William Livingstone Siksay (born March 11, 1955) is a Canadian politician. He was the
Member of Parliament (MP) who represented the
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...
riding of
Burnaby—Douglas for the
New Democratic Party
The New Democratic Party (NDP; , ) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic:
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* The Editors of ''Encyclopædia Britann ...
from 2004 to 2011.
Early life
Siksay was born in
Oshawa
Oshawa is a city in Ontario, Canada, on the Lake Ontario shoreline. It lies in Southern Ontario, approximately east of downtown Toronto. It is commonly viewed as the eastern anchor of the Greater Toronto Area and of the Golden Horseshoe. It ...
, Ontario, to parents Patricia and William Siksay. Receiving his high school diploma from McLaughlin Collegiate and Vocational Institute in
Oshawa
Oshawa is a city in Ontario, Canada, on the Lake Ontario shoreline. It lies in Southern Ontario, approximately east of downtown Toronto. It is commonly viewed as the eastern anchor of the Greater Toronto Area and of the Golden Horseshoe. It ...
,
Ontario
Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...
, Siksay attended Victoria College at the
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...
, graduating with a BA in 1978. He then enrolled in the MDiv programme at the Vancouver School of Theology at the
University of British Columbia
The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...
, studying as a candidate to be a congregational minister in the
United Church of Canada
The United Church of Canada (UCC; ) is a mainline Protestant denomination that is the largest Protestant Christian denomination in Canada and the second largest Canadian Christian denomination after the Catholic Church in Canada.
The United Chu ...
. He was one of the first people to
come out as
gay or
lesbian
A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...
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.
Political career
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
The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part of Torstar's Daily News Brands (Torstar), Daily News Brands division.
...
'' 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
The ''Canadian Human Rights Act'' () is a statute 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 of ...
'' to prohibit discrimination on the basis of
gender identity
Gender identity is the personal sense of one's own gender. Gender identity can correlate with a person's assigned sex or can differ from it. In most individuals, the various biological determinants of sex are congruent and consistent with the in ...
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
A criminal code or penal code is a document that compiles all, or a significant amount of, a particular jurisdiction's criminal law. Typically a criminal code will contain offences that are recognised in the jurisdiction, penalties that might ...
''. 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
The Conservative Party of Canada (CPC; , ), sometimes referred to as the Tories, is a Government of Canada, federal List of political parties in Canada, political party in Canada. It was formed in 2003 by the merger of the two main Right-wing ...
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
LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The gro ...
youth.
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.
After politics
On July 2, 2014, Siksay began as working as the administrative assistant to the bishop of the Anglican Diocese of New Westminster,
Melissa M. Skelton, who retired February 28, 2021. After Skelton's retirement, Siksay continued to serve the new bishop of the diocese,
John Stephens, and the executive archdeacon of the diocese, Douglas Fenton.
Personal life
He resides in Burnaby with his partner, the Reverend Brian Burke, and remains an active member of the
United Church of Canada
The United Church of Canada (UCC; ) is a mainline Protestant denomination that is the largest Protestant Christian denomination in Canada and the second largest Canadian Christian denomination after the Catholic Church in Canada.
The United Chu ...
.
See also
*
List of the first LGBT holders of political offices
References
External links
Bill Siksay*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Siksay, Bill
1955 births
Canadian LGBTQ Members of Parliament
Canadian gay politicians
LGBTQ Protestant clergy
Canadian LGBTQ rights activists
Living people
Members of the House of Commons of Canada from British Columbia
Members of the United Church of Canada
New Democratic Party MPs
People from Burnaby
Politicians from Oshawa
University of British Columbia alumni
University of Toronto alumni
21st-century Canadian LGBTQ people
21st-century members of the House of Commons of Canada