A year and a half after announcing their intention to amend the rules surrounding the provincial documents of transgender residents, legislation in New Brunswick has still not been passed.
And it’s making those awaiting such a ruling question when the government will make good on the promise.
In the summer of 2016, then Health Minister Victor Boudreau made the commitment to allow New Brunswickers to change their personal documents to reflect the gender they identify with.
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Although driver’s licences can now be issued with gender markers for male, female or unisex, some in the community say it still doesn’t properly rectify the issue.
“Things are improving every day, every single day they improve,” said Billie Joe Steever, a Fredericton-area resident who identifies as intersex. “But the problem, most of it is government.”
“People still hide because of the way they’re treated, the prejudice, the discrimination,” said Steever.
Steever says transgender individuals struggle to be properly identified in most situations.
“I can go to any store in Fredericton and get treated with dignity and respect and 99 per cent of the places, I get gendered properly,” Steever explained. “But when you go to a government office any kind of government…it’s unbelievable the discrimination.”
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Steever’s New Brunswick driver’s licence was recently changed to display a “U” instead of an “F” under the sex category.
Steever’s federally-issued passport has an observation sticker advising the sex should read as X.
But Steever’s birth certificate, which was issued in New Brunswick in 1954, continues to display an “M” for male.
“I asked to have my gender marker changed and they would not change it,” Steever said.
Last week, Premier Brian Gallant said the commitment to amend the rules remains although no timeline was offered.
“We are committed to making sure that this happens,” Gallant said. “We’ll certainly make sure that there’s a follow up and that it happens sooner rather than later.”
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