Bill C6 is expected to be debated later this week with a final vote in Parliament coming later this month. One of the de facto roles of Canadian Gender Report is to represent Canadians who are afraid to speak up publicly about their experience with the healthcare of their gender-questioning kids. It is clear that most of the care across Canada has become ideologically driven versus based in evidence and fact. As such, we are publishing this sample of anonymous stories to start painting a picture of what is happening across our country and to call for more evidence and balance when it comes to caring for our gender-question youth and children with gender dysphoria.
If you have a story you would like Canadian Gender Report to know about, please email us at info@genderreport.ca. We keep all information strictly confidential and will honour all requests for anonymity.
Parent testimony submitted to the Canadian government
On criminalization of “conversion therapy” for gender identity:
“No one is arguing that transgender people should not have access to hormones or medical transition. We are advocating that for the sake of young women who are the largest-growing numbers seeking medical transition, other options should ALSO be made available on an individual basis to explore and rule out other co-morbidities such as BPD, autism, gifted intellect, gender-non-conforming, so that our daughters and cousins and nieces are not directed to ONLY ONE METHOD for dealing with gender dysphoria, but permitted to grow in therapy in whichever ways seem to them individually wisest with therapeutic help.”
“A few months after a school presentation by the Canadian Centre for Sexual and Gender Diversity, our son told us he was really a demi-girl. Six other children in his grade also started identifying as transgender. We had a difficult time finding a therapist who wouldn’t just affirm our son in his new identity. We finally found a therapist that figured out that our son was suffering from anxiety. After this help, he no longer considers himself a demi-girl. You’re telling us this would be a crime?”
“Our 14-year-old teenage daughter suddenly and very surprisingly said she had gender dysphoria. This was with absolutely zero signs or indications of gender dysphoria before the age of 14. This also was two years after her telling me she was bisexual and then the next year further saying she was a lesbian. I would like to fully support her as she explores her gender identity and sexual orientation, and one of the ways that I would like to do that is through conversations with a therapist.”
“Before this happened to my daughter and my family, I would have been very supportive of this bill, and to be clear I am in every way opposed to Conversion Therapy. After what we have been through, I do however disagree that the affirmative model of care is appropriate in all cases, especially for children. Now that I’ve been through it, I can see how damaging this model can be to our young people. We are letting them down by blindly accepting their self diagnosis and not providing appropriate care and support. I’ve learned that there are so many factors that can lead to gender dysphoria that have nothing to do with having been born in the wrong body. I have learned that feelings of gender dysphoria do not last forever. I have had to navigate this on my own and with extremely little support. I feel that medical professionals, mental health professionals, and policy makers are letting families down.”
On the Canadian Healthcare System:
“I would like to clarify that it wasn’t difficult finding well-meaning gender-affirming care professionals who quickly agreed with my child that she should proceed with testosterone shots, purchase a chest binder and eventually have a double mastectomy. (This was all determined after two appointments with a psychologist and one consultation appointment with an endocrinologist at __Children’s Hospital). My child also received instant affirmation from the GP I first sought help from. That GP did not do a mental health screening or order blood tests that are usually done to rule out medical conditions that are associated with depression.
What was difficult was finding a professional who would explore the source and severity of my child’s gender dysphoria, address her depression and anxiety, screen for common co-occurring mental health conditions, order blood tests, or attempt to discuss the risks as well as the benefits of transitioning.
She did not require parental consent to start cross-sex hormone injections. The result of some gentle challenge and information-seeking was a teen who eventually received help for her co-occurring conditions, accepted her sexuality, and now lives comfortably in her body without the need for multiple surgeries and lifelong hormone injections.”
———–
“She had recently been seeing a psychotherapist who was coaching her on what to say to Sick Kids to get hormone treatment right away. Our daughter had disclosed this to us after the third visit. Lastly, her gender dysphoria has come about suddenly with the onset of puberty at age 14 with no previous indication of gender identity issues. Our daughter denied all of this during this interview.
We left the hospital shocked at the outcome, not feeling that a one-hour long interview with a child and ignoring all parental input and concerns was sufficient to start on a course of hormones. We never returned to Sick Kids Hospital.”
On Kids Getting Caught Up In A New Trend:
Parents are becoming increasingly worried that their kids are “caught up in a fad” fuelled by social media and our celebrity culture. Experiences:
“We, to the best of our ability, just tried to understand and love our son. He was growing his hair long, had a female name and pic on his Spotify. About 6 months ago he cut his hair, cut his nails, changed his pic from a girl to no pic and changed the girl’s name back to a boy’s name. The hair cut and changes came as out of the blue as did the transgender ideas.”
“At the beginning of Grade 9 in my daughter’s high school, a new student entered who identified as transgender. Within one year, so by the beginning of Grade 10, at least six (that I know of) identified as transgender, in a group of 125. In other words, at least 5% of the grade are identifying as transgender, which is statistically improbable, if not impossible.”
“I am the parent of a teen. Born female. She now states she is in fact a boy. She “feels” like a boy. She wears “boy clothes”, (whatever that is), and has become fixated on this idea to the exclusion of any other thoughts. She has a history of poor social relationships and self-harm. Her escape has become transitioning and a near-constant immersion into Tumblr, Reddit, Mochi, Discourse, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, and so on.”
Bill C6 moves to a 3rd vote in Parliament
The Canadian government will debate and vote on Bill C6 for a 3rd time after which it will be sent to the Senate for review. The Bill as written will make accessing supportive therapy for gender questioning kids almost impossible in Canada, unless a therapist is willing to risk being accused of a crime. There has been no interest in the parent and detransitioner testimonies that have been put forward on this Bill, and no response to requests for meetings with members of the governing Liberals.
We’re extremely disappointed that the Canadian government is intending to enact legislation that will result in harm to vulnerable children and is refusing to understand the difficult issues involved that make a blanket “conversion therapy ban” extremely ill-advised.
