Transsexuals want coverage for sex change operations, cut by the Conservatives in 1998, restored. (Hat tip: BeanCounter)
And I’d like the Canadian military, cut by the liberal-left in the 90’s, restored. Any guesses which one will be restored by the libs?
CP 2004-11-28 02:16:20
TORONTO—A human rights tribunal has heard complaints brought to the Ontario Rights Commission that the delisting of sex-change operations by the province six years ago was discriminatory. A transsexual who was partway through changing genders when Ontario stopped paying for sex-change operations became so depressed that her partner felt he had to go deep into debt to pay for it himself, the tribunal heard.
The man, who can only be identified as CD, told the tribunal his partner’s depression reached a level last February where “she didn’t know what to do and I didn’t know what she was going to do, so I was afraid for her being.”
It was at that point that he committed himself to seeing the $7,000 operation through “at any cost,” he said, “maxing out” his credit limit and withdrawing “substantially” from his RRSP.
The procedure was delisted from the Ontario Health Insurance Plan by the Conservative government in 1998.
The tribunal is hearing complaints brought by four people to the Ontario Rights Commission that the delisting of the surgery, which had been available since 1971—and is still available in four other provinces—amounted to discrimination on the basis of sex and disability.
In a complaint filed with the commission in December 2000, the man’s partner, who can be identified only as AB, said she was denied OHIP coverage for the operation, which involves reconstruction of the genitalia, even after completing a compulsory program at the Clark Institute of Psychiatry, now known as the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.
Her partner told the tribunal there was a “night and day” difference between the complainant’s depressed moods and hatred of her life before the operation, and the “new person” she has become six months after the surgery.
He described her now as being radiant and full of joy.
Outside the tribunal, Martine Stonehouse, another complainant, said she hopes to put “a human face on who we are, because a lot of people get the wrong idea and are afraid of us.”
Lawyer Susan Ursel, who represents several of the complainants, said the tribunal has the power to order the government to relist sex-change operations if it finds there has been a violation of the complainants’ human rights.
The hearing continues on Jan. 10.
PTBC was founded by Mr. Johannesen in 2000.
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