Introduction and rationale.
The Canadian media landscape is a continuously evolving and ever changing environment. Canadians now occupy a media world which differs vastly from that seen throughout the late-twentieth century with more individuals than ever accessing not only traditional communications but having access to a plethora of web-based media (Taras, 2015). This access to information consequently impacts the social dynamics within Canadian society, leading to a flux in numerous social issues such as gender inequality (Campbell, 2023), indigenous representation (Carrière & Koop, 2023) and LGBTQ+ rights (Smith, 2020). This disconnect between the access enabled by the Canadian government and their legislation being liberal continues to demonstrate their disregard for marginalised communities. Canada has one of the best records of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) rights in the world. It was one of the preliminary countries to adopt inclusive human rights legislation; however Canada’s record of extending rights to transgender citizens has been slower. Most provinces and territories had human rights protection, but coverage for medical and psychological services varied widely across the country (Hunt & Pelz, 2016).
In June 2017 the act to amend the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code, introduced as Bill C-16, was passed by the Parliament of Canada. The bill intended to protect individuals from discrimination within the sphere of federal jurisdiction and from being the targets of hate propaganda, as a consequence of their gender identity or their gender expression (Walker, 2016). The Act enabled an equity in the treatment of gender diverse individuals within Canada, but was met with continued hostility specifically by conservative figures who criticised the bill as a way of compelling speech. The representation of both sides – liberal and conservative- was then displayed across Canadian media, creating a gender based warfare with a focus on the safety of Canadian citizens. This furthered content being created throughout the media, which established a binary in both sides opinions, something which the news media attempts to use to enable continued debate about the validity in passing of the bill.
For the purpose of this analysis, I have chosen to focus upon CBC News, Canada’s largest broadcaster of news media, demonstrating how the framing of the C-16 Bill was portrayed in the media and the impacts this has upon cultural and political narratives.
Canada’s media model.
The Canadian media exhibits a liberal model, reflecting its multicultural and diverse community. The political situation of any country determines the nature of the communication or media policy its government would formulate (Asekun-Olarinmoye, 2018). Every media system is located within a political stance from which it derives its operational policy. There is thus a complex and powerful link between the media system and the political system, which is often characterised through conflict and suspicion (McQuail, 2005). The same is shown with Canada, whose media policies are driven by the creation of Canadian content. Specific requirements placed upon broadcasters by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), derived through the Broadcasting Act of Canada. The Canadian government regulates media ownership through the CRTC, whose members are appointed by the federal government. Amongst the powers of the CRTC is to grant, renew and set the conditions for broadcasting licences (Asekun-Olarinmoye, 2018). This allows for the Canadian government to control and manipulate the content shown to Canadian audiences, influencing the narrative of the topic and therefore shaping individuals opinions and attitudes in a favourable manner. This authority is thus initiated through governmental passing of bills which systematically enable social control to continue within Canadian society. This can lead to opposition to the reasoning around passing of laws and jurisdiction, something which has been seen clearly through the framing of the Bill C-16. These specific challenges are used as a method of creating conversation around governmental pressure and specifically misinformation by purveyors of heteronormativity such as Jordan Peterson, a conservative Canadian psychologist, author and media commentator.
Propaganda, sensationalism and misinformation.
Bill C-16 was instated to protect individuals from discrimination within the sphere of federal jurisdiction whilst protecting against hate propaganda and hate crimes. Those opposing previous legislative attempts to protect transgender rights focused on questions regarding sex-segregated spaces such as public bathrooms (Cossman, 2018). This is an on-going topic of debate which is proposed by conservatives in regards to Bill C-16, a main provider of this ideology placed in Canadian media would be Jordan Peterson. Peterson believed that the bill would make use of certain gender pronouns compelled speech and related this argument to a general critique of political correctness and identity politics. He received significant media coverage, attracting both support and criticism (Burston & Burston, 2020). His growth as a micro-celebrity and wealth from this, began with a three part YouTube series in September 2016 titled Professor Against Political Correctness (Peterson, 2016), in which he railed against marxism and specifically “an underground apparatus of radical left political motivations” forcing gender-neutral pronouns on society. This ideology was then chastised within the Canadian news media, as the CBC framing of Peterson displayed him as someone who needed to be challenged and specifically ideologically damaging with a main article (Patriquin, 2018) stating “social acceptance is the most effective way to reduce risk of suicide for transgender people and it requires group participation…” enabling for further debate surrounding transgender representation and safety within society, something which continues to be dictated throughout the news media.
