Live
Audio Only
A new study released Wednesday finds that the overwhelming majority of Canadians support transgender rights.
Indeed, 57 percent of respondents in a poll conducted by the Angus Reid Institute said they strongly support Bill C-16, which was unveiled in May by Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould. If passed, the bill would mark “gender identity” as a protected class under under the Canadian Human Rights Act.
Sixteen per cent of Canadians either "moderately" or "strongly" oppose it.
Of these respondents, 80 percent said that the state should "work to accommodate and protect transgender people in society," while a strong majority, 71 per cent, said they disagree with the fact that being transgender is "unnatural."
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife Sophie Grégoire Trudeau | Photo: Reuters
Still, 70 per cent also responded by saying that society is "too fixated on issues related to transgender people."
Anticipating that the bill will pass, the government has already begun issuing health cards that don’t display someone’s sex or gender on them, and by 2017, people in Ontario will be able to get a gender-neutral driver’s licence.
Newsletter
