A very pernicious system': After decades of inaction, could psychotherapy finally be regulated in B.C.?

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Health minister says counsellors and therapists are 'next in line' for a professional college

Bethany Lindsay · CBC News · Posted: Dec 16, 2019 1:00 AM PT | Last Updated: 22 minutes ago

Bernadine Fox, shown here at left in 2001, was abused for years by her therapist Pamela Sleeth, at right. (Submitted by Bernadine Fox)

Bernadine Fox and Pamela Sleeth wore commitment rings. They bought a house together. They spent holidays as a family and shared a bed.

On the surface, it sounds like a typical long-term relationship between two consenting adults, but there was one major difference — Sleeth was also Fox's therapist, a professional she'd trusted to help her work through lasting trauma from her childhood.

"I allowed myself to be convinced by her that this was OK, that we were healthy enough and strong enough and aware enough. Other people might not be able to do this, but we could do this," Fox remembered in a recent interview with CBC News.

"But we couldn't tell anybody because people wouldn't understand and they would frown upon it."

When Fox started to realize she had been groomed and abused by someone in a position of power, she began searching for a way to hold Sleeth accountable.

She discovered that mental health counsellors and psychotherapists aren't regulated in B.C.— literally anyone can call themselves a therapist, and they don't have to follow defined standards of practice or face discipline for misconduct.

"When I tell people this, people are horrified," Fox said.

This photo submitted by Fox, right, shows her and Sleeth in front of the house they bought together in 1998. (Christian Amundson/CBC)

For more than 20 years, therapists and their patients have been pleading for some sort of regulation in B.C., but they've had no success.

There could soon be progress on that front, though. Last month, the province announced a list of proposals for reforming B.C.'s system for regulating health professionals.

Health Minister Adrian Dix said the changes should make it easier for counsellors and therapists to be regulated.

"It takes too long for a new [regulatory] college to be created," Dix told CBC News in an interview last week. "The counselling therapists ... are next in line."

Dangers of 'incompetent therapy'

Glen Grigg, a Vancouver-based clinical counsellor and chair of the Federation of Associations for Counselling Therapists in B.C. (FactBC), said he's cautiously optimistic about the prospects for regulation under the proposed system.

Until now, he said, "the message from government has been, 'Gee, that sounds like a good idea but we're busy right now. We'll get back to you when we're not.'"

Grigg points out that therapists deal with people when they are at their most vulnerable, including patients struggling with potentially fatal conditions like eating disorders and suicidal thoughts.

"Those things can be made substantially worse by incompetent therapy," Grigg said.

B.C.'s Crime Victim Assistance Program found that Fox was a victim of sexual assault by her therapist, Sleeth. (Bernadine Fox)

Regulating the profession would mean ensuring that everyone who offers psychotherapy has appropriate training, an understanding of ethics, a standardized code of conduct and accountability for their actions. Patients would have a way to report misconduct, and that misconduct could be made public after an investigation.

Beginning Jan. 1, psychotherapy will be regulated in Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Alberta will follow suit with a new college of counselling therapy within the next year.

Loopholes in voluntary regulation

Without a legal mandate for regulation in B.C., some professional groups have stepped in to fill the gap, registering members and regulating on an entirely voluntary basis.

That includes the B.C. Association of Clinical Counsellors, which offers designation as a registered clinical counsellor for those who have the appropriate education and commit themselves to following a code of conduct and standards of practice.

• B.C.'s lack of oversight for counselling therapists leaves no recourse, says patient

The group has the power to investigate complaints against its members, and generally deals with any wrongdoing through an agreement stipulating how the therapist involved will improve their practice.

But the BCACC can't make those agreements public, and it has no power over someone who quits the group.

"We have a very pernicious system happening here," Grigg said. "The people who are most in need of oversight and professional guidance are the people who are systematically moved further and further from standards and guidance."

'You have no voice'

Fox discovered this loophole when she filed a complaint against Sleeth in 2007. The BCACC opened an investigation, but it was dropped when Sleeth resigned her membership in the group in 2009.

"It was the same as being a kid," Fox said. "You have no voice. And so I went silent."

