On November 29, 2021, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada introduced a bill to criminalize so-called conversion therapy practices in Canada. Conversion therapy is a practice that seeks to change an individual’s sexual orientation to heterosexual, to change an individual’s gender identity to cisgender, or to change their gender expression to match the sex they were assigned at birth.
This bill is similar to former Bill C-6, which was adopted by the House of Commons in the previous Parliament, but with one important difference. It expands on the previous proposed legislation to protect all Canadians—regardless of their age—from the harms of conversion therapy practices and to promote the dignity and equality of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and Two-Spirit (LGBTQ2) persons.
These strengthened protections would reflect what the Government heard throughout the parliamentary process for former Bill C-6.