Quebec to jail inmates according to anatomical sex, not gender identity

Quebec Public Security Minister Francois Bonnardel responds to reporters questions at the legislature in Quebec City, Tuesday, February 18, 2025. (Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press)

Transgender inmates in provincial detention will be incarcerated according to their anatomical sex, not their gender identity, Quebec’s public security minister said Wednesday.

François Bonnardel said in a statement the measure is to ensure the safety of all inmates.

“With this new directive, the Quebec government is ensuring equitable treatment of all inmates in Quebec,” he said. “Safety must always come first, for the benefit of correctional officers, our fellow citizens and inmates.”

As an example, the directive means that a trans woman who has undergone vaginoplasty — also known as bottom surgery — will be housed with female inmates. If a trans woman has not undergone gender-affirming surgery, she will be housed among male inmates.

Pascal Vaillancourt, head of a group that operates a 24-hour help line for LGBTQ+ people, says the government’s approach of assessing someone based on their genitals is “archaic.”

“It goes completely against all the good practices in terms of inclusion and trans health that we see around the world,” Vaillancourt said.

Victoria F. Legault, executive director of advocacy group Aide aux trans du Québec, said the process that led to the province’s decision was “very opaque.”

“We wonder where this came from,” she said. “We weren’t aware that this was a project on the table at the Public Security Department.”

The change in policy comes after a convicted Quebec killer created waves after being detained in a women’s jail during trial. Mohamad Al Ballouz, who now uses the name Levana, had been on trial for killing Synthia Bussières and the couple’s sons — five-year-old Eliam and two-year-old Zac — in the Montreal suburb of Brossard in 2022.

The killer, who was married to Bussières, transitioned while in custody and began to identify as a woman, changing her appearance and her name legally. She was transferred to a women’s detention facility for her trial.

Provincial jails are for pretrial detention and for sentences of less than two years.

In April, federal corrections officials determined Al Ballouz must be housed in a men’s prison despite identifying as a woman. Al Ballouz was sentenced in December to life in prison without possibility of parole for 25 years, and had asked to be incarcerated at the Joliette Institution for Women, northeast of Montreal.

The Correctional Service of Canada said it works with offenders who request accommodations based on gender identity, including for placement that better aligns with an offender’s gender identity or expression. The agency said that each request for accommodation is assessed individually.

Previously in Quebec, transgender inmates could apply to be incarcerated in the detention facility that aligned with their gender identity. For security reasons, they could also ask to be isolated from the general population in jail or during programs and services.

Legault said her group worries that Quebec’s new policy will increase the risk of violence against trans inmates.

“I think that this decision was really made around trans women with a desire to protect other women, but I think that we really didn’t consider the safety of trans women who would end up in men’s prisons and who would definitely be exposed to much more violence.”

Bonnardel said in a statement that transgender inmates can continue to identify with the gender of their choice inside detention centres. Some accommodations will be possible, he added. As with all inmates, security screenings will determine which detention centre they are directed to.

The minister said the province is providing corrections officers with a guide to educate them on sexual diversity, gender plurality, and the rights of LGBTQ+ people.

The Quebec Public Security Department says that as of June 13, six out of the roughly 5,400 incarcerated people in Quebec jails identified as transgender.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 18, 2025.

In a previous version, The Canadian Press wrote that transgender prisoners will now be held in provincial prisons based on their sex assigned at birth. In fact, this refers to anatomical sex.