FIRST READING: Child sex change advocate appointed head of Canadian Paediatric Society

Laura Sauvé, left, and Natasha Johnson, right. The outgoing and incoming presidents of the Canadian Paediatric Society. Photo by via Facebook

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As much of the world retreats from the idea that gender dysphoric children should be “affirmed” with medical interventions, the Canadian Paediatric Society has appointed one of its acolytes as their new president.

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In 2016, Natasha Johnson founded the Gender Diversity Clinic at McMaster Children’s Hospital. According to a 2022 profile, the clinic provides “gender-affirming healthcare” to between 85 and 100 youth per year.

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She has also delivered public comments dismissing fears that such interventions risk yielding regret in adulthood, or that patients should wait until adulthood until pursuing irreversible interventions.

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In a 2021 profile by CTV’s W5, Johnson said that children as young as 13 could consent to procedures such as hormones, puberty-blockers or surgery, suggesting that the alternative is heightened risk of death by suicide.

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“I think to assume that, in general, thirteen-year-olds have no knowledge of the future or of the consequences of decisions, I think would be overstatement,” she said.

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“I think that each young person needs to be assessed. It would be also important to share stories of the thousands of people who are satisfied with transition and report that the interventions were lifesaving.”

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On May 23, the Canadian Paediatric Society announced that Johnson had been appointed its 2026/2027 president. “We look forward to the expertise and passion she brings to the role,” read a social media post.

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Johnson’s appointment comes as the Canadian Paediatric Society has already emerged as one of the world’s few remaining outliers to the idea that children reporting symptoms of gender dysphoria should be immediately “affirmed” with medical treatment.

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While the U.S., Australia, New Zealand and much of Europe all once similarly adhered to a Canada-style “affirmation” approach for gender dysphoric youth, all have walked back the policy in recent years.

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The most dramatic example being the U.K., which in 2024 released the Cass Review, a comprehensive government-ordered review of the country’s program of “gender identity services” for minors.

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Among its finding were that thousands of British minors had been prescribed hormonal treatments to block puberty, despite “remarkably weak” evidence of their effectiveness or long-term consequences.

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More recently, in February both the American Society of Plastic Surgeons and the American Medical Association issued statements urging surgeons to stop performing irreversible gender surgeries on minors, suggesting that most cases of gender dysphoria are temporary.