New gender identifiers available for Manitoba licences

WINNIPEG — Manitoba Public Insurance is offering new gender identifiers on drivers' licences and ID cards for people who are non-binary or those who want to opt out of gender markers.

As of Tuesday, Manitobans will have the option to leave their gender unspecified on their driver's licence or ID card, or display X as a gender identifier.

People who want to have their licence changed can go to an MPI service centre or Autopac agent. They do not need to give any "supporting documents" to make the change, MPI said.

MPI said customers will not be charged to change the licences or identification cards.

MPI said Manitoba, along with Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, are among the only provinces in Canada to allow people not to mark their gender.

Ontario, British Columbia, and Alberta all allow people to mark 'X' as a gender identifier on their licence.

MPI said it worked with the Public Interest Law Centre (PILC), which represented a group of non-binary people at the Manitoba Human Rights Commission who called for more options for gender identification.

In a news release from PILC, the law group said it filed a number of complaints with the commission in May 2019, over allegations that non-binary people were facing discrimination by the province based on their sex or gender identity.

“This is an important step forward in ensuring that all Manitobans have a choice in whether to display gender information on their IDs, and when they do, to ensure that the information displayed is accurate,” Allison Fenske, a lawyer with PILC, said in a news release.

The group said when gender identifiers for non-binary people are not included on official forms, it can lead to stigma, social isolation, anxiety, trauma, harassment, and violence.

“For the first time in my life, I will be able to go somewhere with ID in my pocket that reflects who I say I am. That changes the dynamics in social interactions in terms of physical and emotional safety,” Charlie Eau, one of the people who launched the complaint, said in a news release.

Charlie said more work is needed from the province on how gender identifiers are used and said if they are necessary then there needs to be transparency and consistency in the definitions and how the data is being used.

"All people should be allowed to declare who they are, in their own words," they said.

"We have more work to do to continue to remove barriers to accurate identification for non-binary people in Manitoba, and this change is a positive step forward," said Sam MacKinnon, another person who launched the complaint.

PILC said the complaint against the province is ongoing, as well as the Vital Statistics Agency. The law group said its goal is to have non-binary gender identifiers on all government forms and identification documents when necessary.