• Parents condemn B.C. psychologist's choice to retire rather than face hearing for role in custody cases

Sleeth died in 2014. Fox's allegations have not been tested in court, but her evidence of Sleeth's abuse was thorough enough for the provincial government's Crime Victim Assistance Program to fund 48 counselling sessions to help in her recovery from the trauma.

In a 2018 decision, an evaluator wrote that "there is sufficient evidence to determine, on a balance of probabilities, that Ms. Fox is a victim of sexual assault by the accused."

Fox hosts a weekly radio show about mental health. (Christian Amundson/CBC)

Meanwhile, she's written a book about her experience, and hosts a weekly show about mental health on Vancouver Co-op Radio, where one of her goals is to keep the public informed about appropriate relationships between therapists and their clients.

Fox said she's trying to stay optimistic that the profession could soon be regulated.

• B.C. psychologist made 'nonsensical' conclusions to dismiss domestic violence claims, new report says

"Every unethical therapist in Canada right now knows that the best place to continue their practice is to come to B.C., because there's no regulation, there's nobody looking, there's nobody saying, 'Well, are you qualified?'" Fox said.

Until things change, she recommends that others who've been abused reach out to the Therapy Exploitation Link Line, which offers resources and peer support.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Bethany Lindsay

Journalist

Bethany Lindsay has more than a decade of experience in B.C. journalism, with a focus on the courts, health and social justice issues. She has also reported on human rights and crimes against humanity in Cambodia. Questions or news tips? Get in touch at bethany.lindsay@cbc.ca or on Twitter through @bethanylindsay.

Ancient 'coal dragon' is now the oldest parareptile ever found

Carbonodraco lundi, which lived more than 306 million years ago, unseats fossil found by P.E.I. boy

Emily Chung · CBC News · Posted: Dec 16, 2019 4:00 AM ET | Last Updated: 18 minutes ago

The new species, Carbonodraco lundi, was a lizard-like predator that scampered about an ancient swamps, snatching and stabbing insects and other prey. Its name means 'coal dragon.' (Henry Sharpe/Carleton University)

A unique fossil that is "literally a black piece of coal" found in the dump of an 18th-century coal mine is revealing new insights about life before the rise of dinosaurs. It has also unseated a fossil found by a P.E.I. boy as the oldest known species of an ancient group called the "parareptiles."

The new species, Carbonodraco lundi, was a small, lizard-like predator that scampered about an ancient swamps, snatching and stabbing insects and other prey with a sharp pair of fangs.

The animal, which was about 25 centimetres long from nose to tail, lived more than 306 million years ago during the Carboniferous Period in what is now Linton, Ohio, according to a new study by researchers at Carleton University in Ottawa published recently in the journal Royal Society Open Science.

The first part of its name, given by Emily McDaniel, an undergraduate student and co-author of the paper, means "coal dragon," because of the fossil's unique form and its prominent fangs.

Unlike most fossils, which are typically embedded in rocks like shale, limestone or sandstone, this one was "literally a black piece of coal," said Arjan Mann, a PhD candidate at Carleton University and lead author of the report. He said that type of fossil is "very unique."

It was found in the dump of a coal mine operated by the Ohio Diamond Coal Mine Co. by paleontologist Richard Lund of the Carnegie Museum, for whom the species is also named.

What Carbonodraco's world was like

The coal deposits at the mine, which opened in the 1800s, are the remains of a steamy, mangrove-like swamp that covered the region around 310 million to 306 million years ago, Mann said.

The swamp was fed by a river running through a forest of giant club mosses, and it was home to giant insects, crabs and shrimp, fish, salamander-like amphibians, mammal-like reptiles called synapsids, and many creatures that would have resembled blends of fish and amphibians or amphibians and reptiles.

Many of them were fossilized into an impure coal called cannel coal, which miners had to dig through and discard in order to reach the commercially valuable coal underneath.

Lund did regular collecting in the dump, picking up blocks of coal and splitting them open to look for fossils in the 1970s. Most of the time they were empty, Mann said.

But one of the first blocks Lund split open in 1972 contained a skull and the front part of an animal's body.

"It's a pretty rare find," Mann said.

