Well, ‘tis the season of year-end recaps and trans-specific issues in Canada aren’t usually focused on... or at least not deliberately.  So although my own list will probably be biased based on my location and individual privileges, here’s my attempt to compile one such list.  Here were some highlights and lowlights affecting trans Canadians in 2011:

On February 10th, 2011, Bill C-389, An Act to Amend the Canadian Human Rights Act and Criminal Code (gender identity and gender expression) passed at Third Reading, on a vote of 143 for to 135 against.  That vote plus the Second Reading vote on the same bill in June 2010 are the only times trans issues have been voted on by the federal government, and both were victories, so this was historic.  The bill proposed to add gender identity and gender expression to the list of protected clauses in the Canada Human Rights Act and the hate crimes provisions of the Criminal Code of Canada.

However, the bill was still awaiting ratification by the Senate when the election call was made in March, so it died before being enacted into law.

The Member of Parliament who had introduced the bill, Bill Siksay, retired at the end of the last session.  The NDP’s new LGBT issues critic, Randall Garrison, and Liberal MP Hedy Fry have reintroduced the bill, and C-279 - baring the same title as its predecessor - is expected to come up for Second Reading and either discussion or motion to committee as soon as February of 2012.  Even though the majority government is perceived as LGBT-negative, this bill actually can be passed, but will require the effort of as many trans people and allies as possible - as discussed in the November issue of GayCalgary and Edmonton Magazine. [1]

In 2011, commentary on LGBT rights and issues resulted in a solid year of editorials and debates about a perceived conflict between LGBT rights and religious freedom.  This happened variously during the passage of the trans rights bill, the many fights that emerged in Canadian education (more on that in a moment), and at several other points throughout the year.  The meme went almost unquestioned, even though it is a false equivalence; unless, of course, one can manufacture a perfectly reasonable argument to suggest that the "ordinary everyday right" of people to wield their faith in a way that harangues, excludes and marginalizes an entire class of people just because of who they are should trump the "special right" of that class to be able to work, live, access services and participate in society with the same freedom as any other human being.

Interestingly, this conflict was also sort of addressed on a legal level when BC Supreme Court Chief Justice Robert Bauman ruled against two Mormon leaders in Bountiful, BC in an ongoing prosecution for polygamy.  While not directly affecting LGBT people, the ruling found that Canadian laws limiting religious freedom can be upheld if it is felt by the court that the harms in question outweigh that freedom. In fact, the ruling broadens the ways in which the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms can be limited overall, which (although concerning) provides stronger certainty of human rights inclusion being a meaningful thing.

This also reflected an emerging trend in which anti-LGBT memes that had been mostly imported into Canada were perfected here and then exported to the US, when Catholic clergy met in New York, adopting and publicly parroting (almost verbatim) arguments originally made during this debate in Canada.

In 2011, LGBT issues spilled over into schools when school boards began to propose anti-bullying policies that were inclusive of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, transgender and questioning students.  Anti-bullying policies were proposed across Canada, including one passed by the Edmonton Public School Board (EPSB) in Alberta. One such fight in Burnaby resulted in the formation of an anti-gay-masquerading-as-parental-rights party which ran candidates in local school trustee elections - all of whom lost spectacularly.

A second front in the education battle opened up when Catholic school boards attempted to ban students from forming Gay-Straight Alliances (GSAs) in their schools.  The Toronto District School Board then also took some LGBT-inclusive steps with their proposed curriculum in Ontario, and the latter was distorted and misrepresented in order to stir up opposition to all three kinds of education initiatives.

The focus on bullying was intensified by a wave of suicides of LGBT youth in the US and Canada, including one teen who had previously contributed to the "It Gets Better" project, and another who was the son of an Ottawa city councillor. Rick Mercer came out on his program during a rant following the suicide of Ottawa teen Jamie Hubley, and urged LGBT people to do the same in support of their communities’ youth to improve visibility and familiarity.

