Canadian Human Rights Tribunal and Federal Government

House of Commons: A ruling from the tribunal would have a precedent-setting effect for the federal government, even as it takes steps to extend human rights protections to transgender Canadians in the form of legislation to be tabled Tuesday in the House of Commons, according to CTV. The bill would be the latest attempt to make it illegal to discriminate against someone because of their gender identity and extend hate speech laws to include transgender persons. The outcome is one possibility in an ongoing dispute in front of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal over a piece of information that internal documents show isn't central to identifying the owner of a social insurance number, or critical for preventing fraud. But even on the eve of its introduction, the government appears no closer to making it easier to change the gender attached to a social insurance number without requiring the holder to go through a bureaucratic paperwork process. The changes were simple: her address, legal name and an update to the gender field to female. Christin Milloy, the Toronto-based trans rights activist at the centre of the tribunal case, said there is no need for the federal government to collect and store information on sex and gender. "It not necessary to identify an individual," Milloy said of the gender field. "Name and birthdate and mother maiden name -- these things are enough and storing creates opportunities for discrimination and oppression of all transgender people and women." It has been almost five years since Milloy first downloaded a government form needed to make changes to a social insurance number record. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.