Transfers of transgender women in Canadian federal prisons have declined significantly in recent years, according to data obtained by the Investigative Journalism Bureau. As of October 2025, there were 90 transgender women in federal custody, with 73 housed in men's prisons and 17 in women's institutions. An upcoming court case is expected to test the country's gender policies for inmate placement.
Declining Approval Rates
Following a 2017 policy change by Correctional Services Canada (CSC) to align with federal legislation prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity, transfer requests from transgender women were initially approved at a rate of 80 percent. However, that rate has since fallen to 23 percent, according to CSC data. In 2018-19, 10 individuals applied and eight requests were approved. By 2024-25, only three of 13 applications were approved, with the rest either rejected or withdrawn.
Nicole Kief, executive director of Prisoners' Legal Services in British Columbia, commented on the trend: "I think this speaks to the question of the policy on paper versus the policy in reality."
The Case of Amanda Joy Cooper
One case that could reshape the debate involves Amanda Joy Cooper, a transgender woman convicted in 1998 of assaulting a 12-year-old girl and two women. Cooper was living as a biological male at the time of the crimes. According to Quebec court documents, Cooper grabbed the girl while she was roller skating in a parking lot and told her, "I'll rape you." Days later, Cooper attacked a young woman at the same location, and two days after that, assaulted a 19-year-old woman at a bus shelter.
Prior to these incidents, Cooper had multiple convictions for sexual assault. While in federal custody for the first time in 1986, Cooper sexually touched female prison staff and sexually assaulted a female parole officer. Cooper was designated a dangerous offender in 2001.
Cooper now identifies as a woman and has undergone gender-affirming surgery while in prison, described by the Canadian Society of Plastic Surgeons as surgery to help a person "physically actualize their internal sense of self." Cooper seeks a transfer from Millhaven Institution, a maximum-security men's prison west of Kingston, Ontario, to the Fraser Valley Institution for Women in British Columbia.
Debate Over Safety and Identity
Cooper's case, to be reviewed by a federal court judge on June 15, is part of a growing debate over how to handle inmates who request placement based on gender identity rather than anatomy. The debate pits the wishes of transgender women to be in institutions matching their gender identity against concerns for the safety and privacy of other women in those facilities.
The issue stems from CSC's 2017 policy change, which aimed to reduce discrimination. Nearly a decade later, transfer requests are increasingly rejected, highlighting tensions between policy intent and implementation.
This article is part of an ongoing investigation by the Investigative Journalism Bureau into gender policies in Canadian prisons.
