Gender justice groups say changes to B.C.’s Name Act are harming survivors

By Dirk Meissner, The Canadian Press on November 7, 2024.

B.C. Minister of Health Adrian Dix waits to speak during an announcement in Surrey, B.C., June 18, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ethan Cairns

Gender justice groups in British Columbia want the government to repeal recent provincial legislation that prevents people convicted of serious Criminal Code offences from changing their names.

The call for the repeal of the Name Amendment Act comes from groups that include Gender-Affirming Healthcare, the Canadian Bar Association’s BC branch and the Trans Legal Clinic.

The groups say the legislation was not necessary to protect the public and harms people most in need of legal name changes, including transgender and Indigenous people and survivors of gender-based violence.

B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix, who introduced the amended legislation last May, said then that the law will ensure people convicted of serious crimes, such as violence against other people and acts against children, cannot change their name.

The Premier’s Office says in a statement that it’s looking at the gender justice groups’ concerns, and that people deserve to be supported and empowered to change their name in a way “that is true to who they are,” or for safety purposes.

However, the statement says the government remains committed to the purpose of the Name Amendment Act, to prevent dangerous criminals “from abusing the name change process to hide their identity.”

The changes were prompted by BC United Leader Kevin Falcon’s introduction of a proposed private member’s bill to change the act after learning that B.C. child killer Allan Schoenborn was legally permitted to change his name to Ken John Johnson.

Schoenborn was found guilty of three counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of his children, aged five, eight and 10, in Merritt, B.C., in 2008, but he was later found to be not criminally responsible because of a mental disorder.

Kate Feeney, the director of litigation at West Coast LEAF, a legal organization that fights gender-based discrimination, says a speedy and accessible name change process is crucial for survivors trying to escape ongoing violence and stalking when other options have failed to protect them.

“Everyone deserves safety from gender-based violence – period, including survivors who have had engagement with the criminal legal system,” she said in a statement.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.