Montréal Outgames: Entering Gay-Friendly Canada is a simple affair!
Written by Sean Morrow
August 31st, 2005

Montréal 2006 authorises use and/or reproduction of this monthly in whole or in part. If appropriate, the author can also be quoted.

Sixty thousand people are expected for the opening ceremonies of the Montréal Outgames in July 2006. Among them, 16,000 participants will be competing or taking part in the various activities planned for the games. These Outgames, of Olympic proportions, will set new standards for international LGBT sporting competitions and raise expectations for their organisers thereafter. Canadians and visitors alike will participate in the making of history and do so in a city, province and country unparalleled in its ability to welcome visitors.

Canada: A Leader in LGBT Rights
Canada is a premier gay-friendly destination. LGBT visitors coming to Montréal in 2006 for the Outgames will find in this part of North America a irresistible haven of openness and tolerance that is reflected in extensive protection and rights guaranteed by Canadian laws and the nation’s Constitution. Back in 1977, the province of Québec pioneered as one of the world’s first jurisdictions to include sexual orientation as a prohibited ground for discrimination in its charter of rights and freedoms. Today, not only has that right been extended to all of Canada through the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, but gays and lesbians in Canada cannot be discriminated against in the workplace, in social and human services, in housing and most other areas of day-to-day life. The trademark openness of Canadians towards differences has made homophobia a socially unacceptable behaviour and a quickly dying phenomenon.

Montréal Olympic Stadium, site if the Opening and Closing Ceremonies.

© Tourisme Montréal

Danseurs de Gayrobic devant le Stade olympique sur le podium des Outgames podium.

© Montréal 2006

Centre-ville de MOntréal vue du parc Jean-Drapeau Park sur l'le Sainte-Hélène.

© Ville de Montréal, Johanne Palasse

Sport - Plongeur

© Productions de l'Œil, Brent Stirton

A Victory for Same-Sex Marriage
This openness was clearly on stage a few weeks ago in the Canadian Parliament as legislators voted 158 to 133 in favour of legalizing same-sex marriage, thus making Canada the fourth country, after Belgium and the Netherlands, and almost simultaneously with Spain, to extend such rights. Interestingly, the debate has not focused on whether Canada should or should not allow same-sex unions – this, because since 2003, Canadian courts have been progressively ruling that marriages between same-sex couples are legal. Opponents to the law were mostly focused on challenging the use of the word ‘marriage’ to define spousal unions amongst gays and lesbians. Even this watered down position could not garner the votes needed to defeat the march for equality of gays and lesbians everywhere in Canada. The new law was quickly adopted in the days that followed its adoption in Parliament.

If you are planning to attend the Outgames in Montréal, you can come with your partner and marry anywhere in Canada. “What an event that would be,” said Louise Duguay, Co-President of Montréal 2006. “This laws enactment and the hosting of the Montréal Outgames make Canada the gay and lesbian travel destination of choice in 2006.”

Visitors to Montréal and elsewhere in the province of Québec should note, however, that currently there is a civil code requirement for couples to publicly announce their intention to marry. At the moment, the law requires Québec marriages to be announced three weeks prior to the actual marriage date. Elsewhere in Canada, this requirement is not needed. Montréal 2006 will be providing a wedding chapel at its main gathering place during the Outages. For those who wish to tie the knot, it only requires that you make plans to be here three weeks prior or during the games to make your dream come true!

Rounding out LGBT rights in Québec, it is worth noting that gays and lesbians in the province also have the right to adopt and to parent the child of their same-sex partner. In fact, since 2001, the provincial legislature – the Québec National Assembly – unanimously adopted legislation creating civil unions for same-sex couples and providing adoption rights.

Traveling to Gay-Friendly Canada
As is the case in most countries, visitors to Canada are generally subject to various procedures and formalities prior to or upon entering the country. As you will see these procedures are, in general, simple but they do allow customs authorities to weed out illegal entries and criminals. Keep in mind that sexual orientation is not a basis in any way for refusing entry into Canada. Government agencies and non-profit groups work diligently to ensure that we are a safe, yet respectful country to visit, as well as accessible for tourists from beyond our borders. When choosing Montréal as your travel destination for 2006, remember that the city will be the gay destination of choice next year and that the Outgames will be the event not to miss. Here are some of the basics you should know about entering Canada…

The Basics –
No Medical Exam Required
The first thing to note is that if you are coming to Canada as a tourist, you generally do not need a medical exam. This is normally contingent on the fact that the visitor intends to stay in Canada for less than six months and that he or she originates from a country for which a Temporary Resident Visa – TRV (ie. a visitor’s visa) is not required (please see list of countries in box to the right). In these cases, you will normally only be required to provide proof of identity and citizenship (ie. a valid passport).

