Liberals propose banning conversion therapy for everyone

The federal government introduced a renewed bill on Monday that would make it a crime to have someone undergo conversion therapy.

The NDP said it will support passing the bill in the House and sending it to the Senate before Christmas.

The bill introduced in the House of Commons would also make it a crime to remove a child from Canada for the purpose of conversion therapy, promote or publicize the discredited and harmful practice, and receive financial “material or other benefit” from provide conversion therapy.

It would also allow the courts to order conversion therapy ads removed.

Conversion therapy attempts to change the sexual orientation of LGBTQ people to heterosexuals, or to coerce those who question their gender identity to align with the sex they were assigned at birth.

The government’s previous iteration of a ban, Bill C-6, would have made it a crime to force a child to undergo conversion therapy, but in the case of adults, it would only have criminalized the practice if it had been done against the will of the person.

The Liberals’ electoral platform promised their new bill would expand coverage of the ban to all adults, in response to a key demand from survivors and advocates.

Bill C-6 faced roadblocks in the House of Commons. Half of the conservative caucus voted against. The bill was finally sent to the Senate at the end of the parliamentary session, where he died in August when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the elections.

In a statement Monday, Conservative leader Erin O’Toole said “conversion therapy is wrong and should be banned.”

“No Canadian should be forced to change who they are,” said the statement issued by Josie Sabatino, a spokeswoman for O’Toole. “We will review the proposed legislation to ensure that conversion therapy is prohibited while protecting the rights of LGBTQ + Canadians.”

Members of the NDP “stand ready” to make sure the new conversion therapy bill reaches the Senate before Christmas, “so that we can avoid a repeat of the failure of liberals to do this,” a statement said Monday. from NDP MPs Randall Garrison and Blake Desjarlais, party critic and deputy critic on LGBTQ2S issues.

“The new Democrats remain determined not to allow that to happen.”

As The Star reported this summer, the NDP said it offered to help the government speed up the C-6 in the House, amid allegations that liberals wanted the bill dead to use as a loophole against conservatives. in an election. .

“That is simply not true,” Justice Minister David Lametti said of the accusation in an interview last week, saying he does not believe the government is responsible for the delays with C-6.