The Société de l'assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ) finds itself in a delicate position. Radio-Canada has learned that a non-binary person just received a driver's license with gender marker X, a first in Quebec. However, SAAQ refrains from making the change for other people who have made the exact same request.
Normally Arwyn Jordan Régimbal would have reason to be happy.
A year and a half after taking the steps to record her gender identity on her driver's license, this 23-year-old non-binary person finally received the document in the mail last Wednesday.
Still, he feels a sense of injustice because the other trans and non-binary people waiting for a corrected driver's license in Quebec won't receive one until 2025 at the earliest.
It remains an attack on the dignity and ability of certain people to be equal members of society.
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Arwyn Jordan Régimbal, 23, received a Quebec driver's license with gender marker X.
Photo: Arwyn Jordan Régimbal
Recently, the SAAQ confirmed that it will await the conclusions of the Committee of Wise Men set up by the Legault government to study issues related to gender identity before changing the gender marker on driver's licenses.
The case of Arwyn Jordan Régimbal is therefore an exception. SAAQ declined our interview request, but spokesman Gino Desrosiers said via email that the company had acted in accordance with an out-of-court agreement.
Unequal citizens?
Arwyn Jordan Régimbal confirms that he has taken legal action against the SAAQ to force them to record the correct gender on his driver's license.
Since 2022, trans and non-binary people in Quebec can legally receive the letter X instead of M or F on their civil status documents, such as birth or marriage certificates.
However, government departments and agencies are slow to adapt their own documents. According to Arwyn Jordan Régimbal, the fact that the SAAQ has so far corrected only one driving license despite receiving around fifteen inquiries on the subject raises equality issues.
It is important to me that everyone in Quebec has the same right to dignity and to be able to prove their identity through official documents.
The pronoun iel, formed from the pronouns he and she, is used in this text to reflect the gender identity of Arwyn Jordan Régimbal.
The Commission on Human and Youth Rights (CDPDJ) agrees and recalls that Quebec is currently the only province that does not allow the X mark on driver's licenses.
We can only reiterate to the government the importance of acting quickly to allow all those who request it to use this marker, in line with the changes in civil status that have already come into force, said the CDPDJ's communications advisor, Halimatou Bah, communicated via email.
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Since 2022, trans and non-binary people can obtain the gender marker X from Quebec's civil registration director.
Photo: iStock
Arwyn Joran Régimbal also appeals to the Legault government because she considers it insulting that the Committee of Wise Men is being used as a pretext for delaying legal recognition [de l’identité de genre] certain citizens.
Last week, the Minister responsible for the SAAQ, Geneviève Guilbault, reiterated that the work of the Committee of Wise Men would make it possible to make more informed decisions on gender identity in light of events here and elsewhere.
The question of gender marker gender.