Canada
Canada to expunge records of people convicted under ‘unjust’ laws
Government announced new regulations on Wednesday
The government of Canada announced on March 7 that new regulations were in place allowing people who had been convicted of historically unjust offenses that targeted queer people and women seeking abortions to have their criminal records expunged.
Under the new regulations, people who have been convicted of the offenses related to being found in a “bawdy house” or putting on an “indecent performance” or exhibition — offenses that had in the past been used to target queer people — as well as various offenses related to seeking or providing an abortion, can now apply to the Parole Board of Canada to have all records of their conviction destroyed. Deceased persons can have their records expunged by a representative. There is no fee to apply for the expungement.
The regulations are an expansion of the 2018 “Expungement of Historically Unjust Convictions” law, which originally allowed men who were convicted under laws banning “gross indecency,” “buggery” and “anal sex” to have their records wiped.
“We need to recognize the historic injustices that wrongly targeted vulnerable communities,” said Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino of the new regulations in the House of Commons. “This is about recognizing the legacy of discrimination suffered by women and members of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community while protecting their right to choose and access safe reproductive health care. This is one more step toward building a compassionate, inclusive and diverse country.”
According to the government’s analysis included in the announcement of the new regulations, the RCMP National Repository of Criminal Records identified 18,579 records related to bawdy houses and indecent acts and 67 abortion-related convictions that may be eligible for expungement. The Parole Board is expecting up to 2,500 people to apply for expungements.
Canada’s “bawdy house” law formerly criminalized anyone who worked in or was found in a place where prostitution or indecency occurred. The intentionally vague law was used regularly as an excuse to raid queer spaces — particularly bath houses.
Coordinated raids on four bathhouses in Toronto in 1981 led to the arrests of more than 300 men in one of the largest mass arrests in Canadian history. The event, dubbed “Operation Soap” by Toronto Police, sparked massive protests that are frequently cited as the start of Toronto’s Pride Festival. Bathhouse aids continued to be a semi-regular occurrence in Canada until 2002, when Toronto Police raided a lesbian event called “Pussy Palace.” In 2005, the Supreme Court ruled that consensual sex in a bawdy house is not indecent, and therefore not illegal, significantly narrowing the scope of the law.
Abortion in Canada was generally illegal unless a hospital committee determined that it was necessary to save the life of the mother until 1988. That year, the Supreme Court struck down Canada’s abortion laws as a violation of women’s right to life, liberty and security of the person.
The bawdy house and abortion laws were finally repealed from the Criminal Code in a general overhaul that had also struck out defunct laws that established a different age of consent for anal sex. The indecency law remains in the Criminal Code, but its use is generally limited.
Although the entire bawdy house law was repealed, the expungement order explicitly does not apply to anyone whose conviction stems from a bawdy house used for sex work or anyone who engaged in sex work in a bawdy house. The expungement order also does not apply to convictions for indecent acts that occur outside a bawdy house, for example, cruising in a public park.
“Canadians deserve non-discriminatory policies that put their safety first, which is why the Government of Canada recognizes that past laws and regulations were unjust and compromised the freedoms of 2SLGBTQI+ communities and women,” Women, Gender Equality and Youth Minister Marci Ien said in a press release.
The government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has taken a number of steps to address historic injustices against LGBTQ and intersex Canadians since being elected in 2015. In addition to repealing unjust laws and creating the record expungement program, the government issued an apology for past persecution of queer Canadians in 2017, and reached a settlement with queer government employees who had been purged from the civil service from the 1950s to the 1990s.The government also prohibited discrimination based on gender identity and expression under the Canada Human Rights Act, banned conversion therapy, and recently ended the ban on blood donations from gay men. However, a regulation banning gay men from donating sperm still exists in Canada.
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Rob Salerno is a writer, journalist and actor based in Los Angeles, California, and Toronto, Canada.
Canada
Liberal Party wins Canadian election
Prime Minister Mark Carney railed against US tariffs, sovereignty threats
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberal Party won the country’s federal election that took place on Monday.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation notes the Liberals won 169 seats in parliament, compared to the 144 the Conservative Party won. The Liberals need 172 seats for a parliamentary majority.
Liberal Bruce Fanjoy defeated Pierre Poilievre, an anti-LGBTQ MP from Ontario who is the Conservatives’ leader, by a 50.6-46.1 percent margin.
The Liberals last month elected Carney to succeed Justin Trudeau as the country’s prime minister. Monday’s election took place against the backdrop of growing tensions with the U.S. that stem from tariffs the Trump-Vance administration has imposed against Canada, and suggestions the country should become the 51st state.
“Our strength lies in our resolve to work together,” said Carney on Tuesday in a post to his X account. “United, we will build Canada strong.”
Thank you, Canada.