For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.  Enter the man with the bogus doctorate, Charles McVety, who exploited trans people in order to try to achieve maximum shock value for the purpose of opposing these education initiatives. McVety runs Canada Christian College, has the televangelist program Word.ca (which was recently reprimanded by the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council for deliberate distortions and then was voluntarily dropped by the Christian network, CTS), runs a pseudo-news website at canadiantimes.ca, and has started a theocratic "think tank" named the Institute for Canadian Values (ICV).  Under the banner of ICV, McVety launched a "Don’t Confuse Me" ad which immediately erupted into controversy.  The ad read, "Please! Don’t Confuse Me.  I’m a girl.  Don’t teach me to question if I’m a boy, transexual [sic], transgendered [sic], intersexed or two spirited..." as if diversity and anti-bullying education might somehow cause gender confusion for kids who aren’t trans.  McVety constantly failed to make a distinction between the three education initiatives until he was actively debating LGBT people, at which point he would attack his opponents for not making a distinction, so that he could sound authoritative.

McVety also previously used washroom panic and an attempted conflation between trans people and sexual predators to oppose trans human rights and Bill C-389.  He spun the still-active stopcorruptingchildren.ca website and campaign to further this perception, and to continue his transphobic agenda as a fundraising scare tactic.  Lately, he’s been ranting about "six genders," which could be derived from the US anti-gay website OneNewsNow, which had at one point mis-heard and misunderstood the word "cisgender" (which means "not transgender").

Almost immediately after they published McVety’s "Don’t Confuse Me" ad, the National Post apologized for running it, and refused to run it again.  Publisher Douglas Kelly acknowledged that the ad "exceeded the bounds of civil discourse... in its tone and manipulative use of a picture of a young girl; in the suggestion that such teaching ‘corrupts’ children, with everything that such a charge implies; and in its singling out of groups of people with whose sexuality the group disagrees."  The Toronto Sun then deliberately ran the ad for several days without scrutiny, challenge, qualification or contrary position, and claimed that they were doing so to champion freedom of speech.  Their sister network, SunTV, ran a video version of the ad in heavy rotation for three full weeks in October.

Ontario Conservative party candidates followed McVety’s lead, using many of the same distortions and misrepresentations of the proposed curriculum to try to frighten voters during the Ontario provincial election. Conservative party leader Tim Hudak was largely indifferent to complaints about the tactic.  A number of people, including the chair of the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) and the Cliks’ lead singer Lucas Silveira, have filed complaints and/or are considering legal actions related to the Ontario PC flyers and McVety ads.

Deceptive tactics to oppose anti-bullying initiatives and other education strides have also been used by other anti-gay and anti-trans activists, including the use of a brochure by the American College of Pediatricians entitled "Facts About Youth." Despite its official-sounding name, the ACP is a non-authoritative body that screens its membership according to far-right views on abortion and homosexuality, and is therefore not representative of pediatricians in general. It was founded by ex-gay therapists, including Joseph Nicolosi of NARTH and the infamous George "carry my bags, dear rentboy" Rekers. The American Academy of Pediatricians is the accepted authority, and has publicly responded in emphatic opposition to the ACP publication.

While this has probably been more of an evolution than a revolution, gay and lesbian communities and trans groups have had a historically turbulent history in Canada.  Although a number of local groups have tried to be inclusive for years, 2011 seems to me to be the year that we grew together as allied movements.

Ironically, Charles McVety’s transphobic ads and their use to oppose anti-homophobic education probably earns a notable share of the credit for drawing trans and L/G communities together, although the activism surrounding Bill C-389 contributed greatly, as well.  Regardless of whether we are willing to stand together as allies, it is clear that our mutual opponents are more than willing to conflate our communities and use any tactic possible to oppose the whole.

There were also other shared issues.

A study from the Stanford University School of Medicine published in the Journal of American Medical Association found that many North American institutions, including 11 Canadian medical schools, vastly under-include LGBT health issues, accruing an average of five hours instruction time in total through their entire curriculum.  70 percent of respondents characterized this coverage - which includes training on HIV and STIs, accommodation and disclosure issues, plus the entire transition process related to gender identity - as "fair", "poor" or "very poor."  Approximately a quarter of respondents said the distinction between sexual orientation and gender identity either wasn’t taught at all, or else couldn’t remember if it was mentioned.

Ivan Coyote’s "Dear Lady in the Women’s Washroom" [2] was published and received wide response - in a year of potty panic tactics it has to be one of the year’s best articles.

