Strathmore requests bylaw against conversion therapy

By Deirdre Mitchell-MacLean Times Contributor

Since 2019, a number of municipalities have implemented or are in the process of implementing bylaws that specifically ban the promotion or practice of conversion therapy within their boundaries.
On Feb. 5, Strathmore added their community to the growing list.
Councillor Bob Sobol proposed a motion to request advocacy against the practice and promotion of conversion therapy with both the federal and provincial governments while also instituting a municipal bylaw against them.
“Conversion therapy is a practice that aims to change an individual’s sexual orientation to heterosexual or gender identity to cisgender which means identifying with the sex assigned to them at birth,” said Sobol. “It employs various approaches from talk therapy and medication to aversion therapy that attempts to condition a person’s behaviour by causing them discomfort through things like electric shocks when they’re exposed to specific stimuli.”
Alberta Health Minister Tyler Shandro has previously stated the United Conservative government didn’t see a need for additional legislation.
“We don’t think there’s a need to address it specifically because it’s not a valid health service,” Shandro’s press secretary Steve Buick said in a statement to the Edmonton Journal last May.
The “service”, though, has not generally been provided by registered social workers or health service providers.
In a statement on the website faithbeyondbelief.ca, Pastor Jojo Ruba stated that one “bylaw passed in Alberta could even prevent a mom from talking to her five-year-old children about gender identity. In some municipalities, they claim to only target ‘businesses’ but they define ‘business’ to include churches.”
Sobol said conversion therapy is strongly opposed by the American Psychological Association, the Canadian Psychological Association and the Canadian Psychiatric Association. That doesn’t stop non-licensed organizations from providing it, however.
Pam Rocker, an LBGTQ advocate in Calgary, posted a list of churches, universities and organizations on social media that offer “treatment” for homosexuals.
“Conversion therapy is alive and well … in Alberta,” she said.
Municipalities in Alberta, Canada and the United States are making efforts to protect vulnerable people, however.
“The World Health Organization (WHO) issued a statement in 2012 saying this type of therapy poses a severe threat to the health and human rights of the affected persons,” Sobol said. “In the United States, 19 states and one district have laws or regulations protecting youth from this harmful practice as well as at least 60 cities and countries and other states have enacted similar protections.”
More importantly, changes are being made here at home.
“In our own country, Ontario has made the practice illegal for minors by initiating an outright ban. Manitoba has outlawed health professionals from offering conversion therapy. Nova Scotia has made it illegal for health professionals to provide conversion therapy for minors,” Sobol said. “In our very own province, Edmonton, Sherwood Park and the City of St. Albert have all enacted bylaws which ban the practice and promotion of conversion therapy within municipal limits. Other municipalities including Spruce Grove, For McMurray and Calgary are in the process of drafting bylaws.
“For myself, I consider this proposed bylaw to be one dealing with very basic human rights; to suggest a person’s sexual orientation should be considered a curable disease or a mental disorder, one that requires therapy to ‘fix the problem’ is both archaic, dangerous and very misguided,” he added. “My desire with this motion is to enact a bylaw that very clearly demonstrates our community is not okay with this type of activity, and to urge both our provincial and federal government to take appropriate action to ban this practice.”
Mayor Pat Fule and Councillors Denise Peterson and Jason Montgomery voiced their support for the motion. Councillors Tari Cockx, Lorraine Bauer and Melanie Corbeill were not in attendance.