Bill Siksay
Encyclopedia
William Livingstone Siksay, former MP (born March 11, 1955, in Oshawa
, Ontario
to parents Patricia and William Siksay) is a Canadian
politician, and was the Member of Parliament
(MP) who represented the British Columbia
riding of Burnaby—Douglas
for the New Democratic Party
from 2004 to 2011.
Receiving his high school diploma from McLaughlin Collegiate and Vocational Institute in Oshawa
, Ontario
, Siksay attended Victoria College at the University of Toronto
, graduating with a B.A. in 1978. He then enrolled in the M.Div. programme at the Vancouver School of Theology at the University of British Columbia
, studying as a candidate to be a congregational minister in the United Church of Canada
. He was one of the first people to come out
as gay
or lesbian
in the process of his ordination and helped start the debate in the church on the ordination and commissioning of openly gay or lesbian candidates. He did not complete the programme and was not ordained.
Prior to running for elected office, he was constituency assistant to Svend Robinson
for over 18 years. He also ran in the 1997 election
in the riding of Vancouver Centre
, but lost to incumbent Hedy Fry
.
When Robinson resigned the Burnaby—Douglas seat in April 2004 due to a controversy around his theft of a piece of jewellery, Siksay won the nomination to replace Robinson as the NDP candidate in the upcoming election, and won the riding in the 2004 federal election
on June 28.
With his election, Siksay became the first openly gay non-incumbent man to be elected to Canada's House of Commons. All of the previous MPs to come out as gay (Robinson, Libby Davies
, Réal Ménard
and Scott Brison
) came out after they were elected, and Mario Silva
came out in a Toronto Star
profile shortly after the 2004 election.
In the NDP Shadow Cabinet
, Siksay was critic for Ethics, Access to Information and Privacy, and for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Issues; the NDP's was the only shadow cabinet with this latter position. He was previously critic for Citizenship and Immigration, and then for Canadian Heritage and Housing.
In May 2005, Siksay introduced a bill to amend the Canadian Human Rights Act
to prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identity
or expression. He reintroduced the bill in the next parliament. In May 2009 he introduced it again, with additional provisions to add gender identity and expression to the hate crimes provisions of the Criminal Code
. By June 2010, the private member's bill (C-389) had proceeded to the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights, with little overt opposition from the Conservative Party of Canada
minority government evident. It passed at report stage by a vote of 143-131 on December 8, and passed at third reading by a vote of 143-135, in each case including members of all parties voting in favour.
In January 2006, Siksay was re-elected to the Burnaby—Douglas seat with a slightly increased plurality, with a margin of 2.5% (versus 2% in 2004). He was again re-elected by a narrow margin in the 2008 election
.
Bill Siksay was the only MP in parliament to vote against the Tackling Violent Crime Act (Bill C-2), arguing that its provisions on the age of consent would harm LGBT youth.
Siksay resides in Burnaby with his partner The Rev. Brian Burke, and remains an active member of the United Church of Canada
.
On December 16, 2010, Siksay announced that he would not run again in the subsequent election. His seat was retained for the New Democrats by Kennedy Stewart
in the 2011 federal election.
Oshawa
Oshawa is a city in Ontario, Canada, on the Lake Ontario shoreline. It lies in Southern Ontario approximately 60 kilometres east of downtown Toronto. It is commonly viewed as the eastern anchor of both the Greater Toronto Area and the Golden Horseshoe. It is now commonly referred to as the most...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
to parents Patricia and William Siksay) is a Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
politician, and was the Member of Parliament
Parliament of Canada
The Parliament of Canada is the federal legislative branch of Canada, seated at Parliament Hill in the national capital, Ottawa. Formally, the body consists of the Canadian monarch—represented by her governor general—the Senate, and the House of Commons, each element having its own officers and...
