Federal government admits two trans inmates charged with sexual assault after transfer to women’s prisons

The federal government has acknowledged that two transgender inmates incarcerated in women’s prisons faced sexual-assault charges following complaints made by female inmates.

On Monday, the government filed its statement of defence in an ongoing constitutional challenge to Correctional Service Canada’s (CSC) policy allowing some “gender diverse” inmates to be transferred to women’s prisons. The CSC uses the term “gender diverse” to describe identities or expressions that differ from expectations based on sex assigned at birth, including non-binary, transgender and two-spirited.

According to the filing, one inmate was charged with one count of sexual assault and one count of criminal harassment in May 2020 after a female inmate filed a complaint. Another inmate was charged with two counts of sexual assault after a female inmate filed a complaint in October 2024.

The inmate charged in 2020 was alleged to be an instigator in an additional five incidents against three women inmates, but the government said in its filing that they were not involved in four of these, while a “cisgender woman” inmate was also found to be an instigator in the fifth.

The government uses the term “cisgender women” to refer to “individuals whose gender identity corresponds to the gender assigned to them at birth.”

The inmate charged in after the 2024 complaint was also identified in another incident, but this was a false allegation, the government said.

Responding to a demand for particulars, the plaintiff in the case identified 45 cisgender women inmates who were allegedly impacted in 59 incidences of harm. For 45 of the 59 alleged incidences, the government says, “insufficient particulars were provided to allow Canada to respond.”

Of the remaining 14 claims, 10 took place at Grand Valley Institution for Women, Ont., three took place at Fraser Valley Institution, B.C., and one at the Okimaw Ohci Healing Lodge, Sask. These include a 2018 complaint that led to a police investigation but no charges, a 2019 report of sexual assault, and a 2021 complaint alleging sexual and physical assault.

The constitutional challenge brought against the federal government concerns CSC’s Commissioner’s Directive 100: Gender Diverse Offenders, and was launched in 2025 by the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF).

CSC introduced its policy on “gender diverse” offenders in May 2022. The directive states: “Throughout their sentence, offenders may apply for a voluntary transfer to a men’s or a women’s institution according to their gender identity or expression.” It adds that all transfers are assessed on a case-by-case basis, and that the Deputy Commissioner for Women is the final decision-maker for transfers to women’s institutions.

Data previously obtained by the Investigative Journalism Bureau found that, between 2017 and 2025, 57 transgender women made 129 requests to transfer to a women’s prison. During that period, 35 requests were approved, and more than 70 requests were denied by CSC.

As of October 2025, there are 90 transgender women in federal prison — 73 housed in men’s prisons and 17 in women’s prisons. Of the 17, eight have had gender-affirming surgery.

Lawyers funded by the JCCF brought the lawsuit on behalf of Canadian Women’s Sex-Based Rights (CAWSBAR), arguing that allowing transgender inmates to be housed in women’s prisons exposes female inmates to physical and psychological harm and violates their Charter rights.

Ottawa denies that its policy violates female inmates’ Charter right to life, liberty, and security of the person, stating: “In each specific factual context, CD 100 has been implemented in good faith and consistent with the principles of fundamental justice, including not being arbitrary, overbroad, or grossly disproportionate.”

Also in the filing, the federal government “wholly denies that any alleged harm to inmates housed in women’s institutions flowed from the implementation of CD 100” and maintains that its individualized assessment process provides an appropriate framework for managing risks.

In a JCCF news release Tuesday, constitutional lawyer Chris Fleury said the government’s defence shows that female inmates have raised serious complaints about their experiences in women’s prisons, some of which resulted in sexual-assault charges.

“Female inmates are being exposed to real risks and real harm,” he said. “This case is about protecting their safety, dignity, and constitutional rights.”

In total, the government responded to allegations involving 13 gender diverse inmates who are alleged to have “taken and will continue to take advantage of CD 100.” For four of these inmates, there were no specific allegations provided, with the statement of defence reading: “rather, it is their mere presence in a women’s institution that is alleged to cause harm to cisgender women inmates.”

In May 2026, the Federal Court rejected the government’s attempt to strike the lawsuit and granted CAWSBAR public interest standing, allowing the constitutional challenge to proceed. The federal government is now asking the court to dismiss the claim with costs.

The case follows a separate Federal Court decision in July, which saw a transgender inmate lose a bid to be transferred to a women’s prison.

Amanda Joy Cooper, 59, has been incarcerated since 2001 and is convicted of four sexual assaults, forcible confinement and other crimes against adult women and one girl, mostly in Montreal. All those crimes were committed long before Cooper’s 2020 diagnosis of gender dysphoria and 2024 surgery to construct female genitalia and breasts.

Cooper was at the Atlantic Institution in New Brunswick before asking to be moved to a women’s prison, and instead was moved last October to Millhaven Institution in Ontario, a maximum-security prison for men.

Justice Janet Fuhrer ruled that CSC had not acted unreasonably in refusing the transfer request.