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After originally saying that it would not fund gender reassignment surgery, the Nova Scotia government has now said that it would extend health care funding coverage for the procedure.

Health Minister Dave Wilson is quoted as saying, “This is the right thing to do.”

I’ve written previously about why GRS is recognized as being medically necessary by medical experts, specialists in trans health, social agencies and human rights organizations.  Here is a brief sample:

… There is more. Current legislation asserts that most forms of identification and legal documentation can only be changed to reflect one’s new gender after surgery has been verified. Without GRS, many pre-operative transsexuals experience severe limitations on employment, travel beyond Canada’s border, and treatment in medical, legal and social settings in which verifying ID is necessary. Prior to GRS surgery, transsexuals also face limitations on where they can go (i.e. the spa or gym, or anywhere that involves changing clothes) and difficulties in establishing relationships — as well as being in that “iffy” area where human rights are assumed to be protected, but have not yet been specifically established as such in policies and legislation. In hospitals, prisons and such, they are housed by physical sex rather than their gender identity, creating potentially risky situations, unless the authorities directly involved choose to keep them in isolation instead. And at the end of the day, without GRS surgery, one’s gender is always subject to being challenged or stubbornly unacknowledged by those who don’t realize that a transsexual’s gender identity was not a matter of choice. There is also an extremely high risk of violence faced upon the accidental discovery that one’s genitalia does not match their presentation.  No other supposedly “cosmetic” issue so completely affects a persons rights, citizenship and safety…

This is the fulfillment of several years of work for Nova Scotian trans people.  While details of the program are not yet known, the community had been advocating for comprehensive trans health coverage:

This points to a trans* health care model that includes, but is not exclusively reliant upon, SRS; that is driven by the individual and their particular requirements; that serves all of the trans* community, including those who do and those who do not seek SRS. This is exactly the kind of culturally competent, patient driven, community health care model that both Minister Wilson and his predecessor, the Hon. Maureen MacDonald, have been advocating for Nova Scotians. This is exactly the model that we, as a community, should be asking for.

Nova Scotia also recently added trans people to that province’s human rights legislation.

In a note on Facebook, Kevin Kindred and the Nova Scotia Rainbow Action Project are encouraging people to contact their MLA and send letters of thanks and support.

Most Canadian provinces provide some form of funding for GRS, now (albeit sometimes imperfect) — only New Brunswick and PEI do not.  Attempts to defund GRS have been met with sustained pressure from the public and human rights complaints, with Ontario delisting coverage in 1998 (restoring it ten years later), and Alberta delisting funding in 2009 (restoring it in 2012).

(Crossposted to Dented Blue Mercedes)

Mercedes Allen

Mercedes Allen

Mercedes Allen is a writer, graphic designer and former activist living in Southern Alberta.