I want to thank the members of CUPE Ontario, OPSEU, OECTA, the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association as well as members of the OFL who were all here this morning at the press conference to support gender-affirming health care. Thank you very much.

In September, the Premier claimed that teachers and school boards were indoctrinating children about gender identity. Words matter, especially those spoken by the Premier.

Today is the Trans Day of Remembrance, and this House held a moment of silence to remember those who died or were killed because of transphobic hatred and violence.

Since the Premier made that damaging claim, incidents of hate directed at trans and queer people, and especially students, have been rising dramatically.

My question is, does the Premier regret his claim, when he knows that the only curriculum being taught in Ontario is the one posted on the Ministry of Education’s own website?

I’d like to present a petition to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.

“Whereas two-spirit, transgender, non-binary, gender-diverse, and intersex communities face significant challenges to accessing health care services that are friendly, competent, and affirming in Ontario;

“Whereas everyone deserves access to health care, and they shouldn’t have to fight for it, shouldn’t have to wait for it, and should never receive less care or support because of who they are;

“Whereas gender-affirming care is life-saving care;

“Therefore we, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to support the reintroduction of a private member’s bill to create an inclusive and representative committee to advise the Ministry of Health on how to realize accessible and equitable access to and coverage for gender-affirming health care in Ontario.”

I will proudly affix my signature to this petition and send it to the table with page Christopher.

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Support Gender-Affirming Health Care.

“Whereas two-spirit, transgender, non-binary, gender-diverse, and intersex communities face significant challenges to accessing health care services that are friendly, competent, and affirming in Ontario;

“Whereas everyone deserves access to health care, and they shouldn’t have to fight for it, shouldn’t have to wait for it, and should never receive less care or support because of who they are;

“Whereas gender-affirming care is life-saving care;

“Therefore we, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to support the reintroduction of a private member’s bill to create an inclusive and representative committee to advise the Ministry of Health on how to realize accessible and equitable access to and coverage for gender-affirming health care in Ontario.”

I will proudly affix my signature to this petition and send it back to the centre table with page Lazo.

I’m very proud to stand to present this petition.

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

““Whereas two-spirit, transgender, non-binary, gender-diverse, and intersex communities face significant challenges to accessing health care services that are friendly, competent, and affirming in Ontario;

“Whereas everyone deserves access to health care, and they shouldn’t have to fight for it, shouldn’t have to wait for it, and should never receive less care or support because of who they are;

“Whereas gender-affirming care is life-saving care;

“Therefore we, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to support the reintroduction of a private member’s bill to create an inclusive and representative committee to advise the Ministry of Health on how to realize accessible and equitable access to and coverage for gender-affirming health care in Ontario.”

I will proudly affix my signature to this petition and send it to the centre table with page Nicholas.

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Support Gender-Affirming Health Care.

“Whereas two-spirit, transgender, non-binary, gender-diverse, and intersex communities face significant challenges to accessing health care services that are friendly, competent, and affirming in Ontario;

“Whereas everyone deserves access to health care, and they shouldn’t have to fight for it, shouldn’t have to wait for it, and should never receive less care or support because of who they are;

“Whereas gender-affirming” health “care is life-saving” health “care;

“Therefore we, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to support the reintroduction of a private member’s bill to create an inclusive and representative committee to advise the Ministry of Health on how to realize accessible and equitable access to and coverage for gender-affirming health care in Ontario.”

I will proudly affix my signature to this petition and return it to the table with page Jonas.

March 31 marks the International Transgender Day of Visibility. This is a day to celebrate the achievements of transgender people and raise awareness of discrimination faced by transgender people worldwide. This day encourages us to recognize that trans and non-binary individuals continue to resist oppression by simply being who we are.

Challenges, however, do exist. This is exactly why we are seeing a rampant rise of bigotry and violence against trans, non-binary and queer communities. Driven by irrational fear and destructive political gamesmanship, there are 431 pieces of legislation pending across America that target transgender people—those numbers are hard to get out, Speaker.

A week ago, the Ugandan Parliament passed anti-homosexual legislation that imprisons people for just identifying as 2SLGBTQ+. Some offences carry the death penalty. Such a hateful and violent law must be condemned by every parliamentarian in this House.

