{"id":202853,"date":"2019-02-18T23:57:29","date_gmt":"2019-02-19T04:57:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=202853"},"modified":"2019-02-18T23:57:29","modified_gmt":"2019-02-19T04:57:29","slug":"canadian-airlines-waiting-for-guidance-from-ottawa-over-x-gender-option","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/02\/18\/canadian-airlines-waiting-for-guidance-from-ottawa-over-x-gender-option\/","title":{"rendered":"Canadian airlines waiting for guidance from Ottawa over X gender option"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
In 2017, Ottawa announced that travellers will be able to specify their gender with an \u201cX\u201d on their passport, instead of \u201cF\u201d for female or \u201cM\u201d for male. (Pexels Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Canada’s largest airlines are awaiting details from the federal government before they follow their U.S. counterparts in allowing travellers to choose gender designations outside the traditional \u201cmale\u201d and \u201cfemale\u201d check-in categories.<\/p>\n

Major U.S. airlines said last week they will change their ticketing process so that passengers can identify themselves along non-binary lines, representing a victory for advocates of transgender recognition.<\/p>\n

That change comes after a pair of major trade groups \u2014 the International Air Transport Association and Airlines for America \u2014 approved updated standards to allow member airlines to offer two new gender options: \u201cunspecified\u201d or \u201cunidentified.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2017, Ottawa announced that travellers will be able to specify their gender with an \u201cX\u201d on their passport, instead of \u201cF\u201d for female or \u201cM\u201d for male.<\/p>\n

The website for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada says the change is coming \u201csoon.\u201d Until then, passengers can request an \u201cobservation text\u201d free of charge on their passport that notes their sex should be marked as \u201cX,\u201d said Mathieu Genest, press secretary to Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen.<\/p>\n

\u201cIRCC is working diligently to introduce the ‘X’ gender identifier in its official documents,\u201d Genest said in an email.<\/p>\n

The National Airlines Council of Canada, which represents Air Canada, WestJet Airlines Ltd. and other companies, told The Canadian Press Monday that members are \u201cawaiting developments and details\u201d on the plan before altering their check-in systems.<\/p>\n

U.S.-based airlines American, Delta and United confirmed Friday they are in the process of updating their booking tools to add less conventional gender categories, such as \u201cMx.\u201d or \u201cundisclosed,\u201d implementing them in the next several weeks.<\/p>\n

The airlines are making the check-in change despite resistance to non-binary passport options from the U.S. State Department.<\/p>\n

A lengthy legal battle saw U.S. Navy veteran Dana Zzyym, who identifies as neither male nor female, fight to get a passport without having to designate a gender.<\/p>\n

A federal court ruled in September that the State Department could not deny a passport to Zyyym, who was born with ambiguous sex characteristics.<\/p>\n

Helene Montreuil, a lawyer and trans advocate based in Quebec City, said aligning government-issued IDs with self-perception is both a psychological and a practical matter.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s a question of how you see yourself, how you interact with the world,\u201d said Montreuil.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’d prefer to have an ‘F’ on my passport and to present myself as a woman…In Saudi Arabia, if your gender does not match, the (Canadian) government can do nothing for you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Foreign states remain a substantial hurdle, airlines say.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor international travel we need to know whether other governments and other airline partners will recognize this designation,\u201d said Air Canada spokesman Peter Fitzpatrick.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are actively working on this and we do intend to eventually offer a non-binary option to our customers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Transat A.T. spokesman Christophe Hennebelle said that \u201cacting without proper planning and consultation may make travel very complicated for our non-binary passengers, which is the last thing we want.\u201d<\/p>\n

A potential mismatch between provincially issued ID, such as a driver’s licence or birth certificate, and passports remains another possible problem.<\/p>\n

Residents of British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and the Northwest Territories who consider themselves neither male nor female now have the right to use an \u201cX\u201d to designate their gender on IDs, which could clash with current passports.<\/p>\n

Residents of other provinces that haven’t taken the step could face the same problem in reverse down the line, once passports include a non-binary option.<\/p>\n

Canada’s largest airlines are awaiting details from the federal government before they follow their U.S. counterparts in allowing travellers to choose gender designations outside the traditional \u201cmale\u201d and \u201cfemale\u201d check-in categories.<\/p>\n

Major U.S. airlines said last week they will change their ticketing process so that passengers can identify themselves along non-binary lines, representing a victory for advocates of transgender recognition.<\/p>\n

That change comes after a pair of major trade groups \u2014 the International Air Transport Association and Airlines for America \u2014 approved updated standards to allow member airlines to offer two new gender options: \u201cunspecified\u201d or \u201cunidentified.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2017, Ottawa announced that travellers will be able to specify their gender with an \u201cX\u201d on their passport, instead of \u201cF\u201d for female or \u201cM\u201d for male.<\/p>\n

The website for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada says the change is coming \u201csoon.\u201d Until then, passengers can request an \u201cobservation text\u201d free of charge on their passport that notes their sex should be marked as \u201cX,\u201d said Mathieu Genest, press secretary to Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen.<\/p>\n

\u201cIRCC is working diligently to introduce the ‘X’ gender identifier in its official documents,\u201d Genest said in an email.<\/p>\n

The National Airlines Council of Canada, which represents Air Canada, WestJet Airlines Ltd. and other companies, told The Canadian Press Monday that members are \u201cawaiting developments and details\u201d on the plan before altering their check-in systems.<\/p>\n

U.S.-based airlines American, Delta and United confirmed Friday they are in the process of updating their booking tools to add less conventional gender categories, such as \u201cMx.\u201d or \u201cundisclosed,\u201d implementing them in the next several weeks.<\/p>\n

The airlines are making the check-in change despite resistance to non-binary passport options from the U.S. State Department.<\/p>\n

A lengthy legal battle saw U.S. Navy veteran Dana Zzyym, who identifies as neither male nor female, fight to get a passport without having to designate a gender.<\/p>\n

A federal court ruled in September that the State Department could not deny a passport to Zyyym, who was born with ambiguous sex characteristics.<\/p>\n

Helene Montreuil, a lawyer and trans advocate based in Quebec City, said aligning government-issued IDs with self-perception is both a psychological and a practical matter.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s a question of how you see yourself, how you interact with the world,\u201d said Montreuil.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’d prefer to have an ‘F’ on my passport and to present myself as a woman…In Saudi Arabia, if your gender does not match, the (Canadian) government can do nothing for you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Foreign states remain a substantial hurdle, airlines say.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor international travel we need to know whether other governments and other airline partners will recognize this designation,\u201d said Air Canada spokesman Peter Fitzpatrick.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are actively working on this and we do intend to eventually offer a non-binary option to our customers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Transat A.T. spokesman Christophe Hennebelle said that \u201cacting without proper planning and consultation may make travel very complicated for our non-binary passengers, which is the last thing we want.\u201d<\/p>\n

A potential mismatch between provincially issued ID, such as a driver’s licence or birth certificate, and passports remains another possible problem.<\/p>\n

Residents of British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and the Northwest Territories who consider themselves neither male nor female now have the right to use an \u201cX\u201d to designate their gender on IDs, which could clash with current passports.<\/p>\n

Residents of other provinces that haven’t taken the step could face the same problem in reverse down the line, once passports include a non-binary option.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Canada’s largest airlines are awaiting details from the federal government before they follow their U.S. counterparts in allowing travellers to …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":202863,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-202853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news-ca","category-news","mauthors-christopher-reynolds","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=202853"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202853\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/202863"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=202853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=202853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=202853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}