Proceedings of the Standing Senate Committee on
Legal and Constitutional Affairs

Issue 27 - Twenty-fourth Report of the Committee

Thursday, February 26, 2015

The Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs has the honour to present its

TWENTY-FOURTH REPORT

Your committee, to which was referred Bill C-279, An Act to amend the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code (gender identity), has, in obedience to the order of reference of Thursday, June 5, 2014, examined the said bill and now reports the same with the following amendments:

1. Clause 1, on page 1:

(a) Replace line 6 with the following:

"2. The purpose of this Act is to extend''; and

(b) delete lines 23 to 27.

2. Clause 2, on page 2:

(a) Replace line 1 with the following:

"2. Subsection 3(1) of the Act is re-''; and

(b) delete lines 11 to 14.

3. New Clause 2.1, page 2: Add after line 14 the following:

"2.1 Subsection 15(1) of the Act is amended by striking out "or'' after paragraph (f) and by adding the following after that paragraph:

(f.1) in the circumstances described in section 5 or 6 in respect of any service, facility, accommodation or premises that is restricted to one sex only — such as a correctional facility, crisis counselling facility, shelter for victims of abuse, washroom facility, shower facility or clothing changing room — the practice is undertaken for the purpose of protecting individuals in a vulnerable situation; or''.

4. Clause 3, on page 2: Replace lines 17 to 24 with the following:

"(4) In this section, "identifiable group'' means any section of the''.

5. Clause 4:

(a) On page 2,

(i) replace line 28 with the following:

"4. Subparagraph 718.2(a)(i) of the Act'', and

(ii) delete lines 36 to 38; and

(b) on page 3, delete lines 1 and 2.

6. New Clause 4.1, page 3: Add after line 2 the following:

"COORDINATING AMENDMENT

4.1 On the first day on which both section 12 of the Protecting Canadians from Online Crime Act, chapter 31 of the Statutes of Canada, 2014, and section 3 of this Act are in force, subsection 318(4) of the Criminal Code is replaced by the following:

(4) In this section, "identifiable group'' means any section of the public distinguished by colour, race, religion, national or ethnic origin, age, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, or mental or physical disability.''.

7. Clause 5, page 3: Replace line 3 with the following:

"5. This Act, other than section 4.1, comes into force 30 days after''.

Respectfully submitted,

BOB RUNCIMAN

Chair