Uncategorized

Bill C-389 Moved Up

5 Comments

The Member of Parliament who advanced Bill C-389, An Act to Amend the Canadian Human Rights Act and Criminal Code (gender identity and gender expression) — Bill Siksay — reports:

The next step in the process is one hour of third reading debate and a vote.  The debate is currently scheduled to take place on Monday February 7, 2011 at 11am. The vote will likely be on Wednesday February 9, 2011 between 5:30 and 6:00pm.  These dates and times are subject to change.  I will let you know if there are any changes to these dates or times.

This date was negotiated in an attempt to ensure that the bill goes to the final vote in the House of Commons as soon as possible, given the speculation about a possible spring election.

This is an important reschedule.  It had originally been slated for debate and third reading on March 7th.  A week ago, Egale Canada issued a request that people urge their MP to push for an earlier date, given the concern that an early election call was rumoured to be imminent, and would kill the bill.

So it has been moved up to Wednesday of next week.  There isn’t much time, but there is still more that can be done.

What can you do to show your support for C-389?

  1. You can thank those MPs who voted in favour of my bill at report stage and ask them to continue to support the bill.   Ask them to be sure to be present for the vote on February 9th.
  2. You can lobby your local MP to support C-389 at the third reading vote.
  3. You can contact those MPs who abstained or were not present for the vote and encourage them to be present to support the bill.

…I am optimistic about the success of my bill at third reading, but the vote at report stage was quite close, so it is important to encourage all MPs who voted in favour to be present for the vote.  We cannot take the final result for granted, and if only a few supporters are absent, the result could be different and the bill could fail.  If C-389 passes third reading in the House of Commons, it will move on to a similar process in the Senate.

MP contact information can be found here.

5 thoughts on “Bill C-389 Moved Up”

  1. I went and had a look on the Egale website, and I think one thing needs to be done, and unfortunately I’m not the one to do this. I think it would be helpful if the draft letters they have made available were translated into French. We have more than a few French MPs, notably the Bloc, who are onside. (Of the Bloc members that did vote, all voted Yea.) But there are others for whom a translation of these letters might just help tip the balance.

    Reply

    1. They don’t really need to translate that letter now (I don’t know if they had originally?). Bill C-389 was moved ahead in the schedule thanks to Olivia Chow, who gave up her spot for private members agenda so that this could go to third reading a month early.

      Reply

Leave a comment