Press Room

Ottawa – Campaign Life Coalition is dismayed that Bill C-4 passed unanimously in the House of Commons today without debate. The federal government’s reintroduced bill ostensibly seeks to ban the practice of so-called conversion therapy but, according to government officials, has the teeth to jail parents for “pressuring” their children to live, dress, and act according to their biological sex.

“Bill C-4 is simply a smokescreen to go after parents of traditional faiths and values who raise their male and female children to live according to their biological sex,” said Jeff Gunnarson, President of Campaign Life Coalition.

Indeed, the bill defines “conversion therapy” as any kind of a “practice, treatment or service” that, among other things, is designed to “repress a person’s non-cisgender gender identity” or “repress or reduce a person’s gender expression that does not conform to the sex assigned to the person at birth.”

“Shame on the Conservatives for their motion to expedite this to the Senate without debate. And shame on all those who supported this. This action was disgracefully undemocratic,” he added.

The crafters of the bill have made it clear that the bill seeks to keep children with unwanted same-sex attraction and gender dysphoria locked in this kind of identity, making it a criminal offence for parents to help their children choose a different path. The bill goes as far as making it a crime for parents to travel with their child outside of Canada for the purpose of obtaining help for their child to feel at peace with the body God gave them.

Gunnarson pointed out that the word “practice” in the bill is so exceedingly broad and ambiguous that it might include anything.

“We must not assume the bill’s intent is to only criminalize clinical therapy and spiritual counselling for a past trauma in which the gender dysphoria or other sexual confusion may be rooted. We must not be naïve about this bill ‘lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices’ (2 Cor. 2:11). This bill will certainly target common-sense parenting and could put parents in jail for up to five years for private conversations in which they encourage their child to be comfortable with the body in which they were born or if they require their child to dress at home in conformity with their biological sex,” he said.

“Parents simply want to protect their children, some of whom may struggle with gender dysphoria, from a life of great suffering, including in some cases, chemical castration and mutilating surgery that is irreversible. This bill criminalizes loving parents who actually know what is best for their children,” he added.

Jack Fonseca, Political Operations Director for Campaign Life Coalition, characterized C-4 as a “parental prosecution bill” based on revealing statements by Liberal government Ministers and called it a “brazen assault” on not only parental rights but also religious freedom.

“There are no protections whatsoever in the bill for faith leaders who, for example, discourage a gender-confused person from identifying as transgender and who try to help them be at peace with the male or female body in which they were born,” he said.

“This proposed legislation is designed to claw its way deeply into our homes and churches and will subject these two sacred spaces to government control. As the bill now heads to the Senate, we urge the chamber of ‘sober second thought’ to consider the serious threat this piece of legislation poses to children, parents, religious institutions, and the freedoms of all Canadians,” he added.

About Campaign Life Coalition
Campaign Life Coalition is a national, non-profit organization involved in political action and advocacy for legal and cultural change in Canada with respect to protecting human life & the family. For more info visit www.campaignlifecoalition.com.

Media Contacts
Jeff Gunnarson, President, Campaign Life Coalition, 519-835-8201, [email protected]
Jack Fonseca, Political Operation Director, Campaign Life Coalition, 647-638 5433, [email protected]
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