OPINION:
Last month’s shooting at Canada’s Tumbler Ridge Secondary School, which left eight people dead and more than 25 wounded, is especially shocking for a country that prides itself on regulating firearms. Canadians have been desperately searching for answers, but the authorities and media are unlikely to point them to one plausible explanation: the transgender medical industry.
The Toronto Sun reported that the shooter was a “female.” This is false. Independent media has discovered that the shooter was a male named Jesse Strang who “identifies as” a female.
Internet sleuths also discovered a YouTube account believed to belong to the shooter. The profile picture sports a transgender flag, an anime girl, and a rifle. Responding to a question about the shooter’s identity, a representative from the RCMP said that they “identify the suspect as they chose to be identified.”
Canadian authorities seem more concerned with virtue signaling than with objective reporting.
First, even if there were a case to ever use chosen pronouns, this would not be one of them. By referring to this individual as a “female” or “woman,” authorities are obfuscating relevant information.
The false pronouns also hide the scandalous backstory, namely, Canada’s vehement support for so-called “gender-affirming” therapy. If there is any correlation between these “treatments” and violence, then health professionals and political leaders must act accordingly.
A good place to start would be to reject the approach codified under Bill C-4. Under this law, individuals convicted of performing “conversion therapy,” a practice designed to “change a person’s gender identity to cisgender,” can receive up to five years in prison.
“Cisgender” is a neologism referring to someone who “identifies” as the gender aligned with their biological sex. In other words, treatment that promotes acceptance of one’s body is a threat to human dignity and illegal in Canada. So much for body positivity!
The law assumes that gender identity, which has never been defined in a non-circular way, somehow overrides the reality of one’s sex — which is a matter of fixed biology. As a result, mental-health professionals are put in an awkward situation. Rather than helping people fix thought patterns that are misaligned with reality, they are now expected to affirm the confusion.
The patient in this framework is never wrong — not even a 6-year-old. The only treatment includes drugs, surgery, and “social transition.” Welcome to Canada.
Social transition is almost always a conveyor belt to medical transition. And increasing evidence shows these medicalized transition efforts are ineffective at best and harmful at worst.
Studies have found that mental distress tends to worsen, rather than improve, after puberty blockers. One study found that “gender-affirming” surgery is associated with increased risk of depression, suicidal ideation, and anxiety. The rate of depression was 25.4% for males with surgery and 11% for males without. Further, the study found that “feminizing individuals demonstrated particularly high risk for depression.”
An increasing number of youths now identify as transgender or “nonbinary,” a fact acknowledged by the Canadian Pediatric Society. Such an increase warrants investigation. Except Canadian authorities don’t question the role social media, educational environments, or social pressures might have on young children experiencing gender dysphoria. To do so would be to reject the idea that minors are infallible sources of truth on their gender identity.
Instead, Canadian law effectively mandates gender-transition for minors. When applied to our institutions, this “tolerance” means tyranny. Government must protect human rights. If a government treats citizens who simply recognize biological reality as assaulting those rights, then it will use force to prevent it.
The most egregious examples are found in Canada’s embarrassing “human rights tribunals.” One fined a citizen thousands of dollars for privately disagreeing with the gender transition of a friend, citing an “injury to dignity.” This is not a bug in the system, but a feature.
One example is pertinent. A photo claiming to be from a Canadian government office depicts a poster with the words “Protect Trans Kids.” Surrounding it are knives in the colors of the transgender flag. The message is clear: Affirm, or else.
Bill C-4 is built on the same idea. Canada doesn’t just affirm gender ideology — it mandates it. And that might have created the conditions for the tragedy in Tumbler Ridge. If Canada continues down this path of civilizational destruction, the next grave dug will be its own.
• Liana Graham is a research assistant in domestic policy at The Heritage Foundation. She grew up in Oakville, Ontario.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.