{"id":9011,"date":"2015-10-05T10:01:21","date_gmt":"2015-10-05T14:01:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.aidslaw.ca\/site\/?p=9011"},"modified":"2022-09-25T22:44:27","modified_gmt":"2022-09-26T02:44:27","slug":"election-2015-lgbti-rights-at-home-and-abroad","status":"publish","type":"blog22","link":"https:\/\/www.hivlegalnetwork.ca\/site\/election-2015-lgbti-rights-at-home-and-abroad\/","title":{"rendered":"Election 2015: LGBTI rights at home and abroad \u2014 Canada\u2019s major federal parties respond"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is the first in a series of blog posts being published by the Canadian HIV\/AIDS Legal Network ahead of Election Day on October 19, 2015.<\/i><\/p>\n

Recently, we sent a questionnaire to the five major federal parties, asking their position on key questions related to HIV and human rights. Four out of five parties responded. Their responses are shared here, along with our comments. See <\/i>www.aidslaw.ca\/election2015<\/strong><\/a> for more information.<\/i><\/p>\n

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5 October, 2015<\/p>\n

In Canada, the human rights of trans people are still being violated, including through lack of access to appropriate health care, denial of appropriate identification documents, and ongoing discrimination, harassment and violence. Meanwhile, legal protection against discrimination and violence based on gender identity or expression is still incomplete under Canadian law<\/b>.<\/p>\n

Around the world, at least 80 jurisdictions still criminalize consensual same-sex intimacy, and many more have other laws that discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. In many parts of the world, LGBTI people are routinely arrested, denied basic job protections, health care, housing and parental rights, while many have been brutally attacked, tortured or even murdered. In 2015, we came together with a group of civil society organizations in Canada to form the Dignity Initiative<\/b><\/a>, to strengthen both international solidarity work by Canadian civil society groups and Canada\u2019s foreign policy commitment to <\/b>defend human rights for LGBTI people internationally<\/b><\/a>.<\/b><\/p>\n

We asked major political parties if they would<\/p>\n

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  1. support full legal protection in Canadian federal law against discrimination and hate crimes based on gender identity or expression; and<\/li>\n
  2. endorse the Dignity Initiative\u2019s Call to Action<\/a> and work to implement its recommendations. Here is what they said.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    All the parties that responded were in support of federal legislation that protected the rights of trans people<\/b>:<\/p>\n