MLA who introduced two-spirit, transgender bill speaks

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This article was published 18/06/2024 (655 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

MLA Logan Oxenham, who introduced Bill 208 into the legislature on June 3 has spoken out about the controversy surrounding his bill which marked March 31 as a day to recognize two-spirit and transgender people as Two-Spirit and Transgender Day of Visibility.

“It’s important for trans Manitobans to feel seen and we already have a transgender day of remembrance, which memorializes the community and remembers folks that we’ve lost mostly due to murders, but also to suicide. So we have a day of mourning and I was really hoping we could have a day we could actually celebrate and cherish and honour our two-spirit and trans Manitobans.”

Oxenham, who is transgendered, said he was surprised by the “no” vote from Southeast MLAs Kelvin Goertzen (Steinbach), Ron Schuler (Springfield-Ritchot), Konrad Narth (La Verendrye), and Josh Guenter (Borderland), who were the only Tories to vote against the bill. The sticking point seems to be the wording in Clause 8 of the bill, which acknowledges youth having agency over themselves and access to gender affirming care.

The MLAs are concerned there wasn’t more discussion on the two points as they felt it took parents out of the equation when youth are looking for gender affirming care. Gender affirming care can mean anything from getting hormone therapy, gender reassignment surgery, speech therapy, and/or counselling.

In Manitoba, the age of medical consent is the age of majority (18 years old). However, like many Canadian provinces and territories, Manitoba follows a common law principle in which minors who are deemed capable of making informed decisions about their health may do so without the consent of a legal guardian. These laws are not written anywhere, and different providers can have varying definitions and requirements for their younger patients to be deemed capable of making these kinds of decisions, according to the Canadian Queer Medical Students Association.

“I think that kind of questing or their understanding of trans folks and their journey don’t understand that surgery is mostly a choice for trans folks and many trans folks don’t necessarily want surgery. So, to put those two together tells me a lot about how much they know about our community and how much of a missed opportunity this bill really was (for) them to learn about us,” said Oxenham.

Statistics Canada 2021 census reports that in Manitoba, 3,620 people over the age of 15 identified as transgender or non-binary, which is in line with the national average, population-wise. When it comes to age, those identifying as trans or non-binary increase in younger generations, with Generation Z and Millennials accounting for the largest portion.

During a previous interview, Narth said he felt sorry for Oxenham as he felt the MLA was being used a pawn. Oxenham doesn’t agree with Narth.

“I want to make it clear that our government would never drive a wedge between a child and their parent. Human rights are not wedge issues. I believe in that whole heartedly,” said Oxenham.