By L.L.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n * Note that this piece was submitted and discounted by eight different Canadian news-media outlets during Bill C-2\u2019s first reading.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Liberal Government\u2019s first tabled bill in Parliament\u2014Bill C-2: the Strong Borders Act<\/a>\u2014has drawn significant criticism for its sweeping legislative changes<\/a>. The omnibus bill would give authorities additional powers to search mail<\/a>, allow officials to cancel or pause immigration applications<\/a>, empower police to demand subscriber information from internet service providers<\/a>, and expand the Canadian Coast Guard\u2019s role to include security activities<\/a>, among many other things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally, buried in a portion of the bill is a seemingly minor \u201cadministrative tweak\u201d that represents an alignment with American authoritarian views on 2SLGBTQIA+ people<\/a>, but is couched in certain sensitive content. That is, Part 13 of the bill amends the Canadian Sex Offender Information Registration Act<\/a> (or the SOIRA).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Amendments to the SOIRA propose expanding reporting requirements<\/a> and lowering the legal bar for information sharing<\/a>. Additionally, provision 153 of Part 13 replaces the term \u201cgender\u201d with \u201csex\u201d in several key places, altering how individuals\u2019 identities will be recorded in the SOIRA moving forward. While this shift may be depicted as administrative, it has far-reaching implications for relevant data collection, legal recognition, and Canada\u2019s purported commitment to 2SLGBTQIA+ rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These changes are an ideological concession to the United States, where Republican-led governments have mounted a sustained campaign against trans people<\/a>, gender diversity<\/a>, and DEI<\/a>. Bill C-2 is framed as a border security measure, but it aligns Canadian policy with the interests of the United States under the Trump administration<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Just a mere few months ago, Canadian Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree acknowledged that the bill addresses certain \u201cirritants<\/a>\u201d in Canada-US relations and enhances cross-border law enforcement cooperation<\/a>. While presumably (and problematically) speaking about drug legislation and immigration policy, addressing certain \u201cirritants\u201d also extends into social policy affecting 2SLGBTQIA+ people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Replacing \u201cgender\u201d with \u201csex\u201d in federal law represents a move away from self-determined approaches to identification. Self-reported gender identity<\/a> plays a crucial role in understanding experiences of violence<\/a> and harm, particularly for people marginalised under settler-colonialism<\/a>, racial capitalism<\/a>, ableism<\/a>, and immigration and refugee status<\/a>. A static framework that reduces gender diversity simply to \u201csex\u201d obscure these realities, undermining existing prevention efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In practice, changes to the SOIRA contradict Canada\u2019s limited\u2014but important\u2014legal recognition of gender identity as a protected characteristic under federal<\/a>, territorial <\/a>et provincial <\/a> human rights legislation. This contradiction models how authoritarian ideology is being slipped past the very voters who were told they would be protected from it. Moreover, the move is pernicious given that the Canadian government has repeatedly leveraged its public image as a bulwark against America-style politics<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bill C-2 is particularly concerning given that trans, intersex, and gender-diverse people experience disproportionate rates of sexual violence. According to the 2018 Survey of Safety in Public and Private Spaces<\/a> and the Canadian Centre for Justice and Community Safety Statistics<\/a>, trans people\u2014who comprise just 0.33% of the population<\/a>\u2014experience significantly higher rates of violence, harassment, and inappropriate behaviour across professional, public, and digital spaces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These\u00a0figures are likely underestimates, especially since government statistics predominantly rely on police-reported data<\/a>. Sexual minoritized Canadians are already less likely to report these incidents to police<\/a>. Certainly, a 2015 report prepared by the Trans PULSE project team<\/a> found that half of trans people in Canada experience sexual violence, with 1 in 5 targeted specifically for being trans. Additionally, the Ontario Coalition of Rape Crisis Centres<\/a> also reports that 70% of trans youth have experienced sexual harassment.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n By replacing \u201cgender\u201d with \u201csex\u201d in official registries, Bill C-2 would distort the already incomplete picture that government statistics represent. Moreover, the proposed changes in Bill C-2 contradict existing federal standards deliberately put in place to uphold the rights of 2SLGBTQIA+ Canadians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2018, the Canadian Treasury Board Secretariat and Department of Justice recommended modernising federal data practices<\/a> by distinguishing between sex<\/em> and gender<\/em><\/a> and determined that gender\u2014not sex\u2014be the default for data collection<\/a>. These directives<\/a> also required Canadian departments to follow Data Reference Standards<\/a> to ensure accurate and respectful representation of gender diversity in federal systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Most recently, the federal government also passed Bill S-12 (2023)<\/a> to amplify the voices of survivors\u2019 of sexual violence and launched the Federal 2SLGBTQI+ Action Plan (2022)<\/a> to promote equity and support for marginalised communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally, the Liberal platform for the 2025 federal election<\/a> also reaffirmed commitments to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and pledged to protect 2SLGBTQI+ people, women, Black and Indigenous peoples, and disabled people, as well as pledging<\/a> to apply a Gender-Based Analysis Plus (GBA+)<\/a> to all policy decisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bill C-2 contradicts these commitments and reintroduces discriminatory policy. It tangibly signals human rights transgressions and possible impacts on existing efforts to understand and prevent sexual violence and harm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rather than a neutral administrative update, Bill C-2 reverses important legal and socio-political recognition of gender diversity and experience under the guise of bureaucratic efficiency and border protection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Proposed changes to the federal law through Bill C-2 entrench a data regime that misrepresents and effaces 2SLGBTQIA+ people\u2019s experiences and their rights. These changes undermine existing Canadian federal frameworks designed to represent and reflect gender diversity and suggest a concerning pattern from the Liberal Government.