Passage of Toby's Act (Bill 33)

An Historic Achievement for Ontario's Trans Community

TORONTO: The passage of Bill 33, named in honour of Toby Dancer, is an historic and long overdue advancement for trans human rights in Ontario. Bill 33 amends the Ontario Human Rights Code by including gender expression and gender identity as protected grounds against discrimination.

"This Bill sends an important signal to the rest of Canada that trans human rights cannot be taken for granted, and must be explicitly protected in law," said Helen Kennedy, Egale's executive director. Ontario becomes only the second jurisdiction in Canada, following the Northwest Territories, to explicitly include gender identity and gender expression in their human rights codes.

Studies show that Ontarians identifying as trans suffer from shockingly high levels of violence and harassment – much of it unseen and invisible to others. Upwards of 78% of trans people have attempted to commit suicide. The inclusion of gender identity and gender expression in the Ontario Human Rights Code will help correct the continuing injustices faced by Ontario's trans community. For that, Egale applauds all the MPP's who supported this important legislation.

The Bill is named after the late Toby Dancer – an accomplished trans activist, pianist and jazz musician who fought to raise awareness of the discrimination faced by the trans community.

For more information:
Helen Kennedy
Egale Canada
416-270-1999/416-964-7887 ext. 21
185 Carlton Street Toronto, ON M5A 2K7
www.egale.ca

Egale Canada ©2011

Canada's LGBT human rights organization: advancing equality, diversity, education, and justice.