry M
Terry M
10 months ago
Reply to  Peter Johnson

Most people are glad to be tolerant of LBGT people living as they see fit. Where they draw the line is when others are forced not to tolerate, but to actively support the various forms of ‘respect’ that many of these people demand, i.e. addressing them in a specific way, allowing them to use facilities based on their ideas rather than their physical bodies, introducing sexual concepts to children at inappropriate ages (i.e. less than about 14), etc.

Lesley van Reenen
Lesley van Reenen
10 months ago

Does anyone in Canada actually support this clown any longer? Besides the alphabet soup that is and I’m not sure LGBI wants to belong there.

Arkadian Arkadian
Arkadian Arkadian
10 months ago

Just the other day there was an article saying that he is way down in popularity, but, if that is true, for sure he is not letting that hinder his agenda.

Aphrodite Rises
Aphrodite Rises
10 months ago

When in the grip of evil, the possessed do not attribute failure to evil but to not having served evil well enough and so the tendency is to double down.

Peter Johnson
Peter Johnson
10 months ago

Current polling shows an election today would be a historical wipeout of the Federal Liberal party. They might not even become the official opposition. 75% of Canadians want Trudeau to step down. A lot of this has to do with economic issues – but it is related to ideology because many people – including young progressives – are tired of their relentless focus on identity politics and climate change to the detriment of everything else.

Dominic A
Dominic A
10 months ago
Reply to  Peter Johnson

Sophie was the first to jump ship.

Janet G
Janet G
10 months ago

We don’t belong there.

Ewen Mac
Ewen Mac
10 months ago

Good – the more you push a dumb, dangerous ideology onto people, the more they push back – so this should ensure the Canadian movement to protect children from gender ideology will grow even bigger.
Parents respond to a threat to their offspring – they can try “queering” that biological fact all they like but reality has a way of prevailing.

Gerald Arcuri
Gerald Arcuri
10 months ago

Canada’s “leadership” is N-U-T-S! Never have so many owed so much complete social lunacy to so few. This will not end well.

anna m
anna m
10 months ago

We have a new government in
NZ. As part of the coalition agreement, it has been agreed that gender ideology will be removed from the curriculum. Big change!

David Morley
David Morley
10 months ago

Trans squaws are real squaws.

Dionne Finch
Dionne Finch
10 months ago

You can honour the spirit without mutilating the body

Jeremy Bray
Jeremy Bray
10 months ago

Do you have to be an indigenous native to be 2 Spirit and does it involve mutilation? Just asking for a friend.

UnHerd Reader
UnHerd Reader
10 months ago
Reply to  Jeremy Bray

Some woman made up 2S at a conference in the nineties. It is a made up identity for for insecure or just strange indigenous people and oh so hip white people.

David Morley
David Morley
10 months ago
Reply to  UnHerd Reader

Please tell me it was a white woman.

John Murray
John Murray
10 months ago
Reply to  David Morley

Per wikipedia: Primary attribution of the term Two Spirit, since 1990, has been ascribed to Albert McLeod (Nisichawayasihk Cree), who also acknowledges the input of those who participated in the series of five conferences that culminated in the discussions at the Third Annual Inter-tribal Native American, First Nations, Gay and Lesbian American Conference in 1990.[14] In 2021, Myra Laramee (Fisher River Cree) reported that she proposed the term at the 1990 gathering after the phrase came to her in a dream.[15]
Myra Laramee: https://www.uwinnipeg.ca/urban-inner-city-studies/faculty/myra-laramee.html

John Lammi
John Lammi
10 months ago

Trans BS is very antigay and advocates castrating gay boys

Leejon 0
Leejon 0
10 months ago

When governments pay people to be foolish, people will always oblige. When I was a young G man all I wanted was equality, wish I’d asked for a castle….

Simon Neale
Simon Neale
10 months ago

The Mounties won’t know which side to mount…

Richard Craven
Richard Craven
10 months ago
Reply to  Simon Neale

The brokeback side, I think.

Champagne Socialist
Champagne Socialist
10 months ago
Reply to  Richard Craven

The best of conservative wit….

Richard Craven
Richard Craven
10 months ago

Cheers ‘Poo Fash.

Paul T
Paul T
10 months ago

All houses of cards eventually come crashing down.

Robbie K
Robbie K
10 months ago

A more interesting two-spirit concept would be a freshly served ‘Between the Sheets’ with a sunset view, or 2BTS+.

Darlene Craig
Darlene Craig
10 months ago

The fact that the author links to the government of Canada website says it all! We don’t need to satirize- they do it themselves. And they are totally unaware that they live in a bubble, without even a pinky toe in the real world. I mean the talking heads who write this drivel and make decisions the rest of are supposed to obey.

Paul T
Paul T
10 months ago

The alphabet soup is so demanding of a huge eye-roll that it must contain the seeds of Canada’s eventual awakening. A couple more letters could well be the final straw. Who could remember, or would want to, anything longer since our human ability to retain long lists of letters and numbers actually has a limit and we are now into rote learning since it is at, or has passed, 9 digits/letters. It might sound trivial but going beyond that would be dangerous for the whole “movement” as large numbers of people would be frustrated [peaked] at exactly the same moment.

Last edited 10 months ago by Paul T
andyhz1
andyhz1
10 months ago
Reply to  Paul T

It’d make a great password though – who’d ever guess it?

Kitty Thomas
Kitty Thomas
10 months ago

Laughing my gender less (self) off.

Aphrodite Rises
Aphrodite Rises
10 months ago
Reply to  Kitty Thomas

I guess gender has so many different meanings now, the term is effectively meaningless and consequently so is the term gender less. On official forms, the word gender has replaced the word sex (the work of propagandists). I presume you are not claiming to be neither male nor female.

Last edited 10 months ago by Aphrodite Rises
UnHerd Reader
UnHerd Reader
10 months ago

If I see that I would x out gender and replace with my biological sex.

Mark Goodhand
Mark Goodhand
9 months ago

America has always been a bit mad, but what’s happened to Canada, Australia and New Zealand in recent decades is truly tragic.