The fossil of Carbonodraco, top, is a piece of coal containing pieces of the skull and the front half of the animal's body. The drawing below shows the reconstructed skull (upper left) and outlines the position of different elements of the fossil. The photo has been flipped horizontally, as the drawing is of a cast of the fossil. (Amy Henrici/Carnegie Museum of Natural History; Emily McColville)

Mann came upon the museum specimen while cataloguing reptiles found at a coal mine at Mazon Creek, Ill., which formed from the delta at the mouth of the river that flowed through Linton, Ohio, during the Carboniferous. One of them was identified as Cephalerpeton ventriarmatum — the same identification originally given to the fossil from Linton — so he decided to compare them. 

His comparison found that they weren't related at all. 

Cephalerpeton is a eureptile — related to all lizards, snakes and crocodile relatives alive today.

Now the oldest parareptile — but what were they?

The Linton fossil, now identified as Carbonodraco, was a parareptile — a diverse group that thrived during the Permian Period, after the Carboniferous but before the Age of Dinosaurs. 

There is some debate about whether modern turtles are parareptiles, but the group may also be completely extinct, Mann said.

Hillary Madden, Mann's supervisor and a Carleton University paleontology professor, said the discovery adds to evidence that the creatures that lived during the Carboniferous were much more diverse and specialized than previously thought.

"I think you've got a pretty new, exciting picture of what was happening over 300 million years ago," Madden said.

The new identification makes Carbonodraco the oldest known parareptile, unseating the previous record holder, Erpetonyx arsenaultorum. That species was found by a nine-year-old boy in P.E.I. in 1995 and named after him in 2015. It lived about 300 million years ago, making Carbonodraco at least six million years older. 

The first known reptile, which was also the first vertebrate fully adapted to land, lived about 315 million years ago, only five million to nine million years before Carbonodraco.

Over the course of this study, Mann actually worked with some of the researchers at the Royal Ontario Museum who described Erpetonyx and joked about it. "It's like, 'We got the older, older one,'" Mann said with a laugh.

He acknowledged that paleontologists are often competing for the oldest new discovery.

"They never last, I think. There's always going to be something older."

CANADIANS BEWARE 

Canadians travelling to or through U.S. should pay close attention to their withering rights

Latest changes to Preclearance Agreement give U.S. officials dangerously extended power on Canadian soil

H.M. Jocelyn · for CBC News Opinion · Posted: Dec 15, 2019 4:00 AM ET | Last Updated: December 15

Increased authority given to U.S. border guards under amendments to the Canada-United States Preclearance Agreement earlier this year includes the ability to deny Canadians their right of withdrawal in preclearance zones. (Jacquelyn Martin/The Associated Press)

This column is an opinion by H.M. Jocelyn, a Ph.D. candidate in American Studies at Rutgers University-Newark. A dual Canadian-American citizen, she was born in Stratford, Ont., and crosses the international boundary between the two nations many times a year. For more information about CBC's Opinion section, please see the FAQ.

The United States and Canada share what's been known as the longest undefended border in the world, because of the neighbourly sentiment between the nations. Now defence has become irrelevant, because Canadian lawmakers have effectively invited an invasion by U.S. border authorities.

In the political climate of President Donald Trump's Muslim ban and Facebook groups comprising bigoted customs agents, Canadians travelling to or through the U.S. need to pay close attention to their withering rights.

While far less violent than the horrors at the southern boundary of the United States, problems arising across the northern U.S. line are alarming. Incidents of racial profiling against travellers of colour have risen significantly, and the number of people turned back by U.S. border guards has seen an increase in recent years.

The most recent incursion by U.S. border officials comes in the form of amendments made earlier this year to the set of laws that facilitate cross-border movement, known as the Canada-United States Preclearance Agreement.

Travellers on their way from Canada into the United States should be aware that these changes, ostensibly enacted to increase the efficiency of travel and trade across the boundary, give U.S. officials dangerously extended power in Customs preclearance areas on Canadian ground.

A line crossing the Haskell Library and Opera House in Stanstead, Que., marks the border between Canada and the U.S. Built in 1901, the library that straddles the international border at Derby Line, Vt., has long been a symbol of harmony between the two countries. (Paul Chiasson/Canadian Press)

U.S. officials can now carry sidearms in these preclearance zones, conduct strip searches, record and keep passenger information, and detain Canadian citizens.

