Trans activists in British Columbia, Canada, are demanding that a law which prevents dangerous convicted criminals from changing their legal names be repealed immediately.
Social justice legal group West Coast LEAF issued a press release, signed by numerous trans activist groups and organizations, demanding the change on November 7. In their letter, the groups claim that the province’s legislation “harms those most in need of legal name changes, including transgender people, Indigenous people, and survivors of gender-based violence.”
They also state that the “name change ban interferes with the human rights of transgender people to use their chosen names.” In addition to repealing the name-change ban, the groups are also demanding greater access to name change services, and “dignity” for the transgender community.
The legislation at issue is the province’s Name Act, which was amended earlier this year in response to public outcry over child-killer Allan Schoenborn being permitted to change his legal name, followed by a failed campaign to keep his new name hidden from the public.
Schoenborn murdered his three children, aged five, eight, and 10, in 2008. While he was found guilty of first-degree, pre-meditated murder, a judge ruled he was not criminally responsible due to mental illness. Schoenborn is currently eligible for 28-day leaves from the forensics hospital where he is serving his sentence, and may eventually be released into transitional housing in the community. Schoenborn does not identify as transgender.
The 2024 amendment to the BC Name Act ensures that all persons convicted of serious violent offences, or offences against children—even if they are found not criminally responsible—cannot obtain legal name changes. The legislation was proposed by the now-defunct BC United Party, which was the official opposition to the ruling New Democratic Party, under premier David Eby.
Eby held a sizable majority government at the time, but now holds the slimmest possible majority with a strong Conservative Party opposition.
Despite the obvious safety risk posed to the public by enabling men like Schoenborn to hide behind new aliases, BC’s trans activists believe that it is more important for transgender persons with violent criminal histories to have their gender identities affirmed.
If these activists have their way, criminals like Adam Laboucan, also known as Tara Desousa, would be able to hide their past by making quick and easy legal name changes. Laboucan, a trans-identified male and baby rapist, was the youngest criminal in Canadian history to be designated a “dangerous offender.” His crimes, which also include murdering a toddler, have been documented extensively by Reduxx. Laboucan currently resides in a female prison, with a mother-baby program, in British Columbia. Had his transfer to female prison gone unreported, it is plausible that Laboucan—if ever released from prison—would be able to enjoy anonymity and hide his violent, depraved criminal past from unsuspecting future victims.
Adrienne Smith, a female lawyer who uses they/them pronouns, also signed on to West Coast LEAF’s demands to reverse changes to the Name Act. In a statement included in their press release, Smith wrote that, for trans-identified persons, “[o]ur chosen names are human rights… This change [to the Name Act] hurts people standing farthest from justice, because it essentially sentences trans people to permanent deadnaming. That is unlawful, and it is wrong. Everyone should be entitled to the basic dignity of a name.”
Smith is the litigation director at CWHWC Trans Legal Clinic, a business that provides pro-bono legal services to “Two-Spirit, transgender and gender non-conforming people.” In addition to helping trans-identified persons obtain legal name changes, they also offer free hormone and surgery readiness assessments.
Another signatory, Didi Dufresne, a female who uses he/they/she pronouns, is the director of legal services for the non-profit QMUNITY. Dufresne asserted that the amendments to the Name Act are a throwback to laws that once criminalized homosexuality. “The criminal offenses listed include charges historically used to criminalize queer sex (like gross indecent, incident acts, exposure); charges related to sex work which are constitutionally suspect, and a number of non-violent offenses like breaking and entering or trespassing at night,” Dufresne wrote.
Other signatories include the Canadian Bar Association (BC Branch), PACE Society (which receives federal and provincial government funding), the Society for Advocacy for Gender-Affirming Healthcare, and the Union of BC Indian Chiefs.
In 2019, West Coast LEAF member Devyn Cousineau presided over the BC Human Rights Tribunal Jessica Yaniv hearings, in which trans-identified Yaniv sued female estheticians for refusing to wax his testicles. Cousineau referred to the waxing of trans-identified male testicles as “critical gender affirming care.”
Premier David Eby has not issued a public response to the demand letter.