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n By prioritising policy alliances with the United States, Canadian federal efforts are amplifying ideologies that are hostile toward trans, intersex, and gender-diverse people. These shared cross-border security norms come to reflect a broader shift toward an increased surveillance culture and authoritarianism in both the US and in Canada. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Importantly, advocating for data tracking trans, intersex, and gender-diverse people is not the goal. Rather, shifts occurring in Canadian policy and the broader socio-political landscape are a warning signal. We need to carefully consider\u2014not how to make registries like the SOIRA more inclusive\u2014but rather how American authoritarian interests have a stake in both effacing 2SLGBTQIA+ people and how this mode of governance is encroaching on rights in Canada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bill C-2 has been shown to contain multiple confounding problems arising from cross-border collaboration with the United States. Concerns around 2SLGBTQIA+ rights in Bill C-2 represent yet another complicating factor which deserves sustained and carefully considered attention, not the hurried passing of bills by the federal government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Liberal Government\u2019s first tabled bill in Parliament\u2014Bill C-2: the Strong Borders Act\u2014has drawn significant criticism for its sweeping legislative changes.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7613,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_layout":"default_layout","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[114,311,111],"tags":[397,322,319,115,396,395,138,139,321,116,324,133],"class_list":["post-7614","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-actualite","category-analyse","category-commentaire","tag-autoritarisme-transfrontalier","tag-bill-c2","tag-c2","tag-canada","tag-data","tag-donnees","tag-front-rose","tag-frontrose","tag-pl-c2","tag-politique","tag-projet-de-loi-c2","tag-queer"],"magazineBlocksPostFeaturedMedia":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/frontrose.gay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/soira-150x150.png","medium":"https:\/\/frontrose.gay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/soira-300x148.png","medium_large":"https:\/\/frontrose.gay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/soira-768x380.png","large":"https:\/\/frontrose.gay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/soira.png","1536x1536":"https:\/\/frontrose.gay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/soira.png","2048x2048":"https:\/\/frontrose.gay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/soira.png","trp-custom-language-flag":"https:\/\/frontrose.gay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/soira-18x9.png","colormag-highlighted-post":"https:\/\/frontrose.gay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/soira-392x272.png","colormag-featured-post-medium":"https:\/\/frontrose.gay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/soira-390x205.png","colormag-featured-post-small":"https:\/\/frontrose.gay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/soira-130x90.png","colormag-featured-image":"https:\/\/frontrose.gay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/soira-800x445.png","colormag-default-news":"https:\/\/frontrose.gay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/soira-150x150.png","colormag-featured-image-large":"https:\/\/frontrose.gay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/soira.png","colormag-elementor-block-extra-large-thumbnail":"https:\/\/frontrose.gay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/soira.png","colormag-elementor-grid-large-thumbnail":"https:\/\/frontrose.gay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/soira-600x417.png","colormag-elementor-grid-small-thumbnail":"https:\/\/frontrose.gay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/soira-285x445.png","colormag-elementor-grid-medium-large-thumbnail":"https:\/\/frontrose.gay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/soira-575x198.png","mailpoet_newsletter_max":"https:\/\/frontrose.gay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/soira.png"},"magazineBlocksPostAuthor":{"name":"Front Rose","avatar":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/538a2f1aa4c43ebe553db8c07e2bfc5bdfca24c2817d2fd416ffe336cb23e0c1?s=96&d=blank&r=g"},"magazineBlocksPostCommentsNumber":"0","magazineBlocksPostExcerpt":"Le premier projet de loi d\u00e9pos\u00e9 par le gouvernement lib\u00e9ral au parlement \u2014 le projet de loi C-2, intitul\u00e9 \u00ab Loi visant une s\u00e9curit\u00e9 rigoureuse \u00e0 la fronti\u00e8re \u00bb \u2014 a suscit\u00e9 de vives critiques en raison des modifications l\u00e9gislatives draconiennes qu'il propose.","magazineBlocksPostCategories":["Actualit\u00e9","Analyse","Commentaire"],"magazineBlocksPostViewCount":744,"magazineBlocksPostReadTime":9,"magazine_blocks_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/frontrose.gay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/soira.png",900,445,false],"medium":["https:\/\/frontrose.gay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/soira-300x148.png",300,148,true],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/frontrose.gay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/soira-150x150.png",150,150,true]},"magazine_blocks_author":{"display_name":"Front Rose","author_link":"https:\/\/frontrose.gay\/en\/author\/douxdoux\/"},"magazine_blocks_comment":1,"magazine_blocks_author_image":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/538a2f1aa4c43ebe553db8c07e2bfc5bdfca24c2817d2fd416ffe336cb23e0c1?s=96&d=blank&r=g","magazine_blocks_category":"Actualit\u00e9<\/a> Analyse<\/a> Commentaire<\/a>","yoast_head":"\nUndermining Gender Identity, Violence Prevention, and Human Rights<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Government Statistics on Gender Identity and Violence\u00a0 <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Gender Identity and the Government of Canada<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
American Authoritarianism, Surveillance Culture, and Policing\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n