Canadian census shows snapshot of transgender population

TORONTO (AP) - Changing a question on last year's census has resulted in a snapshot of Canada's transgender population, with data released Wednesday showing 0.33 per cent of the country's 38.3 million people identify as a gender that differs from the sex they were assigned at birth.

For the first time, Statistics Canada differentiated between ``sex at birth'³ and ``gender'³ in the census. While the agency and advocates agree the new numbers likely underestimate the true size of the population, they say the data will offer crucial insight into a marginalized community.

The data collected during last year's national household survey shows about 100,815 people are transgender or non-binary, including 31,555 who are transgender women, 27,905 who are transgender men and 41,355 who are non-binary.

Fae Johnstone, a transgender advocate, said population-level data backing up trans people's lived experience has thus far been slim, so this new information is important both symbolically and practically.

``It says something when our government is recognizing the existence of trans folks who have historically been kept out of these conversations and uncounted,'³ Johnstone said. ``But it also is useful to us to better understand how we can focus interventions and address health inequities experienced by trans folks across this country.'³

While previous censuses asked only about sex, the 2021 edition asked about both ``sex at birth,'³ which it said is ``determined by a person's biological characteristics,'³ and ``gender,'³ which it said could differ from what's indicated on legal documents.

Under ``gender,'³ respondents were able to choose either male or female, or write in a third option.

The inclusion of transgender people in the census is part of a broader move by the Liberal government to be more inclusive of the LGBTQ community.