Here in Ontario, we have the opportunity to be a world leader on trans human rights, starting with improving access to health care this year, with my private member’s bill, the Gender Affirming Health Care Advisory Committee Act.

And don’t forget, this government could show its commitment to trans health care today by committing to restart the Connect-Clinic with an alternative funding plan so that everyone in Ontario, no matter how remote-access they are, has access to gender-affirming care.

To all my trans and non-binary community members in Ontario: The Ontario NDP sees you, supports you and values you today and every other day.

I would like to provide this petition to the House.

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:”

Please “Support Gender-Affirming Health Care.

“Whereas two-spirit, transgender, non-binary, gender-diverse, and intersex communities face significant challenges to accessing health care services that are friendly, competent, and affirming in Ontario;

“Whereas everyone deserves access to health care, and they shouldn’t have to fight for it, shouldn’t have to wait for it, and should never receive less care or support because of who they are;

“Whereas gender-affirming care is life-saving care;

“Therefore we, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to support the reintroduction of a private member’s bill to create an inclusive and representative committee to advise the Ministry of Health on how to realize accessible and equitable access to and coverage for gender-affirming health care in Ontario.”

I will proudly affix my signature and provide this to our page Mabel for the centre table.

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Support Gender-Affirming Health Care.

“Whereas two-spirit, transgender, non-binary, gender-diverse, and intersex communities face significant challenges to accessing health care services that are friendly, competent, and affirming in Ontario;

“Whereas everyone deserves access to health care, and they shouldn’t have to fight for it, shouldn’t have to wait for it, and should never receive less care or support because of who they are;

“Whereas gender-affirming care is life-saving care;

“Therefore we, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to support the reintroduction of a private member’s bill to create an inclusive and representative committee to advise the Ministry of Health on how to realize accessible and equitable access to and coverage for gender-affirming health care in Ontario.”

I would like to bring the petition forward to the table, and I would provide this to our page Camilla.

Yes, I would. Thank you, Speaker. It’s with great pride that I’m able to read an explanatory note explaining this bill.

This bill, of course, is being introduced days before Trans Day of Remembrance, on November 20, and I’d like to share with you that the bill enacts the Gender Affirming Health Care Advisory Committee Act, 2022. This act provides that the Minister of Health shall, within 60 days of the act coming into force, establish a gender-affirming health care advisory committee. The advisory committee shall submit a report making recommendations to the minister for improving access to health care and coverage for gender-affirming health care for all Ontarians. After receiving the advisory committee’s report, the Minister of Health shall inform the assembly of the measures that the minister intends to recommend to the government of Ontario so that they can implement the recommendations to ensure that every Ontarian has gender-affirming health care and that it be delivered as speedily and as freely as possible.

Mr. Glover moved first reading of the following bill:

Bill Pr10, An Act to revive Maizal Tortilleria Inc.

To the member from Toronto–St. Paul’s, thank you very much for your sage comments and observations about Bill 26. I’m just very curious: What we’ve heard from the Honourable Minister of Colleges and Universities in previous debates is that this is just one piece of many pieces of legislation that may or may not be coming to address gender-based violence on campuses and perhaps in civil society. Would the province of Ontario benefit from having a comprehensive strategy to address gender-based violence? Would the province have the benefit of creating a new round table to address this particular issue?

Thank you for the question.

There are so many things that are missing from this budget. There are probably too many to list, as I’ve got a minute left. But I do want to highlight one thing which I think is critically important.

Earlier this month, Statistics Canada released some new data and it specifically talked about the rise of gender-based violence and how Canada is seeing no end in sight. We’ve seen the highest level of gender-based violence that we have seen in past years, and this has grown an astounding 18%. There’s absolutely nothing in this budget that addresses gender-based violence. I couldn’t even find the words “gender-based violence.” I couldn’t find the words “sexual assault.” And yet we know it’s an epidemic in Ontario.

That is one example of the things that are missing, but we also know that when it comes to missing one critical policy piece, the others fall apart—with respect to court services and support, with respect to housing for women who are fleeing violent situations, with respect to children who are losing the capacity to stay in school because their housing situation is so unstable.