Canada wakes up
Then there’s the healthcare side. Even as other countries in which the government foots the bill for healthcare services reevaluate the safety and effectiveness of “gender-affirming” interventions, Canadian health authorities have yet to reckon with the burden that publicly-funded gender self-actualisation places on already strained healthcare resources.
Canadians in provinces like Quebec wait years to be assigned a family doctor. In the province of Ontario, over 200,000 people are on the waiting list for surgeries — and that includes patients waiting on life-saving procedures. The last few years have also heralded the dystopian rise of Maid, Canada’s Medical Assistance in Dying programme, which has seen a surge of applications from patients with unmet needs for healthcare and social services.
But even as basic needs go unmet, provincial healthcare systems have expanded access to bespoke cosmetic interventions for those seeking to transition. All provinces and territories now cover mastectomies and genital surgeries. Provinces and territories that cover genital surgery but lack clinics to perform these surgeries may cover travel expenses for patients who wish to seek care elsewhere. The Yukon covers the widest range of “gender-affirming” interventions, including laser-hair removal, facial-feminisation surgery, vocal surgery, and chest contouring.
“If gender identity is fluid, what are the risks of minors rushing into irreversible surgery before their gender identity is more firmly established?” the National Post asks. “Do gender-dysphoric teens have the emotional and cognitive maturity to think through the implications of what might happen if their feelings around gender change?”
This isn’t just a problem facing patients and their parents. Thinking through the implications of any of the issues tangled up with gender has been almost impossible. The Post interviewed Gordon Guyatt, an expert in evidence-based medicine, who spoke of the need to clarify values and preferences when the evidence is uncertain: “ideally, the adolescent and parent would say, ‘We understand what you told us, we understand the evidence, we are confident that this is the right thing.’”
The public needs the same opportunity to weigh the evidence for and against these extraordinary medical, social, and legal interventions in Canadian society. Then, they can decide where they stand.
I am not sure you still live in Canada,Eliza, but thank you for all you do. It troubles me that people think all people who want to keep their kids safe from ideological capture are hateful bigots. Worse than that, thry believe they don't love their kids if they feel like protecting them from something this radical. It's very difficult to bring up when your own circle is captured and when many of them are on board and have what they call trans-kids. I am pretty sure those folks do love their kids, I would never accuse them of that! The allies probably haven't dug deep enough to know how troubling it is or maybe they put blinders on. I think a lot of people equate it to being gay. But being gay, doesn't not require you to have irreversible treatments and surgeries. It is not the same. I understand people wanting to be kind to others. Where does one draw the line ethically, if not here, where kids should be kids.
Also for the record, in Nova Scotia there are 148,000 people waiting for doctors as well. Mine retired in August, so I am in that list. It is every province that has these problems.
Eliza, with pieces like this, I just have to ask ... what does the blue line down the left side signify, and who is the author of the text? Does the blue line mean it's quoted text? Also, is the piece on Unherd longer, or is this the whole thing?
Whoever is speaking, this brings up a lot of good points. Gender surgeries are not cheap, and I don't think the public should pay for them, especially since so many people come to regret them. The trans lobby has made the point that trans people need these surgeries for their emotional health, but that is debatable for a lot of reasons: Because children don't have the emotional maturity to make these choices, and shouldn't be making them anyway until they grow up; because even adults aren't sure of what they want from one moment to the next; because these surgeries are cosmetic, and if the government won't pay for other cosmetic surgeries, why should they pay for these?; because other people's life-saving surgeries are more important than cosmetic surgeries which are just emotionally palliative; etc. (Here in the U.S., cosmetic surgeries are generally not covered by insurance; things may be different in Canada.)
My view is that all of these surgeries should be paid for by the individuals who want them.
I really like this quote:
“If gender identity is fluid, what are the risks of minors rushing into irreversible surgery before their gender identity is more firmly established?” the National Post asks. “Do gender-dysphoric teens have the emotional and cognitive maturity to think through the implications of what might happen if their feelings around gender change?”
I've been saying similar things for ages, but the National Post puts it especially well.