(MP) who represented the British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
riding of Burnaby—Douglas
Burnaby—Douglas
Burnaby—Douglas is a federal electoral district in the province of British Columbia, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1997.-History:...
for the New Democratic Party
New Democratic Party
The New Democratic Party , commonly referred to as the NDP, is a federal social-democratic political party in Canada. The interim leader of the NDP is Nycole Turmel who was appointed to the position due to the illness of Jack Layton, who died on August 22, 2011. The provincial wings of the NDP in...
from 2004 to 2011.
Receiving his high school diploma from McLaughlin Collegiate and Vocational Institute in Oshawa
Oshawa
Oshawa is a city in Ontario, Canada, on the Lake Ontario shoreline. It lies in Southern Ontario approximately 60 kilometres east of downtown Toronto. It is commonly viewed as the eastern anchor of both the Greater Toronto Area and the Golden Horseshoe. It is now commonly referred to as the most...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, Siksay attended Victoria College at the University of Toronto
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
, graduating with a B.A. in 1978. He then enrolled in the M.Div. programme at the Vancouver School of Theology at the University of British Columbia
University of British Columbia
The University of British Columbia is a public research university. UBC’s two main campuses are situated in Vancouver and in Kelowna in the Okanagan Valley...
, studying as a candidate to be a congregational minister in the United Church of Canada
United Church of Canada
The United Church of Canada is a Protestant Christian denomination in Canada. It is the largest Protestant church and, after the Roman Catholic Church, the second-largest Christian church in Canada...
. He was one of the first people to come out
Come Out
Come Out may refer to:*Come Out , a music piece by Steve Reich*Coming out, disclosing one's homosexuality or bisexuality.*"Come Out", a song by Camper van Beethoven from New Roman Times...
as gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
or lesbian
Lesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
in the process of his ordination and helped start the debate in the church on the ordination and commissioning of openly gay or lesbian candidates. He did not complete the programme and was not ordained.
Prior to running for elected office, he was constituency assistant to Svend Robinson
Svend Robinson
Svend Robinson is a former Canadian politician. He was a Member of Parliament in the Canadian House of Commons from 1979 to 2004, representing the suburban Vancouver-area constituency of Burnaby for the New Democratic Party...
for over 18 years. He also ran in the 1997 election
Canadian federal election, 1997
The Canadian federal election of 1997 was held on June 2, 1997, to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 36th Parliament of Canada. Prime Minister Jean Chrétien's Liberal Party of Canada won a second majority government...
in the riding of Vancouver Centre
Vancouver Centre
Vancouver Centre is a federal electoral district in British Columbia, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1917.-Geography:...
, but lost to incumbent Hedy Fry
Hedy Fry
Hedy Fry, PC, MP is a Canadian politician and physician. She is the Member of Parliament for Vancouver Centre.-Early life:Fry was born into poverty in San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago...
.
When Robinson resigned the Burnaby—Douglas seat in April 2004 due to a controversy around his theft of a piece of jewellery, Siksay won the nomination to replace Robinson as the NDP candidate in the upcoming election, and won the riding in the 2004 federal election
Canadian federal election, 2004
The Canadian federal election, 2004 , was held on June 28, 2004 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 38th Parliament of Canada. The Liberal government of Prime Minister Paul Martin lost its majority, but was able to form a minority government after the elections...
on June 28.
With his election, Siksay became the first openly gay non-incumbent man to be elected to Canada's House of Commons. All of the previous MPs to come out as gay (Robinson, Libby Davies
Libby Davies
Libby Davies is a Canadian Member of Parliament for the New Democratic Party , representing the riding of Vancouver East in Vancouver, British Columbia. In 2007, she was named Deputy Leader of the federal NDP, jointly with Thomas Mulcair.-Background:Davies was born in Aldershot, England and...
, Réal Ménard
Réal Ménard
Réal Ménard is a Canadian politician, who was a Bloc Québécois member of the Canadian House of Commons from 1993 to 2009. He was the second Canadian Member of Parliament to come out as gay .Ménard is a political scientist with B.A. and M.A...
and Scott Brison
Scott Brison
Scott A. Brison, PC, MP is a Canadian politician from Nova Scotia, Canada. Brison has been the Member of Parliament for the riding of Kings-Hants since the 1997 federal election. Brison was originally elected as a Progressive Conservative but crossed the floor to join the Liberal Party in 2003...
