In its second publication of the 2021 census, Canadian statistics provided a comprehensive estimate of how much gender 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 at the census, 100,815 identified themselves as transgender or non-binary. This is 0.33% of the total population, or about one in 300 people.
This number is further divided by 59,460 as transgender and 41,355 as non-binary.
Generation Z Canadians, ages 17 to 24, are seven times more likely to identify as trance or non-binary than the oldest generation, ages 76 and older.
Canadian statistics say that this new way of reporting information is important because Canadians are evolving in terms of how they identify themselves, and the census should reflect that.
The binary question for males / females in previous censuses was divided into two. One question asked respondents to indicate the gender assigned to them at birth, which remains male and female. The next question required respondents’ gender identity, providing men and women as an option and allowing people to indicate whether they identified as something else.
“The main reason for this is to reflect the growing social and legislative recognition of transgender and non-binary people in Canada. And this is also a response to the feedback we received, “said Frans-Pascal Menard, a census data analyst.
Menard called the issue “historic” because Canada is the first country in the world with a mandatory census issue to collect and report a number of people who identify only as trance and non-binary.
Although the 2021 census in England, Wales and Northern Ireland was conducted a little earlier than the census in Canada, the issue was voluntary. Like the Australian census, the questions there were also voluntary and therefore a representative assessment rather than the full number of people in the country.
This month, Scotland is asking a voluntary question about him first count about whether a person is transgender or has a transgender history. New Zealand is preparing two questions for its own counting next year they will ask about gender and gender, as in Canada.
The data now enables governments, businesses and other organizations to serve the services of trans and non-binary communities in Canada.
Still “other” trance and non-binary people, critics say
But some in the transgender community see this only as a first step.
“Honestly, they’re behind the ball of eight,” said Calgary-based transgender advocate Anna Murphy. “It’s something they had to do many years ago. Now they’re just getting into it. It’s great to see it. But honestly, it’s something that had to be done.”
Murphy says he wants to see more action by the government and the private sector based on data, such as ensuring better quality and promoting health care for trans people, tackling underemployment and unemployment, and other inequalities they face. facing different sexes.
As the numbers show, having just two gender or gender options excludes more than 100,000 Canadians from a key detail of the census. Statistics Canada has tried to correct this by having three options for the gender issue: “male”, “female” or “please specify this person’s gender”.
Respondents were able to fill in any word they used to describe their own gender, which Menard said was to take into account the many different ways to describe gender diversity.
This method was developed through consultations and focus groups with trans and non-binary people and was then tested by a 2019 census of 150,000 Canadian households, according to Menard.
This cloud of words provided by Statistics Canada shows some of the most common non-binary answers to the question on the gender of the census. (Statistics Canada)
But critics say the gender issue continues to be “other” for those who do not identify as male or female, including only men and women without some of the other more common options.
“You still call it ‘other,'” Murphy said.
“If you really care, you’ll have a box that says ‘trance’ that you can check.” You will have a box that says “two-spirited” that one can check. Because it shows that you or anyone who has done this form actually recognizes this, instead of just leaving a blank space. “
Jack Sedelbeck, a local teacher and speaker in Saskatoon, says local communities have always embraced gender diversity. (Omaira Isa / CBC)
With the question open, StatsCan groups the answers into categories. For example, someone who has introduced gender fluid as their gender identity will be grouped in the non-binary category.
The question also allows for two spirits, a common term for many precolonial indigenous genders that Statistics Canada released as part of the non-binary category.
Jack Sedelbeck is a lecturer and speaker in Saskatoon, originally from the Samson Cree Nation in Muscovy, Alta. He sees the possibility of recording gender as a step in breaking down the binary poles that have been imposed on local cultures.
“I grew up in this larger Canadian colonial environment, which, at its core, unfortunately does a disservice to every citizen in the education system delivered to these lands … not in small boxes,” Sedelbeck told Edmonton AM.
Regional and urban-rural differences
Across the country, the census found a higher proportion of trans and non-binary people in major metropolitan cities known as metropolitan areas (CMAs) and small to medium-sized cities known as census agglomerations (CA).
One in six trans and non-binary people live in the central parts of major urban centers, and more than half of all non-binary people in Canada live in the six largest CMAs.
Among the CMA / CAs, Victoria, Halifax and Nelson, British Columbia, had the highest share of non-binary people. Halifax, Victoria and Alma, Quebec, have the highest share of trance people.
Overall, Nova Scotia, the Yukon and British Columbia have the highest rates of transgender and non-binary people (0.48, 0.47 and 0.44 percent, respectively), while Quebec has the lowest share of transgender people (0.14 percent). and non-binary people (0.09%).
Menard says she did not know the roots of regional differences.
“Over the next few months, with the release of the other census variables, we will take a closer look and see if we can better understand these differences,” she said, “but we consulted with Quebec experts and confirmed this. trend. “
To learn more about gender identity, listen to The & Us, an award-winning CBC podcast that explores first-person stories of transgender and non-binary Canadians, now available on CBC Listen, Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
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