'Historic' census data sheds light on number of trans and non-binary people for first time
CBC
Statistics Canada in its second release of data from the 2021 census has given a comprehensive tally of how many cisgender men and women, transgender and non-binary people live in Canada.
Of the more than 30.5 million Canadians aged 15 and over who were counted on the census, 100,815 of them identify as transgender or non-binary. That's 0.33 per cent of the total population, or about one in 300 people.
Generation Z Canadians, aged 17 to 24 years, were seven times more likely to identify as trans or non-binary than those in the oldest generation, aged 76 years and older.
Statistics Canada says this new way of reporting information is important because Canadians are evolving on how they identify themselves, and the census needs to reflect that.
The binary male/female sex question on previous censuses was split in two. One question asked respondents to give the sex they were assigned at birth, which remained male and female. The next question asked for respondents' gender identity, providing male and female as an option and allowing people to specify if they identified as something else.
"The main reason for that is to reflect growing social and legislative recognition of transgender and non-binary people in Canada. And it's also a response to feedback that we received," said France-Pascale Ménard, a data analyst on the census.
Ménard called the question "historic" as Canada is the first country in the world to collect and report numbers of people who identify solely as trans and non-binary.
The data now gives the opportunity for governments, businesses and other organizations to cater services to the trans and non-binary communities in Canada.
But some in the in the transgender community see it as just a first step.
"Quite frankly, they're behind the eight ball," said Calgary transgender advocate Anna Murphy. "This is something that they should have done many years ago. They're now just getting around to it. It's great to see it. But quite frankly, it's stuff that should have been done."
Murphy says she wants to see more government and private sector action based on the data, such providing better quality and affirming health care for trans people, addressing underemployment and unemployment and other inequities gender diverse people face.
As the numbers show, only having two options for gender or sex excludes more than 100,000 Canadians from a key detail on the census, which Statistics Canada has tried to correct.
To learn more about gender identity, listen to They & Us, an award-winning CBC podcast that explores first-person stories of transgender and non-binary Canadians, available now on CBC Listen, Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Fort William First Nation is opposing a planned redevelopment of the Ontario Power Generation's (OPG) 117 year old Kakabeka Falls Generating Station, which is located in their traditional territory.
A building that sits at the corner of Sussex Street and Brunswick Avenue has had many lives over the last century — being a church, a school and offices. Now it's set to become housing, at a time when the city sorely needs it.
A Waterloo, Ont., elementary school principal will be sentenced in the new year after pleading guilty to child sexual exploitation charges following a joint investigation that involved the London, Toronto and Waterloo police services.
Students at UPEI have let their student union know what they want from the province this fiscal year, and those priorities are reflected in a 2024-2025 advocacy document brought to the legislature on Wednesday.
Larger communities in the N.W.T. will soon see a boost in their territorial funding to maintain infrastructure and deliver services — like water and waste management — but the increase still falls short of what communities need.
The toxic drug crisis has taken more than 47,000 lives in Canada since 2016 and the synthetic opioid fentanyl has become a household name. But now, what's believed to be an even more potent class of synthetic drugs is showing up in drug busts across the country: nitazenes.
The Liberal government and the NDP have agreed to introduce a two-month GST vacation on certain items before the holiday season, Radio-Canada has learned.
Veterinarians are warning Londoners to make sure their dogs are vaccinated and keeping clean after a deadly virus outbreak was declared in London this week.
Registered nurses rallied in St. John's Wednesday as part of a week-long convention, again calling on the Newfoundland and Labrador government to create permanent solutions to staff shortages and workplace violence.
New poll results released by Narrative Research suggest the Progressive Conservatives are heading into Tuesday's provincial election with a commanding lead over their political rivals.
A measles outbreak in New Brunswick is set to push Canada's annual case count to the highest it's been in five years, highlighting how infectious the disease is and how low vaccination rates have allowed it to take hold, says an immunologist.