OTTAWA — Activists, researchers and detransitioners gathered on Parliament Hill Thursday to call on the federal government to review gender-related medical treatments for minors, arguing Canada has failed to follow countries that have restricted or reassessed such practices.The event was organized by Jeff Evely, a Canadian Armed Forces veteran and former People’s Party of Canada candidate, who led a coalition of activists, doctors and academics under the “Mayday Kids in Crisis” banner opposing puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and gender transition procedures for minors.Evely said the group is urging Ottawa to revisit federal policy, particularly Bill C-4, the federal conversion therapy ban passed in 2021.He argued the legislation has created what he described as a “cooling effect” within the medical profession by discouraging therapists from helping gender distressed youth become comfortable with their biological sex. Asked by Western Standard what action the group wanted from federal politicians, Mia Hughes, a senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, called for an independent national review similar to those conducted in Europe.“As I said in my statement, it’s within the federal power to call for a review of this treatment protocol, like responsible nations have done all over the world now,” Hughes said. .Hughes argued Canada could rely on reviews already completed in countries including the United Kingdom, Sweden and Finland, which have moved to restrict some forms of pediatric gender medicine, specifically those previously offered to minors.She also criticized Canadian institutions for what she described as a failure to critically examine existing evidence surrounding treatments for minors.During the press conference, speakers repeatedly pointed to international policy changes and questioned why Canada has not undertaken a similar review process.In response to another question from Western Standard about whether any federal politicians had engaged privately with the organizers ahead of the event, Evely replied: “Zero.” Evely mentioned that he spoke to Pierre Poilievre for 30 minutes in January 2021 about his daughter’s ex[erience at CHEO’s gender clinic. He offered to share his recorded audio from his previous interactions at the gender clinic, however he claimed that Poilievre was unwilling to listen to the recordings. Poilievre eventually voted in favour of Bill C-4, when it unanimously passed with all Conservative MPs present, led by then-party leader Erin O’Toole.The event featured testimony from several detransitioners and medical critics of pediatric gender transition practices, many of whom described personal experiences with gender-related care and called for tighter restrictions on treatments for minors.
