Canada's Bill C-389 Update VII-Third Reading Moved Up

According to my blogging sis Mercedes Allen, Bill C-389's Third Reading has been moved up to take place on Monday, February 7.

From MP Bill Siskay, the author of Bill C-389

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.

In case you're wondering what Bill C-389 is, it's An Act to Amend the Canadian Human Rights Act and Criminal Code to add gender identity and gender expression to it.

In other words, our Canadian trans cousins have the opportunity of getting the equivalent of ENDA, hate crimes and the amending of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in one bill. 

I'm jealous.  


Renee and I had been talking a few nights ago about the possibility of Conservative PM Stephen Harper calling an early election since the next scheduled federal election in Canada is October 2012, one month before our presidential one.

The significance of this timing move up is that if the election is called before Bill C-389 had gone through Third Reading, the bill is dead and it would have to start all over again from scratch.   We already know that Bill Siksay, who has done yeoman's work in shepherding this bill through on his third attempt, is retiring from politics when this session ends.


If it passes the Third Reading vote on Monday, then the bill moves to the Canadian Senate. 


That means Canadian TransGriot readers, time for y'all to get busy calling, faxing and e-mailing your MP's even if they are Conservative.   They need to know that they have trans residents in their constituency as well. 

All we can do on our side of the border is pray, wait and hope it works out positively for you.