The topic of sensationalism and propaganda is crucial to the analysis of Bill C-16. The effects of sensationalism leads to social reform and some stories are wrongly labelled as being negatively sensational (Frye, 2005). Scholars have argued that sensationalism does not need to be specific news topics but should be based on various content characteristics known to attract audiences due to their ability to arouse them emotionally (Grabe, Zhou & Barnett, 2001). This was seen in the news media consistently in regards to Bill C-16 as incorporating notions of gender identity and gender expression into Canadian legislation is framed as a progressive step. However, the concept of women’s safety was consistently placed at the forefront when arguing the risks of passing the bill. While the media framed the debate around gender identity as left vs. right with the continued coverage of the topic in the news media, establishing a dichotomy in opinions, which ultimately left several social groupings disoriented, disinterested and disillusioned in their placement to Bill C-16 (Murphy, 2016). This led to the introduction of misinformation throughout society, as the prevalence and persistence of misinformation is often linked to motivated reasoning, which enables individuals to protect pre-existing beliefs. As a result, people find information that agrees with prior-held beliefs to be more credible and reliable than disconfirming information (Bode & Vraga, 2015). Canadian media thus worked to dispel notions of transphobia or intolerance linked with the Bill C-16, aiming towards a more progressive and forward-thinking ideology which reflects the liberal model displayed throughout Canadian media.
CBC News content analysis.
The CBC is one of Canada’s largest conglomerates and arguably the main broadcasting agency in the Canadian media landscape, owning a large share in commercial stakeholders. It is due to this that the main source of news coverage in Canada is by the CBC and thus they ideologically support the over-arching opinions of the Canadian government and the hierarchical structures that are in place. Although there are a multitude of nuances in the intricacies of how mass media discourse can impact audiences, the recipients of media texts have been viewed in more or less passive ways, which powerlessly sit at the recipient status (Khosravnik, 2014). The notion of assuming specific reading of texts means that varying coverage of specific social issues enables society to be varied in their opinions, something which the representation of the Bill C-16 in news media demonstrates.
Article A
https://www.cbc.ca/cbcdocspov/features/canadas-gender-identity-rights-bill-c-16-explained
The CBC originally created an equilateral coverage of the passing of the bill throughout article A. The article acknowledges the sparking of a national debate regarding gender identity in Canada. The article focused on potential debate around the law penalising citizens that do not use specific pronouns when referring to gender diverse individuals. This use of pronouns is then placed into the forefront, as the article reviews the potential of an individual being jailed for misusing pronouns or it constituting as a hate crime. The article then moves on to focus upon what “pronoun usage” would truly mean in society, as Professor of Law at the University of Toronto, Brenda Cossman is quoted as saying “the misuse of gender pronouns, without more, cannot rise to the level of crime…” thus opposing the conservative trajectory surrounding natural language use, as the main purpose of the bills passing is to protect those who identify outside of the gender binary rather than impose restrictions on the majority of Canadian citizens.
The article then continues to focus on the presence of Bill C-16 and the impacts it would have upon Canada as a whole. Cossman describes the jurisdiction as “very narrow” as territories and provinces have legislations which protect gender diverse individuals and that the Bill C-16 would really only be “bringing the federal human rights code into accordance with what has already been protected provincially…” meaning that the inclusive nature of the bill was impacting Canada prior to the legislation being passed. The overall tone of the article creates a dispelling to the idea of the Bill C-16 actually impacting Canada on a federal level, creating an idea that the bill is primarily to support gender diverse individuals in their acceptance within heteronormative society.
Article B
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/transgender-rights-bill-senate-1.4163823
The framing of the bill by the CBC in article B, focused on Canada being a liberal and groundbreaking country due to their acceptance of gender expression and gender identity as protected characteristics. This is supported by the initial statement of “senate overwhelmingly passes bill…”, giving connotation to Canada as an accepting country and that the governmental powers back the beliefs in gender identity and equity of transgender rights. A dichotomy is then created through the article following with “despite strong opposition of conservatives…” continuing the ongoing arguments surrounding a binary in opinions that is seen continuously surrounding this topic.
The key worry that is set by the CBC News is the idea that gender expression being a vague term and that the definition itself would lead to problems surrounding gender identity and specifically women’s safety. This notion is then refuted by the article, as it is shown to be a “largely refuted myth” thus enabling other issues such a freedom of speech to be used as reasoning by opposing senators of the bill. A factor which continues to be debated by liberal and conservative individuals. The article then follows with quoting senators as a form of supporting the bill with Independent Alberta Senator Grant Mitchel being quoted “transgender and gender diverse people deserve to know that they are welcome and accepted, embraced and protected, and that in Canada they are free to be their true selves…” enabling the ideology surrounding transgender equity in Canadian society, a notion which is vital in the welfare and understanding of gender diverse individuals in Canada. As the Canadian media is greatly controlled by the existence of government figures, meaning their presence is vital throughout the debate, and the use of media to express their opinions towards society is vital in the acceptance of Bill C-16.
