Sudbury transgender activists welcome Ontario surgery announcement

Genital-transition surgery will be more accessible to people living in northern Ontario as soon as next year.

Last week, Ontario's Ministry of Health and Long Term Care announced it will provide the surgery in the province for the first time in 2018.

It's the second big step in Ontario's approach to gender reassignment surgeries.

In 2015 the province announced changes to its referral rules — qualified health-care providers anywhere in Ontario could refer transgender patients for surgery.

Laura Gallant, a spokesperson with the Ministry, said that over the last three fiscal years they've helped an average of 206,427 applicants a year access certain medical specialist services through travel grants. 

• Ontario expands referrals for gender reassignment surgery

Previously, only the Gender Identity Clinic at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto could refer a patient for sex reassignment surgery — also known as gender confirmation surgery — which is covered by the Ontario Health Insurance Plan. 

Now, after being referred, a patient will be able to have surgery here in the province.

• Ontario to offer genital transitional surgery in 2018
• Ontario boosts access for trans people seeking gender confirmation surgery

Sudbury transgender activists are welcoming the announcement, but say the province still has more work to do.

Vincent Bolt, the Manager for TG Innerselves, a transgender support site for people in northern Ontario, said people who are transitioning already face the extra burden of travelling out of the city — or province — for surgery.

"A lot of the surgeries have already been covered, just accessing them was a problem," Bolt said. "The Northern Ontario travel grant doesn't cover things out of province."

50 per cent of transgender people live in poverty, activist says

Bolt said the announcement will especially help those on the lower end of the income scale.

"Fifty per cent of trans people in Ontario earn less than $15,000," Bolt said. "To be reimbursed for travel expenses mean [the surgery] is more accessible."

Bolt knows what it means to bear the financial burden of travelling for surgery. He began his transition when he was a teenager, and was relying on the wages he earned from a part-time job. 

"At the time...they were sending people to Montreal," Bolt said. "Not only are you paying your way there and back for any of the surgeries, you need someone there with you. So [it's also] having the cost of a family member or friend there."

More access to screening

Patients will also have more access to screening, which Rita Olink, a Sudbury transgender activist, said is an important part of the process.

"[Patients] go through a lot of psychological stuff like how prepared are you, are you living as your desired gender full time? How are you functioning in society? Are you employed, and how is that going? What about issues with your family — have you resolved those?"

"No surgeon wants to do something willy-nilly and have someone out there with regrets later on and possibly having a bad life because they were too hasty," Olink said.

Listen to the interview with Vincent Bolt on Morning North.