Canada’s most populous province is moving towards something it calls “gender neutral” government documents.
A motion from a backbencher in the governing provincial Liberal party, suggested removal of any references to mothers or fathers on all government documents.
The motion, titled “Encouraging Gender Neutrality and Inclusivity on Ontario Government Forms,” calls on the province to replace gendered language with gender neutral and inclusive language when updating, amending, creating or replacing government forms.
The motion was proposed Thursday by Member of the Provincial Parliament Glenn Thibeault from the northern Ontario city of Sudbury.
|“I am excited to speak on this motion today, and explain why I believe it is so important,” said Thibeault. “Ontario is a diverse province, and I believe that our government forms should strive to reflect that diversity as much as possible.”
Thibeault said the issue was brought to him by a single-mother who was concerned that a school document had spaces to be filled in by a mother and father.
He said it reminded her that as a single mother she was “different” adding, “It’s a reminder to single parents, to divorced parents, or queer or transgender parents that they and the way they raise their child is not what is considered to be ‘normal.’”
It is a non-binding initiative but did receive all-party support.
Remove traditional terms, or simply add new terms?
However, there was some concern. Progressive Conservative MPP Bob Bailey suggested it might be better to maintain traditional words while simply also adding the more inclusive gender-neutral terms.
“While calling for more inclusive language, the member is calling for the words ‘mother’ and ‘father’ to be excluded from government forms,” Bailey said. “If the member was really serious about being inclusive, he would be asking that words such as ‘parent’ and ‘guardian’ be added — I might add a stress on ‘added’— to government forms, not that the words ‘mother’ and ‘father’ be excluded from them
“I know everyone here would agree that the words ‘mother’ and ‘father’ mean many things to many people and shouldn’t be excluded from government forms or our day-to-day vocabulary,” Bailey said.
With files from the National Post
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