SHRC backs removing gender from child’s ID

A group of advocates is optimistic that a Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission decision will set a precedent to benefit all gender-nonconforming people when it comes to government-issued identification.

Saskatoon parent Fran Forsberg launched a human rights complaint four years ago on behalf of her transgender daughter, Renn, who is now nine.

Forsberg is “ecstatic” about the SHRC’s finding that Renn’s human rights were violated under the Saskatchewan Human Rights Code.

By the end of the month, the SHRC will apply to the Court of Queen’s Bench to ask that gender be removed from Renn’s birth certificate.

The government would be the respondent in the case.

SHRC chief commissioner David Arnot emphasized that the case as it stands applies solely to Renn.

“This is going to be an important case in Saskatchewan,” said Arnot. But “this is in respect of one child in this case. … It may or may not have applicability to a larger cohort of individuals.”

Arnot said it is “very premature” to speculate as to what the Court of Queen’s Bench might decide — if a hearing goes ahead.

First, the parties will meet with a judge in a pre-hearing to see if a settlement can be reached.

Further, Renn’s specific experience does not mean that the “existence of gender markers on all government ID necessarily violates the code for all people,” said Arnot: Some transgender people might prefer to have the gender marker changed rather than removed.

“These issues will be discussed in front of the Court of Queen’s Bench and argued perhaps, but we can’t anticipate in any way what the judge might find,” said Arnot.

Forsberg said if a judge decides against her cause, “It wouldn’t stop me from fighting, and I don’t think it would stop the other families that are involved either.”

Shane Tyler is one of those fellow fighters, involved with Forsberg in a lawsuit that’s separate from the SHRC complaint.

Had gender not been marked on Tyler’s ID, “I do feel a lot of stigma would have been removed and socially transitioning would have been much easier,” said the 21-yearold transgender man who lives in Saskatoon.

“People will pull up the birth certificate argument plenty … that if you’re legally this gender, then technically that’s the gender that you are.”

Tyler said he has been lucky at work, but “employment discrimination is a very, very real thing ” for transgender people.

Lawyer Larry Kowalchuk is representing Forsberg, Tyler, Dustin Dyck and Megan Cheesbrough in suing the Saskatchewan government over gender on governmentissued ID.

“What we’re saying is you should not be compelled to choose a gender as a condition of receiving any government ID, like a birth certificate, health card, drivers’ licence,” said Kowalchuk.

“Every time I go to even get a library card for my kids, they’re outed,” said Forsberg, who also has a 13-year-old child, Tana, who is two-spirit or gender fluid. “Originally, gender markers were put on so women couldn’t vote or own property. Those things have been resolved, so why do we still have it?”

“We used to have what your father did for a living and your race on your birth certificate. Those things are irrelevant. So is gender.”

Kowalchuk calls the SHRC’s decision “a historical world first.”

“It’s already now probably a world precedent for a human rights commission or any government agency to be supporting the abolition of gender marking as part of freedom of expression,” said Kowalchuk. “And in the context of the seriousness of what gender-fluid youth particularly face, this is important.

“Almost 60 per cent of transgender or gender-fluid children attempt suicide. That’s serious,” added Kowalchuk.