) came out after they were elected, and Mario Silva
Mario Silva
Mario Silva, is a Canadian politician and a former Canadian Member of Parliament. Silva is a former a Toronto City Councillor and acting mayor."Acting Mayor" is a non-elected position. For example, the sets out the duties and powers of their Acting Mayor. Other cities will no doubt have somewhat...
came out in a Toronto Star
Toronto Star
The Toronto Star is Canada's highest-circulation newspaper, based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its print edition is distributed almost entirely within the province of Ontario...
profile shortly after the 2004 election.
In the NDP Shadow Cabinet
New Democratic Party Shadow Cabinet
This is a list of members of the New Democratic Party Shadow Cabinet of the 40th Canadian parliament. Positions in the shadow cabinet were announced on November 17, 2008, and include all 37 members of the New Democratic Party caucus in the Canadian House of Commons except Joe Comartin who was...
, Siksay was critic for Ethics, Access to Information and Privacy, and for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Issues; the NDP's was the only shadow cabinet with this latter position. He was previously critic for Citizenship and Immigration, and then for Canadian Heritage and Housing.
In May 2005, Siksay introduced a bill to amend the Canadian Human Rights Act
Canadian Human Rights Act
The Canadian Human Rights Act is a statute originally passed by the Parliament of Canada in 1977 with the express goal of extending the law to ensure equal opportunity to individuals who may be victims of discriminatory practices based on a set prohibited grounds such as gender, disability, or...
to prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identity
Gender identity
A gender identity is the way in which an individual self-identifies with a gender category, for example, as being either a man or a woman, or in some cases being neither, which can be distinct from biological sex. Basic gender identity is usually formed by age three and is extremely difficult to...
or expression. He reintroduced the bill in the next parliament. In May 2009 he introduced it again, with additional provisions to add gender identity and expression to the hate crimes provisions of the Criminal Code
Criminal Code
A criminal code is a document which compiles all, or a significant amount of, a particular jurisdiction's criminal law...
. By June 2010, the private member's bill (C-389) had proceeded to the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights, with little overt opposition from the Conservative Party of Canada
Conservative Party of Canada
The Conservative Party of Canada , is a political party in Canada which was formed by the merger of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in 2003. It is positioned on the right of the Canadian political spectrum...
minority government evident. It passed at report stage by a vote of 143-131 on December 8, and passed at third reading by a vote of 143-135, in each case including members of all parties voting in favour.
In January 2006, Siksay was re-elected to the Burnaby—Douglas seat with a slightly increased plurality, with a margin of 2.5% (versus 2% in 2004). He was again re-elected by a narrow margin in the 2008 election
Canadian federal election, 2008
The 2008 Canadian federal election was held on Tuesday, October 14, 2008 to elect members to the Canadian House of Commons of the 40th Canadian Parliament after the previous parliament had been dissolved by the Governor General on September 7, 2008...
.
Bill Siksay was the only MP in parliament to vote against the Tackling Violent Crime Act (Bill C-2), arguing that its provisions on the age of consent would harm LGBT youth.
Siksay resides in Burnaby with his partner The Rev. Brian Burke, and remains an active member of the United Church of Canada
United Church of Canada
The United Church of Canada is a Protestant Christian denomination in Canada. It is the largest Protestant church and, after the Roman Catholic Church, the second-largest Christian church in Canada...
.
On December 16, 2010, Siksay announced that he would not run again in the subsequent election. His seat was retained for the New Democrats by Kennedy Stewart
Kennedy Stewart (Canadian politician)
Kennedy Stewart is a Canadian politician. He was elected to the Canadian House of Commons for the federal New Democratic Party in the 2011 election, representing the electoral district of Burnaby—Douglas. He is formerly a professor of political science at Simon Fraser University, where he also...
in the 2011 federal election.