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Transgender inmates in Quebec will now be incarcerated in detention facilities according to their anatomical sex, not their gender.
On Wednesday, the Quebec government announced changes which focus on ensuring “fairness in the treatment of all inmates,” said François Bonnardel, Quebec’s minister of public security, in an online news release.
Previously, transgender inmates could ask to be incarcerated in the detention facility of their choice. For security reasons, they could also choose to be isolated from the general population in both their accommodation sector and during social reintegration programs.
The announcement follows the case of Levana Ballouz, a trans woman who was convicted of murdering her partner Synthia Bussières and their two children Éliam Al-Ballouz, 5, and Zac Al-Ballouz, 2, in 2022.
Ballouz, 38, was known as Mohamad Al Ballouz at the time of the charges. Once convicted, she made a request to serve her time in a federal women’s prison.
The request was denied and she is currently being held in a men’s prison. Her case sparked a debate over where trans inmates should serve time.
The Quebec government says the new guideline announced this week promotes safety and access for transgender inmates to social reintegration services and socialization.
“Safety must always come first, for the benefit of correctional officers, our fellow citizens and those incarcerated,” said Bonnardel in the online news release.
Sylvie Guertin, the mother of Bussières who was killed, says she received a call from Bonnardel informing her about the new directive on Tuesday.
“I said ‘oh my God.’ I was very happy to hear the news. It really touched me,” said Guertin, clutching her chest. “They heard me.”
She says the minister was inspired by her plea. “He said ‘it’s not right that a man who killed a woman and then two children is going to go to a women’s prison,'” recalled Guertin.
From the start, she was against Ballouz’s plea to be placed in a women’s prison, especially considering the violent nature of the crimes committed against her daughter and grandchildren.
Celeste Trianon says she thinks Ballouz’s case certainly played a significant role in the government’s decision to go forward with this directive.
A trans advocate and legal clinic operator in Montreal, Trianon says she understands the logic of wanting to prevent people from exploiting women in prisons. But she added that a case can “incite fear” even though there are solutions to approaching tricky situations.
“We cannot just like put one model template of like what a trans person is and apply to everyone,” she said.
“My initial reaction was utter disgust at seeing such blatant transphobia being pushed forward.”
‘I don’t see how they could justify it,’ says lawyer
Alexandra Paquette, a prison lawyer and president of the Association des avocats Cartéralistes du Québec, says this move is a step back for fundamental rights.
“From what we understand … if your anatomy is male genitals, you’re going to have to have the surgery in order to get to a female institution,” said Paquette.
“[That] does not correspond to the concept of gender identity.”
She notes that in 2017, the federal government made it possible for people to request to be incarcerated in the institution that corresponds to their gender identity.
Most provinces have since adopted similar policies at provincial jails, but Paquette says a policy in Quebec has been long awaited. In the meantime, she says cases have been resolved on a case-by-case basis.
Quebec’s incarcerated trans population represents 0.1%
With the incarcerated transgender population representing only 0.1 per cent of the prison population in Quebec — just six people — Paquette says the government’s energy could have instead been used to improve staffing and resource issues in detention centres.
“The provincial government, it’s a very conservative way to write those type of instructions,” said Paquette. “I don’t see how they could justify it.”
Amy Matychuk, an Alberta-based lawyer at a prison justice and police misconduct law practice, says there are many transgender people who will choose not to seek any sort of surgical modification to their body, but still do not identify as the sex they were assigned at birth.
Requiring people to go to an institution based on their sexual characteristics is not a directive that will prevent violence against trans people, she says.
“And it’s also not a policy that’s necessarily going to protect other inmates or correctional officers,” said Matychuk, noting there’s no good data showing that these kinds of policies actually protect anyone.
In an emailed statement, a spokesperson with Quebec’s Public Security Ministry said this directive comes into effect immediately and training and guidelines will be made available to staff in the near future.
The office confirmed this will affect trans inmates who are already incarcerated but that “care will be taken not to displace them during their incarceration, so as not to hinder their social reintegration.”
When asked about exceptions to this directive, the office said they could apply if there are predominant health or safety risks for the incarcerated trans person or other persons incarcerated in the same detention facility.