Even if a Canadian official is "unwilling" to conduct a search or has deemed a detainment unnecessary, a U.S. official can override that call. In other words, Canadian law enforcement can now be countermanded within Canada by Americans.

• U.S. doubles number of 5-year bans on travellers from Canada

• U.S. border guards detain Canadian woman for 5 hours, refuse entry without visa

This new authority also allows U.S. border guards to deny Canadians their right of withdrawal. Before the amendment to the law was enacted, if a person felt at all uncomfortable in the course of preclearance questioning she could simply leave, retracting her intention to cross the border with no penalty.

Now, as a result of amendments, the guard is entitled to detain her if he finds "reasonable grounds" to do so. And the request to leave in itself could be construed as reasonable grounds.

As Michael Greene, a Canadian immigration lawyer, puts it: "they wouldn't be able to walk out. They can be held and forced to answer questions" — even if the questions are discriminatory.

The amendments to the Preclearance Agreement effectively mean that there will be no repercussions for anything 'done or ommitted' by U.S. border officials in the exercise of their powers. (Stephen Chernin/Getty Images)

Each new provision in the Preclearance Agreement comes with a similarly vague, deeply troubling caveat. For example, the new subsection 39(2) says, "A border services officer or other public officer is not permitted, in a preclearance area or preclearance perimeter, to exercise any powers of questioning or interrogation, examination, search, seizure, forfeiture, detention or arrest except to the extent that such powers are conferred on the officer by the laws of the United States."

In other words, authoritarian behaviour is prohibited — except as the U.S. deems necessary.

The intention of equivocal statements such as these can only be a broader interpretation of the limit (or limitlessness) of American power.

• Attention travellers: Despite recent ruling, U.S. border agents can still easily search your phone

• Ottawa gets an earful on proposed expansion of U.S. border pre-clearance powers

Scarier still is the provision that undergirds every amendment to the agreement: that U.S. border officials will not be held accountable for impropriety.

In the exact language of the bill, "no action or civil proceeding may be brought against a U.S. preclearance officer in respect of anything that is done or omitted in the exercise of their powers, or the performance of their duties and functions under the legislation."

So there will be no repercussions for anything committed in the exercise of their powers.

Canadian border guards at an inspection booth on the Canada-U.S. border. U.S. officials in preclearance zones can detain Canadian citizens even if a Canadian official deems a detainment unnecessary. (Darryl Dyck/Canadian Press)

This is a menacing leniency in our era of partisan conflict and rampant xenophobia.

Groups such as the Iranian Canadian Congress have expressed concern at these new broad powers, perturbed at their potential: "With the rise of discriminatory instances against Iranians in both Canada and the United States, and the current political climate between Iran and the two countries, removing the safeguards for withdrawing allows preclearance officers the ability to racially profile Iranian-Canadians with no restrictions or recourse for Iranian-Canadians."

Their worry is understandable, considering the concomitant increases in individual power and instances of racism among U.S. border guards.

• Pre-clearance bill would give U.S. border agents in Canada new powers

• Test your travel knowledge: What are you allowed to pack before getting on that flight?

It cannot be left to the whims and biases of individual U.S. officials to decide what happens to Canadian citizens in Canada. Trump encourages prejudice and discourages international partnership. There is a staggering hypocrisy in building a wall — or a moat full of alligators — at the border to the south, while extending jurisdiction across the border to the north.

• Canadian baby boomers being banned from U.S. for admitting they used pot years ago, lawyer says

• 'Don't take a chance, dump your stash,' says lawyer after Air Canada flight diverted to U.S.

Under Trump's leadership, any latent intolerance among border-protection agents is given room to roam. For Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to allow the practices of such an administration to seep over the borderline onto Canadian soil is to condone the behaviour of Trump's regime.

Worse, Trudeau's government is empowering foreign officials and disempowering Canadian citizens. He is kowtowing to American imperialism.

---

• This column is part of CBC's Opinion section. For more information about this section, please read our FAQ.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

H.M. Jocelyn

H.M. Jocelyn, a dual Canadian-American citizen, was born in Stratford, Ont., and grew up spending school years in New York City. As a border studies scholar in the American Studies PhD program at Rutgers University-Newark, she continues to cross the international boundary between the two nations many times a year. Her previous publications include a chapter in Critical Insights: American Short Story (Salem Press, 2015) and articles in The Journal of American Studies and in Interdisciplinary Literary Studies: A Journal of Criticism and Theory.