Our strength lies in our resolve to work together. United, we will build Canada strong. pic.twitter.com/uN6h4LUAEP
— Mark Carney (@MarkJCarney) April 29, 2025
Egale Canada, the country’s largest LGBTQ and intersex rights group, earlier this year announced it will not attend WorldPride and other events in the U.S. because of the Trump-Vance administration’s anti-transgender policies and “economic warfare and threats to our national sovereignty.”
“Democracy thrives when people engage, and our voices are used in a way where we can say we voted with pride,” said Egale Canada on Tuesday.
“As the new parliament takes shape, we recognize that the journey toward equity and inclusion — especially for 2SLGBTQI communities — extends far beyond election day,” added the group in its post-election statement. “The work of understanding, addressing, and acting on the issues faced by 2SLGBTQI people must be ongoing, collaborative, and grounded in human rights and lived experience.”
Egale Canada said it looks “forward to working with all members of parliament, both newly elected and returning, to help build a Canada where every person is treated with dignity, where diversity is celebrated, and where all are equal — and none are other.”
Canada’s Liberal Party on Sunday elected Mark Carney to succeed Justin Trudeau as the country’s next prime minister.
The Associated Press reported Carney, a former governor of the Bank of Canada, won with 85.9 percent of the vote.
Trudeau became prime minister in 2015 when he defeated then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Trudeau’s father, Pierre Trudeau, was Canada’s prime minister from 1968-1979 and from 1980-1984.
The younger Trudeau is the first Canadian prime minister to have marched in a Pride parade.
Canada in 2022 banned so-called conversion therapy, which Justin Trudeau described as a “hateful and harmful practice.” Justin Trudeau in 2017 also formally apologized to Canadians who suffered persecution and discrimination under the country’s anti-LGBTQ laws — including those convicted of “gross indecency” before Canada decriminalized consensual same-sex sexual relations — and policies.
Justin Trudeau resigned as the Liberal Party’s leader in January.
Randy Boissonnault, a gay MP who represents Edmonton Center (Alberta), previously advised Justin Trudeau on LGBTQ issues. Boissonnault on Sunday applauded the outgoing prime minister.
“It was an honor to start this journey as part of the 2015 Class of MPs that you brought to Ottawa,” said Boissonnault in a social media post. “It was a privilege to serve as your Special Advisor on LGBTQ2 issues and then in your Cabinet to see first-hand the work you did everyday for Canadians.”
Carney will take office against the backdrop of growing tensions with the U.S. that stem from tariffs the Trump-Vance administration has imposed against the country. President Donald Trump has also suggested that Canada should become the 51st state.
“There is someone who is trying to weaken our economy,” said Carney after he won the election, according to the AP. “Donald Trump, as we know, has put unjustified tariffs on what we build, on what we sell and how we make a living. He’s attacking Canadian families, workers and businesses and we cannot let him succeed and we won’t.”
National elections must take place before Oct. 20.
Polls indicate the Conservative Party of which anti-LGBTQ MP Pierre Poilievre, who represents Carleton in Ontario, is the leader remains ahead of the Liberal Party. The gap, however, appears to have narrowed in recent weeks.
Canada
Canadian LGBTQ group cancels WorldPride participation over Trump policies
Egale Canada cites need to ‘safeguard our trans and nonbinary staff’
Egale Canada, one of Canada’s largest LGBTQ advocacy organizations, announced in a Feb. 6 statement that its members will not be attending any events in the U.S., including WorldPride set to take place in Washington from May 17-June 8, because of policies put in place by President Donald Trump.
The statement says the decision not to come to the U.S. resulted in its cancellation of plans to attend a meeting of the Commission on the Status of Women at U.N. headquarters in New York in March, at which it planned to discuss LGBTQ related issues.
“After deep consideration, we have decided not to engage in-person in this year’s Commission on the Status of Women or any other UN, OAS (Organization of American States) or global convergings, including WorldPride, taking place in the United States in the foreseeable future,” the statement says.
“This decision is foremost based on the need to safeguard our trans and nonbinary staff who would face questionable treatment at land and aviation borders to attend such convenings, and to stand in solidarity with global colleagues who are experiencing similar fear around entry to the U.S.,” the statement continues.
“It is also founded in the unique situation that has been thrust on Canadians (and citizens of other countries) regarding economic warfare and threats to our national sovereignty,” according to the statement. “We cannot in good conscience engage in a process of disentangling our organization from the U.S. goods and services (as we have recently released in a statement) and then proceed to travel to the U.S.”
The Egale Canada statement marks the first known time that an international LGBTQ rights organization has declared it will not come to the U.S. to attend WorldPride because of the controversial policies adopted by the Trump-Vance administration, which so far have included a roll back of programs and policies in support of transgender people.
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