B.C. Changes Course To Join Other Jurisdictions In Expressly Recognizing Gender Identity And Expression Under Human Rights Legislation

British Columbia's Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Suzanne Anton, announced on Wednesday, July 20, 2016, that the government will introduce a bill next week to amend British Columbia's Human Rights Code [Code] to include "gender identity and gender expression" as protected grounds. This announcement reflects a change in the government's policy, which for years maintained that it was not necessary to amend the Code because the language was already sufficient to protect the rights of transgendered people.

LGBTQ2 advocates had argued previously for the changes for a number of reasons, including that, practically speaking, without express protection, many transgendered people did not know that they were protected from discrimination under the Code and have supported the recent announcement as helping to broaden the understanding of gender identify by incorporating gender identity issues into the education system when children are introduced to the Code at