Ban on Conversion Therapy

Conversion therapy is any practice, treatment or service that tries to change or repress a person’s sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or gender expression to only be heterosexual or cisgender.

Canada’s Criminal Code defines conversion therapy as a practice, treatment or service designed to do one or more of the following:

• change a person’s sexual orientation to heterosexual
• change a person’s gender identity to cisgender
• change a person’s gender expression so that it conforms to the person’s sex assigned at birth
• repress or reduce non-heterosexual attraction or sexual behaviour
• repress a person’s non-cisgender gender identity
• repress or reduce a person’s gender expression that does not conform to the person’s sex assigned at birth

A practice, treatment or service refers to an established or formal intervention that is generally offered to the public or a segment of the public.

For more information on the meaning of the Criminal Code’s definition of conversion therapy, see the Minister of Justice’s remarks before the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights meeting on December 1, 2020.

Last Updated: May 2022

Conversion therapy does not include a practice, treatment or service that:

• explores or develops a person’s integrated personal identity, such as helping someone with their gender transition, and
• does not assume one sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression is preferred over another.

An integrated personal identity “comprises a coherent sense of one’s needs, beliefs, values, and roles, including those aspects of oneself that are the bases of social stigma, such as age, gender, race, ethnicity, disability, national origin, socioeconomic status, religion, spirituality, and sexuality”.

Conversion therapy also does not include simple conversations about gender, gender identity or gender expression, such as with children, students or mentees. However, if the conversation is part of a formal intervention, such as a talk therapy session, then it may be conversion therapy.

Last Updated: May 2022

Sometimes conversion therapy is disguised as simply counselling or life coaching. But if the purpose of the practice, treatment or service meets the definition of conversion therapy under the Criminal Code, it is still conversion therapy even if it is called a different name.

Last Updated: May 2022

Cisgender means a person who identifies with the gender they were assigned at birth. For example, a person born with a female body who identifies as a female. 

Last Updated: May 2022

Gender refers to the roles, behaviours, activities, and attributes that a society may construct or consider appropriate for the categories of “men” and “women”.

Gender expression refers to the ways in which people choose to express their gender identity, such as through clothes, voice, hair, make-up, etc.

Gender identity is an internal and deeply felt sense of being a man or woman, both or neither. A person’s gender identity may or may not align with the gender typically associated with their sex.

Last Updated: May 2022

Heterosexual means being sexually attracted to people of the opposite sex. 

Last Updated: May 2022

Sex refers to a person’s biological and physiological characteristics, usually as assessed at birth. This includes a person’s external sex organs, sex chromosomes and internal reproductive structures.

Last Updated: May 2022

Sexual orientation is about a person’s physical, emotional or romantic attraction to others. A person may be heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, pansexual, queer, or any number of other sexual orientations.

Last Updated: May 2022

On January 7, 2022, changes to Canada’s Criminal Code came into effect. These changes introduce four offences related to conversion therapy:

1. conversion therapy offence (making it illegal to cause someone to undergo or to provide conversion therapy)
2. promoting or advertising offence (making it illegal to promote or advertise conversion therapy)
3. material benefit offence (making it illegal to receive money or other benefit from providing conversion therapy)
4. removal of child from Canada offence (making it illegal to take, or do anything with the intention of taking, a child outside of Canada to undergo conversion therapy)

These offences are all hybrid offences, meaning the Crown prosecutor decides whether to proceed with the offence as a summary conviction offence or an indictable offence.

Some provinces, towns and cities across the country also have laws that ban the business of conversion therapy. For example, in Edmonton, Alberta, a person cannot operate a business offering conversion therapy. Doing so could mean a fine of $10,000 or more under municipal bylaws. 

Last Updated: May 2022

A hybrid offence is an offence where the Crown prosecutor decides whether to proceed with the offence as a summary conviction offence or an indictable offence.

A summary offence is less serious. The provincial court of the province (in Alberta, the Provincial Court of Alberta) deals with these offences under a simpler process. Only a judge decides if the accused is guilty. If found guilty, the accused can be jailed up to two years less a day or fined up to $5000, or both.

An indictable offence is more serious. The superior court of the province (in Alberta, the Court of King’s Bench) deals with these offences under a more complicated process. Sometimes a jury decides if the accused is guilty, and sometimes a judge does. If found guilty, the accused can be sentenced in many ways, including jail time.

Last Updated: May 2022

Making someone undergo or providing conversion therapy is a crime. Anyone who does so is guilty of a summary offence or of an indictable offence with a jail term of up to five years.

For example, a person who plays an active role in subjecting another person to conversion therapy, including by actually providing conversion therapy, is guilty of this offence.

The law focusses on the purpose of the practice, treatment or service rather than who provides it and what it is called. A variety of people – such as parents, church leaders, coaches, mental health professionals or teachers – may try to provide conversion therapy. Conversion therapy may also be disguised as simply counselling or life coaching. If the purpose is the same as described above, then the practice, treatment or service is still conversion therapy under the Criminal Code.

