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The City of Toronto is taking steps to update all official relationship frameworks to contain gender-neutral language after its Two-Spirit, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Advisory Committee adopted a motion Monday.
The adopted motion recommends the executive committee direct the city manager to update all relationship frameworks to avoid gendered language. It will then go before city council for a final vote.
The change will replace not only gender-specific language, such as pronouns, in the documents, but will review underlying assumptions which reinforce gender binaries, according to the motion.
Relationship frameworks, which include formal documents and sets of guidelines, are used by the city to set out specific mandates, delegations of authority, legislative frameworks or policy directions. They are also used to clarify roles and responsibilities for city agencies, such as the TTC or Toronto Community Housing.
Councillor Chris Moise proposed the change on Sept. 13, citing Toronto’s commitment to diversity and inclusion.
“By making this change, we are setting a positive example for other municipalities, organisations, and businesses—demonstrating that inclusive language should not be an add-on, but a fundamental part of how we communicate,” Moise said in his proposal.
“By updating our relationship frameworks to employ gender-neutral language, we are taking a significant step towards ensuring our city is inclusive and respects the identities of all individuals,” he said.
Updated documentation will better reflect Toronto’s queer communities, said Curran Stikuts, director of advocacy and strategic communications at The 519.
“As a City of Toronto agency, our relationship with the city is set by a relationship framework,” he said. “Having language in there that reflects the realities of the communities that we serve is important because these are foundational documents in terms of governance.”
The move towards gender-neutral language is a positive step forward, says Alexxus Newman, a Toronto resident who identifies as a lesbian.
“Gender neutral language is the basis on which inclusivity can be built,” Newman said.
“Without being inclusive, we limit people and create boxes that are not ours to impose. If we refer to people as how we perceive them, we limit our understanding of not only who they are, but also who they can be.”
Newman says gender-biased language also affects the wider Toronto community.
“Indigenous communities traditionally have gender-neutral languages,” she said. “To ignore this fact diminishes the validity of these communities and their language and continues to colonize language.”
The City of Toronto updated policies surrounding gender expression and inclusivity, such as pronoun use and accommodation for transitioning employees, as part of a larger framework in 2016 — though these changes did not officially update relationship frameworks.
“It’s about time that those documents aren’t talking about men and women in particular,” said Stikuts. “We can just be talking about peoples and communities.”
A date at which the motion will go before the executive committee has not yet been set.
Carly Pews
Reporter, On the Record, Fall 2024.
