International travellers will soon get to choose a gender-neutral ‘other’ option on the travel documents while visiting Canada from 10th November 2016.
Travellers from some of the countries will be able to choose to identify themselves as female, male or other while filling up a border document.
Authorities in Canada will launch the three gender options on the new Electronic Travel Authorizations (eTAs) system on Thursday, 10th November for all the travellers.
According to a spokeswoman for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), the country is also allowing the citizens to change the designation on their passports and other documents if they have changed their genders.
She has also informed that IRCC is committed to facilitating the issuance of identification with a sex designation that reflects a person’s gender identity.
Apart from Canada, countries like Australia, New Zealand, Nepal also offer a third option on the passports. At present some other countries are also planning to offer a third option on the internal documents.
A senior attorney at Lambda Legal, Paul Castillo has stated that this small step of inclusiveness for visitors is yet another reason for Canada to implement a third gender marker on passports, an option currently under serious consideration. Castillo has also stated that inaccurate documents serve only to discriminate and impose barriers upon people who are neither male nor female.
Travellers from all the countries, where Canadian visa is not needed, can fill the online eTA form. But the option is not applicable for the residents of US.
