Ottawa is defending its policy of allowing transgender-identifying biological males to be housed in women’s prisons, while acknowledging that some of these inmates have faced sexual assault charges in women’s facilities.
The government outlined its position in a statement of defence filed Aug. 31 as part of a lawsuit brought by the Canadian Women’s Sex-Based Rights (CAWSBAR) organization.
“Canada’s accommodation of the needs of gender diverse inmates does not infringe the rights guaranteed to cisgender women inmates,” the Attorney General of Canada wrote in the statement of defence, adding that “the Plaintiff’s allegations of harm relating to the placement and transfer of gender diverse offenders into women’s institutions are vague” and “lack specificity.”…