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The Speaker: The hon. member for Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca.
Randall Garrison: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am happy to rise this evening in this adjournment debate
to bring attention to a serious matter of discrimination against the transgendered community in Canada
that was the result of a change in the regulations regarding air travel implemented in August 2011.
I am also happy to continue the debate here tonight in the hopes that the government will act to end this situation
where an unnecessary regulation causes great distress to transgendered Canadians when they try to travel,
by subjecting them to scrutiny that no others face.
This raises a couple of important questions. One is the question of privacy rights.
Why do transgendered Canadians have to prove their gender
when no one else is asked to face the same kind of scrutiny at an airport?
They also have to do this in a public situation, which unfortunately exposes them
to the prejudice that often exists in our country against transgendered Canadians
and again is a violation of their privacy rights.
We have many examples where it has caused delays in people catching flights and therefore caused missed flights,
the repurchase of tickets and disruption of their travel plans
for a reason that would never happen to any other Canadian planning to travel.
In some cases, people have been prevented from flying
by their inability to come up with documents which match the gender appearance which they show.
The government took no action when I raised this question with the Minister of Transport in question period on February 1.
In fact, not only was there no action, there was unfortunately much tittering on the other side
as if there was something funny about the challenges that face transgendered Canadians in their everyday lives in this country.
At transport committee on February 9, government members voted unanimously
to defeat a simple NDP motion that had been moved by the member for Trinity—Spadina.
That motion called for the repeal of section 52(1)(c) of the identity screening regulations under the Aeronautics Act.
This regulation states, "An air carrier shall not transport a passenger
if the passenger does not appear to be of the gender indicated on the identification he or she presents."
This is a completely unnecessary regulation. It is not required under any of the international aeronautics agreements.
There are many other solutions to the supposed problem presented by transgendered people who want to fly.
The United Kingdom, for instance, does the very sensible thing, which we are talking about,
which is requiring that identification simply match the face to the person on the documents.
The question of gender is irrelevant to that match.
In Australia, there is a much more innovative solution.
Australian passports and other documents allow three gender choices in determination of documents.
Australian travel documents may say male, female or indeterminate,
which allows transgendered people to choose a category which would not subject them to this kind of study.
In committee at that time the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport said,
"I think my colleagues across have argued their case very well and have raised some good points."
Then he went on to raise no substantive points in answer to our proposal
to simply limit the regulations for flying to matching up the face to the identity documents of the person.
Tonight I am asking the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport
whether the government has reconsidered this issue.
I am hoping that the government will be able to report to transgendered Canadians
that this unnecessary regulation will be removed at the earliest possible date.
The Speaker: The hon. Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport.
Pierre Poilievre: I would like to thank the hon. member for raising an important issue in the Chamber.
The identity screening regulations were created in 2007 to support the passenger protect program.
That program is an aviation security initiative designed to identify people and to protect Canadians in their travels.
To accomplish this, airlines used to have to verify at the boarding gate
that a passenger's name, as indicated on his or her identification, matched his or her boarding pass.
However, the regulations did not specify that the airline had to also match the identification and boarding pass with the passenger.
In 2010, after an incident in which an airline allegedly did not check the identification of a passenger who was wearing a veil,
the regulations were amended to explicitly require that air carriers compare and verify
the physical identity of passengers against their travel documents and identifications.
Air carriers are now required to screen each passenger by matching the face, date of birth and gender with that on their identification.
That said, we all know it is possible that someone's age, gender or facial characteristics
do not necessarily match or resemble his or her identification.
This can happen for a variety of reasons. Some are medical,
some are due to aging and some are due to just regular changes in appearance that can occur.
That is why we give airlines the ability to resolve any apparent discrepancies when comparing passengers with their identifications.
Unlike what is being alleged, they do not necessarily require a medical certificate to do this.
For example, it is possible that a passenger's gender could appear to be different from that on their identification,
but what people are deliberately not being clear about
is that the airline can use other methods, methods such as questions or visual assessments,
to confirm that the gender on the identification is correct and belongs to that passenger.
I think we can all agree that this is simply good security.
We want to make sure, essentially, that people are who they say they are.
That is done by matching three things: the passport to the identification and the identification to the passenger.
If those three things can be linked, there is a secure identification of the person boarding the plane.
Let me be clear. These regulations do not discriminate on the basis of gender, *** orientation or other irrelevant characteristics.
They simply seek to match the passenger to the identification and the identification to the passport
so that the airlines and our transportation system can be comfortable knowing
that the people getting on the plane are who they say they are. Thank you.
The Speaker: The hon. member for Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca.
Randall Garrison: Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the parliamentary secretary for his remarks,
but he is still doing the same thing: evading the main issue.
We all believe in security in transportation and the necessity of checking the identities of passengers boarding planes. No one disputes that.
However, gender is an irrelevant characteristic and does not need to be checked to establish identity.
We know that other countries do not do this and have equally safe air transportation systems.
The fact is that although the intention may not have been to discriminate against transgendered Canadians,
having this unnecessary regulation very clearly results in that discrimination and the violation of privacy rights
exposure to prejudice and, ultimately, difficulties in travelling.
I know the government likes to talk about unnecessary regulations and the necessity to remove them.
I am offering this as one that is very simple and would not affect security.
It would not require the gate agents of all the airlines to be experts in gender identity
or force transgendered Canadians into a situation in which they may be discriminated against,
exposed to prejudice and prevented from flying.
Once again, I would call on the government to eliminate this unnecessary regulation, which has nothing to do with the safety of air travel.
The Speaker: The hon. Parliamentary Secretary.
Pierre Poilievre : Mr. Speaker, I think the hon. member would agree with me
that we can structure our regulations in a way that ensures that people of all backgrounds, genders and characteristics
can have equal treatment when boarding aircraft to reach their destinations
and ensures at the same time that the system can protect Canadians against those who would do harm.
We can marry those two objectives of avoiding any form of discrimination on the one hand
and protecting the security of Canadian air travellers on the other.
These are not incompatible goals. They are the objectives of our government, and we continue to achieve both of them.