Canada's House of Commons passes bill banning LBGTQ 'conversion therapy'

Canada’s House of Commons on June 22 passed a bill banning LGBTQ conversion therapy, a victory for PM Justin Trudeau’s government, which had pledged to end the practice widely regarded as a humans rights violation. According to a local Canadian media outlet, City News, the bill received 263 to 63 votes in the country’s House of Commons. It will now ban conversion therapy for children, bar people from forcing anyone to go through it and will also outlaw the profiting from or advertising of such services. 

Conversion therapy is a practice of trying to change another person’s sexuality by attempting to turn an LGBTQ person straight. It harms and stigmatizes lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and Two-Spirit (LGBTQ2) persons. It even undermines their dignity, and negatively impacts their equality rights. Conversion therapy can include talk therapy hypnosis, electric shocks and fasting. 

As per reports, even though Canadian lawmakers voted overwhelmingly in favour of the Bill, over half of the main opposition Conservative party, however, voted against it despite support from its leadership. The legislation will now go to the Senate, where it will need to pass before receiving royal assent. Minister of Justice David Lametti said that if passed, the Bill will make the country’s criminal laws on conversion therapy the most “progressive and comprehensive in the world”. 

Conversion therapy is 'harmful and ineffective' 

Conversion therapy is a “practice, treatment or service” designed to change an individual’s sexual orientation to heterosexual. The American Medical Association has described the practice as “harmful and ineffective”. According to a recent official survey, 47,000 Canadian men who identify as part of a minority sexuality group had been subjected to conversion therapy. However, now the Bill would prohibit subjecting a minor to the practice, either in Canada or abroad. An adult would also not be able to undergo conversion therapy against his or her will. 

It is worth mentioning that criminalising conversion therapy was one of Canada’s Liberal Party’s main 2019 election pledge. A similar bill was also introduced in March 2020, but despite the support of most lawmakers, it failed to pass before Parliament was suspended for a summer break as the COVID-19 pandemic hijacked the legislative agenda. Back in October, the legislation then proposed five criminal code offences related to conversion therapy, including causing a minor to undergo conversion therapy and removing a minor from Canada to undergo conversion therapy abroad.

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