🇨🇦The Minister of Justice has reintroduced a bill of ban conversion therapy as #billc6. Text is not yet available but it is said to be the same as #billc8. The bill is only at first reading so debate was very short. @BardishKW spoke for the govt using the slogan @freetobeme_ca /2
Opposition leader @erinotoole emphasized his support for the LGBT community but spoke about the need for changes to the bill so it will not criminalize private conversations between parents, teachers etc. He did not specifically refer to therapy or gender identity issues /3
@r_garrison for the NDP supported the bill but said that his party would be looked for amendments to expand the restrictions on "conversion therapy" for gender identity. The Bloc and Green speakers supported the govt without adding anything new. /4
It will be an uphill battle to get changes to the bill to ensure that gender non-conforming children are protected from medical harm. We are likely to see competing amendments from the Conservatives and NDP and the Liberals will then claim the bill is a reasonable middle ground.
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1/ I suppose it's good that the @globeandmail have featured this article by @RobynUrback on the front page but the kids the medical system is labelling as trans and sterilizing deserve better still.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/articl…
@globeandmail @RobynUrback 2/ The article starts with a discussion of the Dutch approach to affirmative care but fails to note just how weak their research was. The whole model of care is based on a study of 55 subjects with a 1 year follow up period, and no control group. tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.10…
@globeandmail @RobynUrback 3/ The article discusses the increase in referrals to clinics and the fact that 79% of patients are now "born female" but does not give a good idea of the magnitude and potential significance of this change.
1/ It is two weeks since the Cass Review was published the The @globeandmail, which describes itself as Canada's national news organization has not printed a word about it. Why the silence?
@globeandmail 2/ The @globeandmail cannot claim that the Cass Review is not newsworthy. Its main competitor, the @Nationalpost has written on it extensively as has every other major newspaper in the English speaking world.
@globeandmail @nationalpost 3/ Coverage of the Cass Review has not been confined to the conservative press. Liberal leaning outlets like the Guardian, the Washington Post, the New York Times and even The Toronto Star have given it balanced coverage. thestar.com/opinion/star-c…
1/ Another falsehood in the awful CBC coverage of the Cass Report which needs to be refuted in detail is the claim the puberty blockers are reversible. cbc.ca/news/health/pu…
2/ This issue did not receive a lot of attention in the Cass report because NHS England updated its website to remove a claim that puberty blockers are fully reversible back in 2020. However, the claim still persists in Canada in the face of the evidence. transgendertrend.com/nhs-no-longer-…
3/ The CBC story refers to the Canadian Paediatric Society position statement which in turn cites WPATH SOC8. This is what WPATH says. None of the references in the paragraph are to research that supports the claim that puberty blockers are reversible. tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.10…
1/ The dismal CBC news report on the Cass review is dangerously misleading on evidence based medicine. It quotes Calgary family physician Jake Donaldson as saying this about the evidence base on ear infections.
2/ There is a link to a Cochrane Review of antibiotics for acute middle ear infection in children which concludes that in high-income countries most children recover spontaneously and the benefits of antibiotics do not outweigh the risks. cochrane.org/CD000219/ARI_a…
3/ A second Cochrane review of painkillers for middle ear infections which found that the evidence of the effectiveness of pain killers alone or in combination is uncertain. cochrane.org/CD011534/ARI_d…
1/ At last, @CBCNews covers the Cass Review, but the article is packed with so much misinformation that it would have been better if they had said nothing. The story ignores key parts of the report and misrepresents others. cbc.ca/news/health/pu…
@CBCNews 2/ The @CBC story on Cass repeats many of the common myths and misconceptions which are demolished in this excellent article by @lecanardnoir and adds a few new ones. quackometer.net/blog/2024/04/b…
@CBCNews @CBC @lecanardnoir 3/ The CBC refers to "standards of care" supported by WPATH, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Canadian Pediatric Society. The Cass report evaluated both WPATH and the AAP and found that they were not reliable.
1/ The Hill Times suggests that gender identity could become a critical issue in marginal seats where there are significant numbers of socially conservative minority voters, but it could become more than that. hilltimes.com/story/2024/02/…
2/ Canadian Liberals have traditionally been good at brokering compromises in this kinds of conflict but transgender activists have insisted on no compromise / no debate. Neither the Liberals nor the NDP will want to risk being the first to break ranks on gender issues.
3/ This was not a problem as long as the Conservatives were also unwilling to challenge the gender ideology. The Conservatives were trapped in their own dilemma of wanting to appeal to both their social conservative wing and the majority of Canadians who support LGB rights.