Gender markers case scheduled for June trial

With a trial date set to hear Fran Forsberg’s case to remove gender markers from government identification, the mother of two transgender daughters is feeling “optimistic.”

The case is scheduled to be heard at Court of Queen’s Bench in Regina beginning June 11, as the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission (SHRC) challenges the provincial government.

“It’ll be interesting and I’m looking forward to it,” said Forsberg, who began this journey more than four years ago, when she filed a human rights complaint on behalf of her now-10-year-old child, Renn.

“I’m really anxious to have this over and done with for the children involved and the youth involved,” she added.

The two sides had a pre-trial conference on Nov. 27. Although details of the conference are private, presumably they did not see eye to eye, since a trial has been scheduled.

Lawyer Larry Kowalchuk, who is representing Forsberg, said this is a “first in the world” when it comes to the freedom of expression argument.

In July, the Human Rights Commission applied to the Court of Queen’s Bench to ask that gender be removed from Renn Forsberg ’s birth certificate, after it substantiated Forsberg’s complaint: It found that Renn’s charter right to freedom of expression had been violated, having her birth certificate list her as male.

At the time, SHRC chief commissioner David Arnot emphasized that this case applies solely to Renn Forsberg, and “may or may not have applicability to a larger cohort of individuals.”

Renn’s experience does not necessarily mean that all gender markers violate the rights of all people, he added.

Renn has an older sister, Skylar, 13, who is also transgender.

“They don’t figure the government has any business telling them who they are, which is true,” continued Forsberg, who lives in Saskatoon.

Forsberg, with the support of several other families from Regina and Saskatoon, applied for an injunction to have Renn Forsberg’s gender marker removed on an interim basis.

Their case, arguing discrimination under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Saskatchewan Human Rights Code, was heard on July 10.

Justice Jennifer Pritchard issued a decision on Oct. 30 that she could not endorse such a change, as they were “more akin to permanent injunctions.”

She also found that the government faces an “obvious impediment” in having only male and female as sex options on its IDs. The federal government now has a third option.