SunTV launched, giving a platform to transphobic and (albeit less overtly) homophobic commentators, who proceeded to usher in a new era of anti-inclusion spin and attacks on Canada’s human rights institutions.  SunTV is an offshoot of Sun Media, which publishes several newspapers across Canada, but exceeds those papers in pursuing tabloid-style, FOX News-inspired spin.  Commentator Brian Lilley draws subjects and op-eds almost entirely from Campaign Life Coalition’s LifeSiteNews (sometimes parroting LSN’s errors, such as the "infant sex changes in India" story that proved to be a distortion), while Ezra Levant has used his platform to attack human rights institutions on an almost nightly basis in what he admits is a crusade to see them abolished.  Levant routinely uses any and all instances of human rights inclusion of transsexual and transgender people to portray human rights commissions as extreme, irrational and redundant.  Charles Adler and Michael Coren have shown more admirable attempts at empathy, but have stumbled at times with negative moments as well - with Adler claiming that the mere mention of the Transgender Day of Remembrance on a calendar which serves as a teachers’ aid somehow confuses and corrupts children; Coren amply airing regretter Walt Heyer’s story without making note of the fact that Heyer admits to circumventing his psychiatric screening and that he has an unrelated mental health condition.  SunTV was also the only television station to air Charles McVety’s transphobic "Don’t Confuse Me" ads.

After an Xtra editor’s publication of a trans woman’s previous name on his Facebook page sparked a controversy, people responded both publicly and behind the scenes to educate that paper’s administration on how former names are used to invalidate and disrespect trans people.  Responses to the controversy were mixed, but the LGBT publication has since vowed to improve their coverage and knowledge of trans issues.

The Transgender Day of Remembrance became a publicly-acknowledged event, with the transgender flag flown at Ottawa’s city hall for the second consecutive year.  Coverage was underscored by news reporting about the murder of Shelby Tom - whose killer successfully used the panic defense to minimize his sentence - and other victims Cassandra Do, Rose Osborne and Divas Boulanger.  Through this and other coverage, it was increasingly recognized how intersections of prejudice - such as being trans plus engaging in sex work - can increase risk exponentially... and that achieving trans rights is part of a larger picture of enfranchising all Canadians.  The #Occupy movement also drew trans people into networking with many other communities in cities throughout Canada, and recognizing other mutual areas in which needs overlap.

At the end of 2010, the Harper Conservatives ordered Corrections Canada to immediately stop funding trans-related health processes, despite a 2003 federal court ruling against the government that found procedures like Genital Reassignment Surgery (GRS) to be medically necessary.  In the case of the correctional system, GRS is often used to determine whether an inmate is housed with women or with men, and the unavailability of the procedure can mean that transsexual women are either housed with men and left subject to targeting for rape and violence, or else housed in solitary confinement for long periods or even their entire sentence - something that is recognized as cruel and unusual punishment by international rights bodies like Amnesty International.  This policy was implemented in 2011 and left largely unchallenged and unpublicized.

After Canada’s citizenship guide for new immigrants was deliberately stripped of any and all mention of LGBT rights, mention of LGB people was restored in the Spring edition of the guide.  Trans people are still not explicitly included in Canadian human rights law (see above).

Calgary’s AMP Radio, 90.3 FM ran a controversial "Breast Summer Ever" contest in which the prize was breast augmentation.  Listeners, remembering the delisting of GRS funding in Alberta in 2009, voted overwhelmingly for Avery Mitchell, a transsexual woman.

A Toronto couple publicized their decision to leave their third child’s gender unspecified and ambiguous.  The infant, named Storm, became the focus of exactly that, causing the parents to remove themselves from the public spotlight.  Trans youth also emerged in the public spotlight throughout Canada and much of Western nations as mainstream media began profiling them more often.

The NorthWest Territories’ Finance Minister, Michael Miltenberger, tried to evict trans student Gabrielle Landrie from Aurora College facilities, claiming that she "spooked" Canada’s new Governor General, David Johnston. Landrie has filed a human rights complaint against Miltenberger.  While the Governor General’s office acknowledges that Johnston’s route was changed, they’ve said that this was due to time constraints.  The Governor General’s office and Miltenberger have declined to answer additional questions.

The owner of Trail’s End Farmers Market in London, Ontario, Ed Kikkert, demanded that one of the market’s vendors fire a trans employee.  Karen Clarke, the owner of True 2 You, chose to move her business elsewhere instead.  The employee has filed a human rights complaint against Kikkert.

A trans woman in Winnipeg launched a lawsuit against Winnipeg city police after mistreatment that included injuries and humiliation during an arrest and detention after she was mistaken for a break-and-enter suspect.  In a separate instance, a Winnipeg judge ruled that the harassment and abuse that another trans woman faced during her incarceration while awaiting trial for manslaughter could be considered a factor in determining her sentence.

