References to Gay Rights Removed from Canada’s Citizenship Guide

By William Miller

Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

OTTAWA, Canada – Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney has removed all mention of gay rights from the new edition of a study guide for candidates for Canadian Citizenship. Kenney has decided to remove the references to gay rights despite recommendations from Deputy Immigration Minister Neil Yeats.

Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney has removed all mention of gay rights from the new edition of a study guide for candidates for Canadian Citizenship.
Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney has removed all mention of gay rights from the new edition of a study guide for candidates for Canadian Citizenship.

The original study guide contained several notes about gay rights in Canada. The first draft stated that homosexuality was decriminalized in Canada in 1969 and discrimination against homosexuals is specifically prohibited by Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms. It also stated that same sex marriage was legalized in Canada in 2005.

The first draft was sent to Kenny’s office in the spring. After reviewing the guide Kenny ordered the references to gay rights removed from the draft.

A memo obtained by the Canadian press under the Freedom of Information Act shows that Yeates appealed Kenny’s decision. In that memo which was sent to Kenny, Yeates  “Recommend the re-insertion of the text boxes related to . . . the decriminalization of homosexual sec/recognition of same-sex marriage . . . Recommend the addition of ‘equality rights’ under list of rights. Had noted earlier that this bullet should be reinserted into the list as a means of noting the equality of all based on race, gender, sexual orientation, etc.”

Kenny however ignored Yeates’s Plea. The study guide released last year contains no references to gay rights.

Kenney has long been opposed to same sex marriage and has opposed a bill legalizing it in 2005. When opposing that bill in parliament he said that gays had the right to marry so long as it was not someone of the same sex.

There were 500,000 copies of the new study guide were published and applicants started testing on it on March 15. The project which updated a version released in 1995 cost about $400,000 dollars. the new version expands sections on Canada’s aboriginal and military history. While there is no mention of gay rights the study guide does have a picture of Olympic gold medalist Mark Tewksbury and states that he is a gay rights activist.

For more information, please see:

Seattle Pi – Cabinet Minister: No Gay White North – 3 March 2010

The Canadian Press – Immigration Minister Kenney Nixed Gay Rights in Citizenship Guide: Documents – 2 March 2010

Toronto Sun – Gay Rights Group Outraged by Kenney’s Decision – 21 March 2010

Author: Impunity Watch Archive