UNDER KENNEY AND UCP 

Soaring condo insurance rates help push Fort McMurray homeowner into bankruptcy

'There's not anything we can do anymore,' Kaleena Carriere says

Jamie Malbeuf · CBC News · Posted: Dec 15, 2019 6:00 AM MT | Last Updated: 5 hours ago

Kaleena Carriere with her daughter Raven and husband, Joseph. They moved from Fort McMurray in July looking for work. (Submitted by Kaleena Carriere)

A woman says she walked away from her Fort McMurray condo after skyrocketing insurance costs became "the final straw" in her battle to keep the home.

Kaleena Carriere, 31, bought her townhouse-style condo in April 2014. It was her first home. Now the bank owns it and the locks have been changed.

In September of this year, Carriere received a letter from the Cedarwoods Condominium Corporation explaining that the board had struggled to find an insurer to cover the complex.

The lone policy on offer came at a high cost, yet only promised coverage for a fraction of the complex's $65-million appraised value. The condo board accepted the offer.

As an owner, Carriere was hit with a $6,000 special assessment — six months of $1,000 payments — to cover her share of the insurance premium. It was a hit she couldn't take.

The condo board got only one quote from an insurer and it came with a premium of $925,000 for the whole complex. It struggled to get an insurer because it's considered "high risk." In the last three years the complex made four insurance claims totalling $11.7 million. Two were related to the 2016 wildfire, one was a water claim and the last was another small fire. 

• 'How could this be possible?' Fort McMurray condo board struggles to find insurance
• Wood Buffalo council will lobby province over condo insurance crisis

It's a problem that has been facing many condo boards in the regional municipality of Wood Buffalo in the wake of the Fort McMurray fire.

In July, Carriere and her husband had left Fort McMurray for work. They moved in with her dad in Kamloops, but they were still keeping up with payments on the condo, which was registered in her name.

"We've been struggling for the last year," she told CBC News. "Then we got this letter and it was just kind of the final straw. OK, we're going to lose the house. There's not anything we can do anymore."

It was just kind of the final straw. OK, we're going to lose the house.- Kaleena Carriere

Every month Carriere was making mortgage payments of $1,800, plus $450 in condo fees, $300 for heat, $100 for personal liability insurance and $50 for municipal services. 

Paying another $1,000 a month wasn't an option. In a Facebook post, Carriere said she stopped making payments on her home and "accepted that the bank was going to take it from me."

"I didn't believe it," Carriere told CBC. "I cried when I came to the realization that this was happening."

Kaleena Carriere's husband, Joseph, bringing home their baby girl in 2016. (Submitted by Kaleena Carriere)

Carriere said she considered selling the condo, but figures she would have ended up deep in debt.

She had paid $350,000 for the home but believes it is now worth less than $200,000 because of declining property values in Fort McMurray.

In a statement of claim, her bank alleges she still owed $278,000 on her mortgage when she stopped making payments.

Condo insurance is mandatory

In Alberta, condominium boards must carry insurance on all units and common property against loss resulting from destruction or damage caused by fire, lightning, windstorms, hail, explosions, water damage and other perils. The coverage must be for replacement cost value. Owners pay the insurance costs through their condo fees. 

The Cedarwoods condo board was offered $10 million of coverage, even though the appraised value of the 156-townhome complex was $65 million. That's despite the insurance premium of $925,000.

In 2018, the board had been able to get insurance coverage for the full property appraisal at a cost of $142,000.

• 'How could this be possible?' Fort McMurray condo board struggles to find insurance
• Wood Buffalo council will lobby province over condo insurance crisis

Dan Edwards, vice-chair of the Cedarwoods condo board, said the board got only one insurance offer and had to take it, in an effort to comply with the Alberta Condominium Property Act.

"You have to accept it whether you like it or not," said Edwards, who owns a condo in the complex. "I can't make an insurance company offer me insurance.

"No one wanted to pay this."