Proof of Identity Documents
If you are not a United States resident or citizen, you will be required to hold a valid passport from the country of your residence to establish your identity. Make sure that you don’t store it in your luggage but, rather, carry it on you when you are crossing borders; you will need to show it to customs officials upon entering Canada. On the other hand, applicants who need a TRV (ie. visitor’s visa) will be required to submit sufficient documentation that will allow Canadian authorities to establish their ties to their home country and thus to ensure that their stay in Canada in temporary. Additional visa information is available at the Canadian government website.

Visiting from the United States? No Visa Needed
Due to international agreements between Canada and the U.S., persons that are citizens of the United States or those that have lawfully been admitted to the United States for permanent residence do not need a visa to enter Canada. Foreign residents in the U.S. must be in possession of a valid alien registration card, otherwise known as a Green Card.

Although it is always preferable to present a passport upon entering Canada, American citizens can substitute the passport with a driver’s license, birth certificate or any other photo ID capable of confirming ones identity and nationality.

Who Needs a Visa? Where Do I Get One?
As mentioned, most visitors coming to Canada for the Outgames will not need to apply for a visa. Confirm that you come from one of the countries listed in the box above. If you do need to obtain an entry visa, the best way to go about getting yours is to contact the Canadian embassy or consulate. It is important to remember that an individual seeking to obtain a TRV will need to show that he or she plans to leave Canada at the expiry of his visa.

Citizens from the following countries do not need a Visa to enter Canada:

Visa Exceptions
Besides those visitors from countries already listed above, there are other travellers that will not require a visa. These include the following:

• British citizens and British Overseas Citizens who are re admissible for entry to the United Kingdom;
• Citizens of British dependent territories who derive their citizenship through birth, descent, registration or naturalization in one of the British dependent territories of Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Montserrat, Pitcairn, St. Helena or the Turks and Caicos Islands;
• Persons holding a valid and subsisting Special Administrative Region passport issued by the Government of the Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China;
• Persons holding passports or travel documents issued by the Holy See (although I doubt any Outgames participants will be registering from the Vatican…)

What about Health Issues?
It is important for travelers to note that Canada does not require any kind of declaration regarding HIV or Hepatitis C status, nor does such a declaration mean you will be denied entry into the country. This was not always clear though and, in order to avoid any ambiguity, the federal policies have recently been clarified.

A Little Bit of Context
Until recently, when a visitor was applying for a visa, one question on the application form was, in particular, of a highly sensitive and personal nature. Even more, the question was unnecessarily intrusive and sometimes led to application rejection for those answering positive. The question asked something along the lines of whether or not a person or a member of their family had ever been treated for serious physical or mental disorders or communicable or chronic diseases.

Ongoing discussions and collaboration between a number of governmental agencies and NGO’s have since produced a significant change in federal policies. As Toronto will be hosting the World AIDS Conference in August 2006, organizers and other Canadian HIV/AIDS organizations successfully lobbied the government to have these questions clarified. Since the original purpose of the question was not to inquire about HIV status the question was amended. These days, if you need to apply for a temporary visa, you’ll note that you are not required to disclose a known HIV infection on the application form. For more information about the change, check out the extensive briefing on the matter at the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network.

What is Canada’s Official Position on Medical Testing and HIV/AIDS?
Officially, Canada does not recognize HIV as a ‘casually communicable, infectious disease.’ Furthermore, it is Canadian government policy that people living with HIV/AIDS do not actually represent any kind of danger to public health or safety just by virtue of their HIV status. It is for this reason that officials will not categorically deny visitors entry solely based on their HIV positive status.

The Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network notes that the departmental instructions given to visa officers state that ‘it would be rare that a visa applicant living with HIV/AIDS might need to be referred for an immigration medical examination and rarer still that the person would be assessed as medically inadmissible.

For rare and exceptional cases where a tourist’s health condition is such that they are likely to require health and social services while in Canada, there may be medical testing required. This, however, is a standard applied to all short-term visitors and understands that, to obtain entry approval, they will not impose undue demand on Canada’s public health care system.

Arriving ill to Canada
In the rare case that you are ill when you arrive in Canada, whether you were previously required to hold a visa or not, you may be asked to undergo a medical exam. This is typically the only reason for which you might be asked to take an exam. You should know that every exam includes an HIV antibody test, regardless of the reason for ordering the exam. Remember, even if you test HIV-positive, you are still allowed entry into Canada.