Last Updated: May 2022

Promoting or advertising conversion therapy is a crime. Advertisements include materials that offer conversion therapy services and those that actively support conversion therapy. Anyone who does so is guilty of a summary offence or of an indictable offence with a jail term of up to two years.

For example, a person who advertises specific conversion therapy services online or who actively supports conversion therapy is guilty of this offence.

Last Updated: May 2022

Receiving a financial or other material benefit if that benefit comes from providing conversion therapy is a crime. This includes someone who receives money or other benefits from providing conversion themselves or on behalf of someone else who provides conversion therapy. Anyone who does so is guilty of a summary offence or of an indictable offence with a jail term of up to two years.

For example, a person who receives fees knowing that it comes from providing conversion therapy is guilty of receiving a material benefit.

Last Updated: May 2022

It is a crime to do anything for the purpose of removing someone under the age of 18 years from Canada with the intent of having them undergo conversion therapy elsewhere. To be guilty of this offence, the person does not have to get as far as taking the child out of Canada. It is enough to do something in Canada and intend that the child would be subject to conversion therapy elsewhere. Anyone who does so is guilty of a summary offence or of an indicatable offence with a jail term of up to five years.

For example, a parent would be committing a crime in Canada by taking a child to get conversion therapy in another country, even if conversion therapy is legal in that place. A parent may also be committing a crime in Canada if they arrange for travel to and conversion therapy in another place but are caught before leaving the country.     

Last Updated: May 2022

Making someone undergo conversion therapy is a crime. Planning to or taking a child out of Canada to undergo conversion therapy is also a crime. If someone is forcing you to go to conversion therapy, support is available. You can report your concerns to the police or call 2-1-1 to find supportive programs and services in your area.

Last Updated: May 2022

You can be charged with the offence of conversion therapy. If you are planning to take, or do take, a child out of Canada to undergo conversion therapy elsewhere, you can be charged with the offence of removal of a child from Canada. If found guilty of either offence, you can be jailed for up to five years.

Last Updated: May 2022

Conversion therapy law reform is not intended to criminalize “exploratory conversations with your kids, students or mentees,” as explained at the December 1, 2020 meeting of the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights. Instead, these changes focus on “coordinated efforts to change someone into something or someone they are not.”

Last Updated: May 2022

No. It is a criminal offence to take, or do anything with the intention of taking, a child out of Canada to get conversion therapy. Even if the conversion therapy is legal in that other place, doing anything with the intent of taking the child abroad for this purpose is still a criminal offence in Canada. If guilty, you can be jailed up to five years.

Last Updated: May 2022

Conversion therapy law reform is not intended to criminalize “a person’s faith or individual values,” as explained at the December 1, 2020 meeting of the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights. Conversion therapy does not cover exploratory conversations or expressions of points of view. However, conversion therapy includes formal or targeted interventions with the purpose of changing or repressing a person’s sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or gender expression. Essentially, the ban is meant to cover coordinated efforts to “tell you that who you are is wrong and that you have to change”.

Last Updated: May 2022

Anyone who provides conversion therapy can be charged with the offence of conversion therapy. If found guilty, they can be jailed for up to five years. If that person also advertises their services, they can be charged with the offence of promoting or advertising conversion therapy. If guilty, they can be jailed for up to two years. They may also be charged with the offence of material benefit if they received a material benefit from providing conversion therapy. It is a crime to receive a financial or other material benefit if that benefit came indirectly or directly from providing conversion therapy. If guilty, they can be jailed for up to two years.

A variety of people – such as parents, church leaders, coaches, mental health professionals or teachers – may try to provide conversion therapy. The law does not say who can be guilty of providing conversion therapy, only that anyone who provides a treatment, service or practice that meets the definition of conversion therapy above is guilty of an offence.

Last Updated: May 2022

Promoting or advertising conversion therapy is illegal. This includes advertising specific conversion therapy services or actively supporting conversion therapy more generally. A person doing so can be charged with an indictable offence (with a jail term of up to two years) or a summary offence.

A judge can also issue a warrant allowing police to seize copies of a recording, publication, representation or any written material they believe are advertisements for conversion therapy. The court can also make an order of forfeiture – an order turning the materials over to the government to get rid of. If the materials are on a computer, the judge can order the custodian of the computer system to share information about the person who posted the materials and to delete the materials.

Last Updated: May 2022

If you or someone you know is experiencing conversion therapy or a harm related to conversion therapy, help is available: 

• report your concerns to the police at 911
• find local supports by calling 211, texting INFO to 211 or chatting online at www.ab.211.ca

See also the Rainbow Pages – a website listing resources for LGBTQ+ youth in Edmonton.

Find more of CPLEA’s free legal resources about conversion therapy at www.cplea.ca/criminal.

Last Updated: May 2022