Not enough coverage for a disaster

Edwards said if there's a disaster that destroys everyone's property, the board doesn't have enough coverage to rebuild and everyone "will likely be out on the street."

"We don't understand what's going on. We're all hurt by this," he said.

He's not sure what the legal ramifications of not having enough coverage are because this is "uncharted territory," he said.

Edwards said the board is still working with a lawyer and trying to come up with a solution to get full coverage at a reasonable price.

Owners should be worried, lawyer says

Edmonton lawyer Robert Noce said owners of Cedarwoods condos should be worried.

The condo board's decision to accept insurance coverage that only accounts for one sixth of the appraised value is so uncommon that he's never heard of it happening before, Noce said.

"It's impossible to think that an insurer would only insure a portion of that, knowing full well that the value of the property is significantly higher," Noce said. "I can't think of any board, individual board members, that would be so negligent and expose themselves to personal liability by making such a decision."

Owners and the condo board should immediately seek legal advice, he said.

"I would truly hope that that particular condominium corporation has sought legal advice to protect them from what will inevitably be exposure at a personal level of the board members if they can't get this issue resolved."

The locks have been changed on Kaleena Carriere's home and she no longer has access. (Submitted by Kaleena Carriere)

In October, Wood Buffalo councillors voted to lobby the provincial and federal governments in an attempt to ensure that condo boards are able to secure complete, affordable insurance coverage.

Adam Hardiman, spokesperson for the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, confirmed the municipality sent letters to members of Parliament, local MLAs and the prime minister's office, among others. 

Crisis brewing, mayor tells PM

In a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Mayor Don Scott said the lack of affordable condo insurance options is quickly becoming a crisis that will affect other parts of Canada, "particularly those that have experienced flooding or wildfire."

Rob de Pruis, director of consumer and industry relations with the Insurance Bureau of Canada, said in an email that IBC is still talking to insurance companies and government about regulations for condo insurance.

"We understand the seriousness of this issue and we are doing everything we can to address individual circumstances," de Pruis said.

The government says it's still working with insurance providers about the issue, and Finance Minister Travis Toews has "asked industry to work to find solutions for condominium owners in the region," Service Alberta representative Tricia Velthuizen said in an emailed statement.

Carriere said it's unlikely she'll be able to buy a house again for years. She received an outpouring of support after posting about her bankruptcy on Facebook. She said dozens of people told her they were going through the same thing.

"There needs to be some sort of cap on insurance for housing," Carriere said. "There needs to be some regulation or something from the government that stops this from happening, because it's not just me.

"There's tons of my friends … tons of my neighbours. It saddens me that it's not as public as it should be."

British Columbia
'It's a milestone, I'm thrilled': B.C. survivor of conversion therapy applauds federal commitment to ban it
Peter Gajdics says 6 years of conversion therapy in Victoria almost killed him


CBC News · Posted: Dec 15, 2019














Peter Gajdics spent six years in Victoria B.C. undergoing conversion therapy from a psychiatrist who prescribed drugs which Gajdics says almost killed him. (Jon Hernandez/CBC)


A B.C. man who says he is still recovering from an attempt to change his sexual orientation through a practice known as conversion therapy is applauding a federal commitment to ban it in Canada.


This week, a mandate letter sent from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to Minister of Justice and Attorney General David Lametti asked that the Criminal Code be amended "to ban the practice of conversion therapy and take other steps required with the provinces and territories to end conversion therapy in Canada."


Conversion therapy is a practice that aims to change an individual's sexual orientation or gender identity, aiming to "convert" them from gay, lesbian or bisexual to heterosexual, or from transgender to cisgender, which means identifying with the sex assigned to them at birth.


Peter Gajdics, author of the book The Inheritance of Shame, spent six years in conversion therapy with a licensed psychiatrist in Victoria.


"It's a milestone, I'm thrilled, I think it will be a journey to actually have it passed," he said about the federal move to end its practice in Canada.


He described his years in conversion therapy as painful.


"I just felt completely distorted and cut up inside by the drugs, by the primal scream, by the shame, by this effort to change myself into something that I wasn't," he said. "At one point the medications were at a fatal level, and I overdosed, and by all accounts I should have died."


He says a psychiatrist prescribed several antidepressants and a sedative in hopes that it would help Gajdic become heterosexual.