Changes to Canada’s immigration policies made it more difficult for trans people to immigrate to the country, at the same time that the Harper Conservatives encouraged LGBT organizations to get involved with the process and promised to assist LGBT immigrants.  Amidst the mixed messaging, LGBT refugees are finding their position increasingly perilous.  A procedural lapse and subsequent refusals to hear an appeal also enabled the Canadian government to deport Tanya Bloomfield, a community advocate and established businesswoman in Nova Scotia.

When Elle Noir was shot in the arm during an attack that local police acknowledged as clearly targeted because she’s trans, it illuminated a serious failure in Canada’s hate crimes law which requires third-party incitement in order to qualify as a hate crime.

Trans Nova Scotians launched a campaign to oppose a new bill that would require fingerprinting in order to be able to obtain a name change, saying that the procedure is discriminatory and a presumption of guilt.  Fingerprinting is already a part of the name change process in many provinces, including Alberta, and applied to all name change applicants.  Also garnering concern is the publication of name changes, as many provinces have started to archive these publications online.  Some provinces have a procedure to avoid publication of name changes, but this procedure is often not relayed to applicants, and has sometimes failed.  In Alberta, publication of name changes came under scrutiny after a couple of incidents in which abuse victims had changed their names but were found by ex-spouses through the Alberta Gazette, even though the name changes were not supposed to have been published.

Christin Milloy became the first known trans candidate to complete a campaign for public office in Federal or Provincial politics.  Trans people have previously participated in elections at the civic level, including Toronto and Vancouver candidates Enza Anderson (the first trans-identified person in Canada to run for office), Susan Gapka and Jamie Lee Hamilton.  Micheline Montruiel previously earned the Federal NDP nomination in Quebec but was later ejected in an incident that resulted in a human rights complaint.

A number of Conservative MPs contributed to an "It Gets Better" video, albeit with a mixed and sometimes icy reception by Canadians.  The Department of Foreign Affairs went a bit further, though, taking some initiative without prodding to oppose an anti-same-sex marriage bill in Nigeria that would further criminalize homosexuality, and urging Commonwealth nations to end human rights abuses against LGBT people.

The Canadian Border Security Administration released a copy of its protocol on search procedures for transsexual and transgender travelers.  With issues resulting from full-body scanners, trans people have been increasingly opting for a private search, and are now able to choose whether male or female officers search them, or opt for a split search.  Sun Media and Macleans magazine both seized upon this months later as a "breaking" scoop, even though similar policies have existed in police departments across the country (with the notable exception of the RCMP) since a 2006 ruling by the Human Rights Tribunal against the Peel Regional Police Department.  Sun Media in particular used undermining language: "special rules," "just feels neither fully male nor fully female," "individuals can choose," etc. which seems harmless and is technically accurate, but also implies that transition and transgender identity are whimsy. They also focused on the split search, which from the way it was presented, sounded expensive and easily exploited by criminals - and thus we get an inference that transsexualism is deliberate deception for nefarious purposes.

The US and the UN both spoke up for LGBT Rights, with an historic resolution calling for an end to human rights violations against trans and LGBT people, plus an unforgettable speech to the United Nations general assembly by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force published the groundbreaking National Transgender Discrimination Survey, drawing from nearly 6,500 respondents, reporting discrimination in every area of life.  The report, entitled "Injustice at Every Turn: A Report of the National Transgender Discrimination Survey" provides a new statistical benchmark for issues in which data remains relatively rare.  One of the few bodies collecting Canadian-related data, Trans PULSE, also continued to publish a number of smaller studies, including one that showed an estimated 20 per cent of trans Ontarians are either unemployed or on disability, and only one-third are working full-time.

In September, the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) released their new Standards of Care, which are considered the model for medical professionals’ treatment of trans and often specifically transsexual patients.  The new edition features a number of considerable improvements, including recognition that gender nonconformity is not a disorder and repudiation of reparative therapies such as those practiced by Dr. Kenneth Zucker in Toronto.  WPATH also affirmed that transition-related treatments should be covered by insurance, echoing the American Medical Association’s recent statement.

And last but not least, Chaz Bono continued to provide increased visibility and media attention for trans people, appearing on Dancing With The Stars and in a second documentary.

2011 proved to be an active year in trans issues in Canada - perhaps like never before.  2012 looks poised to be even more volatile.

1. http://gaycalgary.com/a2563

2. http://gaycalgary.com/u331