Close X
Thursday, November 14, 2024
ADVT 
National

Hearing Expected In B.C. Human Rights Case Involving Transgender Inmate

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 30 May, 2017 12:41 PM
  • Hearing Expected In B.C. Human Rights Case Involving Transgender Inmate
VANCOUVER — A lawyer for a transgender woman who was forced to stay in a men's jail says his client hopes her human rights case against the British Columbia government will change policies for other inmates.
 
Dan Soiseth said his client Jaris Lovado, who calls herself Bianca, was incarcerated at the Surrey Pretrial Centre for five months last year before being moved to a women's facility after filing multiple complaints.
 
The Justice Ministry tried to have Lovado's complaint to the BC Human Rights Tribunal dismissed, but the tribunal ruled the case is worthy of a further hearing.
 
BC Corrections has a policy of housing inmates according to their self-identified gender unless health and safety concerns can't be resolved.
 
The ministry told the tribunal that during a previous stay at the Alouette Correctional Centre for Women, Lovado engaged in inappropriate relationships with female inmates and posed a safety risk to women who may have experienced trauma.
 
It also said Lovado displayed a "male persona."
 
"We don't know exactly what that means," Soiseth said.
 
Soiseth, who represents the Community Legal Assistance Society, said there was no evidence provided of any safety concerns and it's not unusual for inmates to have relationships.
 
He said the main issue is that Lovado, who was serving time for fraud-related charges and breaching conditions of release, faced discrimination as a transgender person and her needs were not met until she complained.
 
Lovado was moved to the women's facility in Maple Ridge last September after she agreed to meet behavioural expectations.
 
 
 
 
The tribunal's written decision stated Alouette Correctional Centre initially declined to accept Lovado as a transfer based on information from BC Corrections that she'd been living in the community as a male.
 
The decision said an April 26, 2016, email from the deputy warden to the assistant warden at Surrey Pretrial said Lovado refused to be skin frisked by a male but that the deputy said Lovado should undergo that procedure because she had "all the equipment of a male."
 
Lovado requested a "female Alouette Centre diet" while at Surrey Pretrial but was told that wasn't possible, the ruling said. The tribunal noted BC Corrections branch did provide her with female underwear including bras and make-up from Alouette.
 
Corrections said in its application for dismissal that staff at the Surrey Pretrial Centre ensured Lovado was placed in areas where she could have adequate privacy.
 
"It says it also ensured Ms. Lovado's physical and mental health-care needs were addressed in a timely manner," the ruling said.
 
Lovado did not respond to requests for comment, and the Justice Ministry said it could not provide information until the election writ is returned.

MORE National ARTICLES

Komagata Maru’s 103rd Anniversary: Read The Statement By Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

Komagata Maru’s 103rd Anniversary: Read The Statement By Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
Prime Minister Of Canada On The Anniversary Of The Komagata Maru Incident

Komagata Maru’s 103rd Anniversary: Read The Statement By Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

Hungry Sea Lion Drags Little Girl Into Water At Richmond, B.C., Wharf In A Dramatic Video

Hungry Sea Lion Drags Little Girl Into Water At Richmond, B.C., Wharf In A Dramatic Video
VANCOUVER — The man who shot heart stopping video of a sea lion snatching a little girl off a Vancouver-area wharf says at first he froze.

Hungry Sea Lion Drags Little Girl Into Water At Richmond, B.C., Wharf In A Dramatic Video

Traffic Moving After Truck Fire Closed Coquihalla Highway For A Full Day

Traffic Moving After Truck Fire Closed Coquihalla Highway For A Full Day
Northbound traffic on the Coquihalla Highway, 25 kilometres south of Merritt, was allowed by the accident site at about 6 a.m. and southbound traffic began flowing 90 minutes later.

Traffic Moving After Truck Fire Closed Coquihalla Highway For A Full Day

Eight Revenue Agency Workers Fired For Roles In Privacy Breaches: CRA

Eight Revenue Agency Workers Fired For Roles In Privacy Breaches: CRA
OTTAWA — The Canada Revenue Agency says eight of its employees were fired in the last fiscal year after violating taxpayers' privacy.

Eight Revenue Agency Workers Fired For Roles In Privacy Breaches: CRA

NDP Holds Courtenay-Comox, Focus Shifts To Absentee Ballots In B.C. Recount

NDP Holds Courtenay-Comox, Focus Shifts To Absentee Ballots In B.C. Recount
VANCOUVER — ElectionsBC is turning its attention absentee ballots cast in British Columbia's tight election race after recounts in two ridings upheld the original outcome of the May 9 vote.

NDP Holds Courtenay-Comox, Focus Shifts To Absentee Ballots In B.C. Recount

Metal Thieves Suspected By Police After 175 Bronze Vases Stolen From Surrey Cemetery

Metal Thieves Suspected By Police After 175 Bronze Vases Stolen From Surrey Cemetery
  The RCMP say a mother who was visiting her son's grave on April 26 noticed the bronze vase at his gravesite had been stolen.

Metal Thieves Suspected By Police After 175 Bronze Vases Stolen From Surrey Cemetery