"I fell for these tactics because I wanted to believe what my family wanted me to be, that I could heal somehow," he said.


WATCH Peter Gajdics talk to the CBC's Jon Hernandez about his experience with conversion therapy

Watch
'Such long term-pain'
1 day ago
0:36

B.C. Conversion therapy survivor Peter Gajdics talks about his troubling experience. 0:36


Gajdics says he grew up ashamed of his sexuality because his parents didn't approve of it, and was cut off from his friends and family.
No proof it works


Conversion therapy employs various approaches, including talk therapy, medication and aversion therapy, which attempts to condition a person's behaviour by causing them discomfort through things like electric shocks when they're exposed to specific stimuli.


It is believed conversion therapy has existed for more than a century, with German psychiatrist Albert von Schrenck-Notzing being one of the first to use the practice on patients.


Conversion therapy has been widely condemned by health experts as having no scientific proof that it works. It is also described as being unethical and unprofessional.


Elizabeth Saewyc, a UBC nursing professor, says people who have gone through the therapy have a greater chance of developing depression and anxiety.


"It has created challenges around their ability to actually have caring relationships with others," she said.
Conversion therapy: What you need to know


In 2018, the City of Vancouver passed a bylaw that bans any business from providing conversion therapy.


Gajdics said he will watch how the federal government develops its amendments to the Criminal Code to ban conversion therapy. He's worried that loopholes will remain for the practice to carry on underground.


"Delineating exactly what conversion therapy is or maybe isn't in the Criminal Code will be vital," he said. "Practitioners, organizations, sidestep the issue. Immediately they say we don't practise that."


With files from Jon Hernandez and Alvin Yu


SEE https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=LGBTQ


SEE https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=CONVERSION

Couple who bought $120k banana art sense it will be iconic

In this Dec. 4, 2019 photo, gallery owner Emmanuel Perrotin poses next to Maurizio Cattlelan's "Comedian" at the Art Basel exhibition in Miami Beach, Fla. The work sold for $120,000. (AP Photo/Siobhan Morrissey)

Kelli Kennedy, The Associated Press
Published Thursday, December 12, 2019 3:00PM EST

MIAMI - A Miami couple who bought a headline-grabbing banana duct-taped to a wall have acknowledged the absurdity of the artwork, but say they believe it will become an icon and plan to gift it to a museum.

Billy and Beatrice Cox said in a statement that they spent more than $100,000 on the “unicorn of the art world” after seeing “the public debate it sparked about art and our society.”

The conceptual artwork - “Comedian,” by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan - was the talk of last week's Art Basel Miami. The artist sold three editions, each in the $120,000 to $150,000 range, according to the Perrotin gallery.

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• Banana, duct tape add up to $150,000 at Art Basel Miami

“We are acutely aware of the blatant absurdity of the fact that “Comedian” is an otherwise inexpensive and perishable piece of produce and a couple inches of duct tape," the Coxes said. “Ultimately we sense that Cattelan's banana will become an iconic historical object.”

The piece was widely parodied on social media. Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest framed a bagel with a piece of duct, tape over it and Brooke Shields taped a banana to her forehead, writing “An expensive selfie” on Instagram.

On Saturday at the art fair, Georgian-born artist David Datuna removed the latest iteration of the banana from the wall, unpeeled it and took a bite as a large crowd documented the moment with their phones.

“I respect Maurizio, but it's art performance: Hungry artist,” said Daturna, who was not among the buyers.

The piece became such a focus of gawking that the gallery removed it Sunday for the final day to encourage viewers to see the rest of the art fair.

The Miami couple - whose purchase included a “certificate of authenticity” along with the banana and the piece of tape - said they plan to loan and later gift the work to an unspecified art institution in hopes of attracting new generations to the museum.

They plan to throw out old bananas when appropriate. “Yes ... the banana itself will need to be replaced,” they said.

The couple compared the artwork to Andy Warhol's now iconic “Campbell's Soup Cans,” which said was initially “met with mockery.”

Critics reasoned they could easily recreate the pricey art following a quick trip to the grocery store, but the gallery said in a statement that certificates of authenticity are crucial in conceptual art.

Without one, “a piece of conceptual artwork is nothing more than its material representation.”