In Canada, just over 100,000 people have identified as transgender or non-binary out of the more than 30.5 million Canadians aged 15 and over. This represents 0.33% of the total population, or about 1 in 300 people.
In Saskatchewan, nearly 2,530 people over the age of 15 have identified as transgender or non-binary, according to information released Wednesday as part of the second wave of 2021 census data.
Data to be considered with caution
The interim executive director of the Center for Pride and Gender Diversity at the University of Regina, Ariana Giroux, welcomes this data with caution.
Some people don’t feel safe identifying as transgender or non-binary on the census, she says.
” These numbers are therefore not going to fully reflect our community. »
Census figures underestimate the number of transgender and non-binary people in Saskatchewan, Ariana Giroux said, drawing on data from the Center for Gender Pride and Diversity at the University of Regina
She says, however, that this data is a good start and building block for accurately counting transgender and non-binary populations.
She also urges policy makers to exercise caution if they want to make policy from census data.
Overall data published for Saskatchewan:
Persons aged 15 and over:
- 665 transgender men.
- 790 transgender women.
- 1075 non-binary people.
- 435,375 cisgender men.
- 444,880 cisgender women.
LGBTQ+ Terminology
- Non-binary : person whose gender identity falls outside the male or female binary gender model.
- Transgender : person whose gender does not match the one assigned to them at birth.
- Cisgender : person whose gender identity corresponds to their sex assigned at birth.
Source: Government of Canada Sexual and Gender Diversity Glossary
The problem in the formulation of the question
Ariana Giroux points out how Statistics Canada framed the question in the 2021 census. Two questions were asked about transgender and non-binary people.
The first relates to the sex assigned at birth, male or female. The second concerns sexual identity, which may or may not correspond to the sex assigned at birth.
” It puts people in boxes that don’t necessarily reflect the truth and reality of human existence. »
Ms Giroux said people who feel these things can choose not to participate in the gender question. According to her, Statistics Canada should change the way it presents the question in future censuses.
The use of the phrase sex assigned at birth
can give the impression of excluding members of the transgender community or the community of sexual diversity in Canada, underlines Ariana Giroux.
People may not feel safe enough in their own community to identify as part of these groups.
According to Statistics Canada, Canada is the first country in the world to record gender identity in this way.
These changes were intended to reflect growing social and legislative recognition of transgender and non-binary people
and filling an information gap.
With information from Alexander Quon
Reference-ici.radio-canada.ca