Question Period Note: Conversion therapy

• Conversion therapy is a destructive practice that harms those subjected to it.
• The practice harms the dignity and equality of LGBTQ2 individuals by sending the message that they can and should change a fundamental part of who they are – their sexual orientation or gender identity.
• In support of the Government’s commitment to end conversion therapy in Canada, we introduced Bill C-8 on March 9, 2020.
• We must ensure that Canada is a country where everyone – regardless of their gender expression, gender identity, or sexual orientation – can live in equality and freedom. Diversity is, after all, one of Canada’s greatest strengths. The LGBTQ2 community represents an integral part of the social fabric that makes Canada great.

On March 9, 2020, the Minister of Justice introduced Bill C-8, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (conversion therapy), in support of the Government’s commitment to end conversion therapy in Canada.

Bill C-8 defines conversion therapy as any practice, treatment or service designed to change a person’s sexual orientation to heterosexual or gender identity to cisgender, or to repress or reduce non-heterosexual attraction or sexual behaviour. The Bill proposes five new offences that would criminalize:
• Causing minors to undergo conversion therapy;
• Removing minors from Canada to undergo conversion therapy abroad;
• Causing a person to undergo conversion therapy against their will;
• Profiting, or receiving a material benefit from, conversion therapy; and,
• Advertising an offer to provide conversion therapy.

The Bill would also authorize the seizure and forfeiture of conversion therapy advertisements and their removal from computer systems or the Internet.

Conversion therapy includes talk therapy, behavioural, group therapy or milieu treatments (e.g., “retreats”) aimed at changing a person’s sexual orientation to heterosexual or a person’s gender identity to cisgender (i.e., persons whose gender identity matches the sex they were assigned at birth). “Practitioners” may charge significant fees. The practice has been repudiated by major mental health organizations and medical associations because it is ineffective and causes harm to those subjected to it.

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