VANCOUVER – The Vancouver Police Department has issued a new policy for interacting with transgender people after it was rebuked by the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal over its treatment of a trans woman.
The department says the policy was created with respectful criteria for the identification of trans people and its officers will receive training around the new procedures.
The changes come after the tribunal awarded Angela Dawson $15,000 for injuries to her dignity, feelings and self-respect after officers referred to her by her legal name, Jeffrey, and a male pronoun and refused to allow her post-surgery care while she spent a night in jail.
A 17-minute video entitled “Walk With Me,” outlining the difficulties many trans people go through in daily life, was developed by the department and will be shown to all VPD employees.
The department says the policy has been endorsed by both the Trans Alliance Society Board and the City of Vancouver’s LGBTQ2 Advisory Committee.
The department’s director of planning, research and audit, Drazen Manojlovic, says the policy strikes a balance between officers’ legal responsibilities to verify identities, while being respectful of a trans person’s right to be referred to by the name and gender they have chosen.
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