By Maya Palit
When widespread debates about whether a child’s gender should be specified on their birth certificates were revived recently, there was some talk of how Ontario, Canada, might put gender-neutral birth certificates in place by next year. And now Ontario has passed a new bill that might have big implications for transgender children.
According to reports, the Supporting Children, Youth and Families Act of 2017 passed in Ontario provides the government with the right to take children away if their gender identity or expression isn’t accepted by the family. Michael Coteau, the Minister of Child and Family Services, apparently said that the care givers’ failure to acknowledge a child’s ‘gender self-identification’ constitutes as abuse.
However, there was also some backlash about the bill being passed: critics apparently insisted that it would curb religious liberties and was a “grave threat to Christians and all people of faith who have children, or who hope to grow their family through adoption”.
Given that the last time people were agitated about child services in Ontario was because of a ridiculous fight between child services and a couple who refused to lie to their foster children about Easter bunnies being real, it’s interesting to see that the Canadian province has moved past dilemmas about bunnies and is focussing on issues that might affect the lives of children whose gender identity has been rejected by their parents.