Representation of social, political and cultural groups.
The continued presence of gender diverse individuals within the Canadian media is an added point of discussion both politically and socially. Many forms of contemporary media increasingly contain depictions of transgender people, including both traditionally offline media and emerging online media (Burgess, 2009). Media is the predominant form where both transgender and cisgender people gain knowledge around transgender issues. Meaning media representations influences and informs the general public’s attitudes (Shelley, 2008). Bill C-16 and similar legislations can be seen as the government’s attempt to meet their commitments to protecting transgender rights. The intent of these laws is to provide equality for all, regardless of gender identity to prohibit discrimination (Kim, 2017). Furthermore, Bill C-16 could raise awareness around gender-based discrimination, a logical step for Canada’s ever expanding gender diverse population.
The establishment of transgender rights tested conservative tactics of avoidance and exposed many conservatives hostility towards transgender people. This has been characterised by reactiveness towards perceived threats to cisgender and heterosexual order in public and private spheres. Combining social conservative values and neoliberal tactics several CPC and conservative members of the house and senate attempted to redress the perceived loss of cisnormative privilege through delegitimizing transgender identity and group rights claims, asserting that gender identity and gender expression were undefinable, ever changing and emotionally determined categories (DeGagne, 2021). This opposition from conservative movements ,and especially those in positions of power, enables a continuation in the debates surrounding gender based identity and is mimicked through the media landscape thus impacting public opinions on the subject. As sexual and gender minority persons constitute one of the most stigmatised groups in Canada, particularly in terms of sexual victimisation with the proportion of hate crimes targeting sexual minorities increasing despite the passing of Bill C-16 (Morrison et al, 2021).
Future developments.
The Canadian government continues to use bills to monitor our interactions in society. This is not different to other countries and the media presentation of Bill C-16 shows mostly support for its passing. The potential for overturning of the bill is still prevalent, however, as continued input looking for moderation of the act evidences the hostilities continuing to be shown towards gender diverse individuals (Shepherd, 2020). The amendment enabled federal protection to those discriminated upon on the basis of their gender identity. The federal government was late to this game however, as most provinces and territories had already included gender identity and gender expression in their provincial human rights codes (Cossman, 2018). This means that the continued push for repealing of the bill would not necessarily lead to a solution surrounding the placement of gender diverse individuals within the heteronormative sphere; as even at a grass-roots level the Canadian government demonstrates a liberal model and thus their policies reflect this.
The importance of further developments establishes continued control that the Canadian government take over media policy and ownership through the shaping of its laws. The latest addition of the Bill C-18 (also known as the Online News Act) recently passed in June, aimed to enhance the sustainability of the Canadian digital news market by establishing a framework through which digital news intermediaries and businesses may enter into agreements respecting news content that is made available. Proposing a regime which regulates digital platforms that act as intermediaries in Canada’s news media as a way of enhancing fairness (Government of Canada, 2022). The implementation of Bill C-18 was thus used to enable the Canadian government to take control over news media ownership however the effects of news link blocking in Canada has led to smaller and innovative services laying off staff or stopping all new hiring. Some report losing upwards of 50% of their website traffic (Geist, 2023). In the meantime, investment in the sector has ground to a halt, with Canadians losing access to news on social media. This has a negative impact on the ways in which society access news media, as looking ahead there is little hope that this will return to social media in Canada a key form of accessing news for the majority of Canadian society. This continues to impact the gender debate, as if the biggest social media sites and search engines cannot help us find information about our lived experiences and how to navigate barriers, it is going to be hardest on those outside of the atypical social sphere. This is how continued digital news blockages will lead to further barriers in gendered gaps and inequalities, especially for those dealing with social and geographical isolation, marginalisation and unsafety (Gunraj, 2023).
Conclusion.
The media portrayal and regulation of the bill alongside the societal reaction to propaganda created in relation to Bill C-16 demonstrates the continued battle we see for transgender-visibility and acceptance on a global scale. The bill really only changes social settings, as the notion of mis-use of pronouns could lead to federal charges is quite distant to the realities of modern life. This continued fight for validity within Canada mirrors that of several Western countries involved in the gender debate, as a continued struggle between liberal and right-wing debates take place. The framing around the bill can demonstrate the extent to which public perceptions are impacted by government-controlled media and the understanding that this moves respondents to adopt policies closer to those endorsed by the regime (Pan et al, 2022). This leading to the idea of Canada as a liberal and forward-thinking country being challenged, as the governmental control around their media policies and regime supports a stricter boundary for those who challenge the status-quo and aim to dismantle public perception of specific topics with a disconnection being seen between the liberalism presented by the Canadian government and the construct of the bills being supportive to minoritised individuals, but this is not the case as social situations involving those outside of the heteronormative sphere in Canada continue to worsen.
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