Mon 16 Jan 2017 In: International News View at Wayback View at NDHA
Canadian transgender inmates are now to be housed in prisons that align with their gender identity, a policy reversal that comes just days after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pledged to address the issue. The former policy came to Trudeau’s attention only a number of days ago when, during a town hall meeting, a former trans inmate told him that the prison policy was “torture”. Speaking to the woman, Trudeau said ”I will make sure we look at it and we address it and we do right in recognising that trans rights are human rights and we need to make sure we are defending everyone's dignity and rights in every way we can.” Days before the town hall meeting, Correction Service Canada had released a new trans inmate policy directive that reaffirmed their policy that pre-op transgender inmates are to be housed based on their sex at birth. Correctional Service Canada spokesman Jean-Paul Surette has now told CBC News “We are currently assessing — on a case-by-case basis — individual inmates’ placement and accommodation requests to ensure the most appropriate measures are taken to respect the dignity, rights and security of all inmates under our custody.”
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Monday, 16th January 2017 - 2:20pm