“The complete ban on so-called conversion therapies has received Royal Assent [from Queen Elizabeth II],” said David Lametti, Canada’s justice minister. “This is a victory for Canada . . . This is what making history feels like.”
According to the legislation, those who seek to “change a person’s sexual orientation to heterosexual; change a person’s gender identity to cisgender; change a person’s gender expression so that it conforms to the sex assigned to the person at birth; [or] repress or reduce non-heterosexual attraction or sexual behaviour” face up to five years in prison.
The legislation also adds advertisements for conversion therapy to statutes that address obscenity and child pornography.