Human Resources Legislative Update
Ontario, Federal Governments Launch Gender Inclusivity Initiatives
Date: July 8, 2016
On June 29, 2016, the Ontario government announced significant new initiatives intended to promote inclusivity and ensure equitable treatment of trans and non-binary gendered persons, particularly with respect to gender identification. These include:
- Effective June 13, 2016, removal of gender identification information from the face of Ontario health cards
- Commencing in early 2017, offering a new, neutral “X” gender identification display option on Ontario Driver’s Licences for those individuals who do not identify as exclusively male (M) or female (F)
- Launching public and stakeholder consultations this Summer to gather input for the development of a policy on how Ontario government ministries collect, use, retain and display sex and gender information on public-facing government forms (i.e. official documents) and products, with a view to announcing a policy that applies to all ministries this Fall.
The federal government is also exploring the use of gender-neutral options on identity documents (e.g. passports) and conducting a review of all the circumstances in which it requires or produces identity documents to ensure individuals whose gender identity does not match the binary standard are not excluded.