It is important to remember that Canada Customs and Immigration rules are not meant to restrict access to Canada for visitors. The primary purpose of the medical exam is to assess if ones condition will cause an undue burden onto the Canadian public health care system.

More information regarding health issues for visitors to Canada can be obtained by contacting your nearest Canadian Embassy or consulting the above-indicated web sites address.

General Information
One of the better websites for information pertaining to your visit to Canada is the Going to Canada site. You’ll find it fairly easy to navigate and there are a lot of useful tips.

More general information is also available through your local Canadian consulate or embassy, through the Québec Government offices abroad, through Montréal 2006’s official travel partners abroad, and its local partner, Tourisme Montréal.

What If I’m Entering Canada from the United States?
If you are considering a visit to Canada and plan on coming here through the United States, or if you plan on also visiting the United States during your trip, you might find this to be something of a challenge. There are a few things to know, post 9-11. Verifying the process on the official U.S. government website yields interesting results.

The US government considers travellers connecting through the US to be first traveling to the United States. The US government has imposed a number of measures designed to protect and ensure the safety of U.S. citizens and, consequently, are taking steps to identify potential security threats, even for tourists simply in transit.

On May 14, 2002, President George Bush signed the national Border Security and Visa Entry Reform and the changes to entry policy began. The new United States Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative has begun to be enforced as well, further seeking to ‘Secure Borders and Open Doors.’ In an effort to guarantee safety, the government of the United States has begun to verify the identity of all applicants and visitors, as well as ensure that you intend to re-enter your home country. Consequently, travellers are likely to find the entry policies and procedures complicated, as they require quite a bit of effort to accommodate. The initiative is far-reaching and affects all travellers to and from the Americas, the Caribbean and Bermuda, who soon will be required to have a passport and/or a visa that establishes the bearer’s identity and nationality when entering the United States. If you’re a citizen of a foreign country, in most cases you’ll need to hold a Nonimmigrant Visa (visa) to enter the United States.

You should know that the visa itself does not permit entry into the U.S. But, rather, it simply indicates that you have filed an application, that an officer at an American embassy or consulate has reviewed it and that you have been declared eligible to enter the country for a specific purpose. Essentially, you are allowed to travel to the United States but only as far as your entry point. There you ask the immigration officer for permission to enter and it is only the border officer who has the authority to allow you to continue on further. He or she will then decide how long you can stay for any particular visit.

Obtaining a U.S. Visa
To obtain a United States visa, you’ll need to apply at your local US embassy or consulate. There is an application procedure to follow through and, depending on your case, a series of interviews. At your interview, your fingerprints will be taken, recorded and added to your file. You should know that some cases will require that you provide personal financial documents and employment status. If further review is required, your file may be sent to Washington and so you should expect another delay, usually several weeks. Even more, your application is checked against all records held in the federal and state bureaus. If your name or a close variation of it is suspect, your file may be subjected to further review and further validated for verification.

Upon arrival into the United States, customs agents will review your visa, documentation and verify your length of stay. The agent will also take your fingerprints again and a digital photo will be shot and added to your file.

In some cases, before leaving your country, your US visa officer may inform you that you will be subject to special clearance procedures. Some travellers may be directed to private workstations in the arrival halls where a more in-depth registration is undergone. This includes more interviews, photos and verification processes. In these cases, be sure to leave even more time between your connections.

Questions Pertaining to Your Health
In the U.S., if at any point in the process you do not honestly answer the questions pertaining to any medications you are taking or any illness you have, and you are discovered, your file will be marked, you will be permanently denied entry and you will be sent back to your country of origin.

Unfortunately, in being honest, you may not be allowed to enter the United States, so bear that in mind. It is important to note that people who are found to be HIV positive by US Customs Agents will be turned back and permanently denied entry into the United States. Although this information is not immediately found on US government websites, several American and US specialized travel agents confirmed this information but refused to be quoted on it.

Coming to Gay-Friendly Montréal: Its as Easy as 1-2-3
In coming to Montréal in 2006, you know that you will come to compete and to celebrate in one of the greatest LGBT events ever. Montréal, Québec and Canada can also be your destination to relax, party and now even to marry! The Montréal Outgames is the place to be in 2006 so make sure you intend on coming. It’s easy to enter Canada, just remember that you may have difficulties if you are connecting through or visiting the U.S. If you do need to apply for a Canadian visa, start looking into the process now. Make sure to register your place in the Outgames too.

All that’s left to be said is: Bon voyage!

I’ll be there with bells and whistles waiting to wish you a very warm Bienvenue!