City report says a bylaw banning business licence for conversion therapy would be 'largely symbolic'

A report going before Saskatoon's governance and priorities committee (GPC) on Monday says any city action to tackle conversion therapy should align with proposed federal legislation.

The report is meant to guide Saskatoon city council in stopping conversion therapy in the city.

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. The therapy has been widely criticized by experts as ineffective and harmful.

In March, the federal government tabled legislation to criminalize aspects of conversion therapy-related activities in Canada. 

Bill C8 would outlaw the use of conversion therapy on minors and and would make it illegal to profit from the practice.

The Saskatoon report said municipalities have limited options when it comes to banning the practice and those would largely be symbolic.

The report said municipalities can prohibit the business of providing conversion therapy, but the bylaw would be hard to enforce because conversion therapy may not always be offered by a business.

The report also said the amendments proposed by the federal government to the Criminal Code target similar business activities. 

Bill C8 proposes five new Criminal Code offences that would make it illegal to:

• Cause a minor to undergo conversion therapy.

• Take a minor out of Canada to undergo conversion therapy abroad.

• Force someone to undergo conversion therapy against their will.

• Profit from conversion therapy.

• Advertise conversion therapy as a service.

The legislation, if passed, would also give the courts the power to seize conversion therapy ads and to order their removal from computers or the internet.

The legislation does not cover private conversations between individuals about sexual identity.

The report says the city should "align our business license practices with the direction of the federal government on this issue once Bill C8 is in effect."

Charlie Klassen, who spoke to the committee in February on behalf of the Grosvenor Park United Church and urged members to take action, said aligning business licenses with Bill C8 is fine, but it still leaves a gap.

"We don't know when that's going to become enacted or if it even will be," Klassen said. "So in the meantime we need to do what we can to protect our youth."

Klassen said a city bylaw is needed even if it is just a symbolic gesture.

"Words matter. Making a statement like that and standing up and saying, 'We're not OK with this,' is so important and very impactful."

If the GPC recommends conversion therapy be prohibited as a business, then a bylaw would need to be drafted and brought back to city council for approval.

Vancouver, Edmonton and Lethbridge are among Canadian cities that have already banned the therapy. 

In a letter to the city, Pleasant Hill Church Pastor Keith Pankratz wrote asking that any ban on conversion therapy be clearly defined "in order to maintain the freedoms of individuals to seek the assistance and support they need and chose whether it be professional, medical, counselling or spiritual."

Pankratz said any ban should "not infringe on the expression of religious belief, instruction or the provision of pastoral care."