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Government to introduce bill outlawing conversion therapy for adults

OTTAWA — The federal government is set to table a new bill to ban conversion therapy on Monday, which if passed would outlaw practices that seek to change someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity.
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OTTAWA — The federal government is set to table a new bill to ban conversion therapy on Monday, which if passed would outlaw practices that seek to change someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity.

It will beef up a bill which died when Parliament was dissolved ahead of the September election, and is expected to ban the discredited practice completely.

Conversion therapy has included electric-shock therapy and intensive sessions to repress non-heterosexual attraction.

The government has said outlawing conversion therapy is a priority.

Its new bill, to be introduced by Justice Minister David Lametti and Gender Equality and Youth Minister Marci Ien, is expected to gain wide cross-party support. But more than half of the Conservative caucus opposed the government’s previous attempt to ban conversion therapy practices.

The original bill only outlawed conversion therapy if adults did not consent to it, though it banned it for children.

No Conversion Canada, an advocacy group which has been campaigning to outlaw the practice for years, said the latest version would be “a significantly stronger bill than last time.”