Campaign Life Coalition is concerned that the 'Bathroom Bill' C-389 could pass in Parliament
[TORONTO, Nov. 16, 2010] The private members bill, proposed by New Democrat MP Bill Siksay, passed at the Justice and Human Rights Committee on November 2nd. The vote was 9-2, with Conservative MPs Brent Rathgeber and Stephen Woodworth opposing. If passed, the bill will add "gender identity" and "gender expression" as prohibited grounds for discrimination to the Canada Human Rights Act and as identifiable groups in the Criminal Code's hate crimes legislation.
No hearings were held on the Bill as the committee seemed intent on pushing it through Parliament before an election call, when it would die on the order paper. It could come to vote in December.
Jim Hughes, National President of Campaign Life Coalition (CLC) said, "all people of good will must alert their MPs to the grave concerns and legal nightmares at stake in this bill warning, for example, that it will lead to male cross dressers and drag queens having the legal right to use female bathrooms."
Mr. Hughes also said that the bill "not only flies in the face of common sense, but is also potentially dangerous by creating the legitimized access that sexual predators often seek," by opening the door to men using women's bathrooms. "Imagine a young girl - your daughter or granddaughter - goes into a washroom and finds a man there. How is the young girl to determine whether or not the man in the bathroom is a 'peeping tom,' a rapist or a pedophile?"
Campaign Life Coalition calls on MPs to vote against Bill C-389, which Siksay has attempted to have passed three times now, whenever it comes forward.
For further information:
Media Contact:
Mary Ellen Douglas, CLC National Organizer, Kingston 613-389-4472
Jeff Gunnarson, CLC Toronto 416-204-9749