Investigation: 14-year-olds in Quebec can receive ‘experimental’ cross-sex hormones in less than 10 minutes, without parental consent

A 14-year-old in Quebec was prescribed cross-sex hormones in less than 10 minutes, without parental consent.

This, Radio-Canada reveals, was the alarming result of its recent hidden-camera investigation into the lax regulations around “gender-affirming” care in the province. Radio-Canada is the Canadian Broadcasting Company’s French language division. 

Quebec currently has no minimum age for children who wish to undergo a “gender transition.” The only substantive restrictions require a child to be at least 16 before having a double mastectomy and 18 before having genital surgery. And 14-year-olds can receive prescriptions for “experimental” and potentially harmful drugs without parental consent. 

Aiming to test the system, Radio-Canada launched an investigation, reportedly sending a 14-year-old actress into a local gender clinic. 

After briefly reviewing a list of the potential side effects for “medically transitioning,” she met with a doctor.  

During her exam, she told the doctor she’d been diagnosed with an eating disorder she thought was a symptom of being born in the wrong body. 

The doctor asked whether her parents were supportive and if she had considered surgery, such as a “mastectomy, removing the chest.” 

Next, the doctor asked the 14-year-old if she wanted to have children in the future. 

“I understand that it’s a bit far off for you, at 14,” the doctor admitted before proceeding anyway. “Is fertility something you want to preserve before you start?” 

Once the child responded, expressing no intent to have children, that was enough for the doctor. And, in just 9 minutes, she had her prescription for cross-sex hormones. 

“Of course, when you’re 14, we don’t give adult doses right away,” the doctor explained. “Because you don’t want your hair to start growing the next morning. I’m going to start you on an intermediate dose…between adult and non-binary.” 

When Radio-Canada followed up about how quickly the prescription was given, the doctor defended it. 

“A medical consultation is not evaluated in terms of duration, but rather in terms of the quality of the exchange of information between the patient and the healthcare professional,” the doctor said. “When the healthcare professional feels that all the necessary elements have been covered, and the patient has had the opportunity to ask all his or her questions, there is no reason to continue the consultation just to reach a specific duration.” 

Not everyone agrees with that assessment, however.  

Radio-Canada also interviewed “detransitioners” who feel they were rushed into life-altering decisions without truly understanding the consequences. What’s worse, they say their mental health issues were never addressed. 

Clara, 24, told Radio-Canada she had mental health and self-esteem issues as a teenager. After being exposed to gender ideology and encouraged to seek “gender-affirming” care online, she decided to see a psychologist. 

Soon after therapy began, she told her mother she didn’t feel like a woman and would “rather be an effeminate boy than a butch woman.” 

Her parents say they were advised to start Clara on hormones as soon as possible, to lower the likelihood of suicide, which, they were told, was extremely high in the first year of a child’s “transition.” 

“From the very first meeting, (the therapist said) it was important to act as if (Clara) were a boy,” they told Radio-Canada, “to take steps with the school, to start hormone therapy as soon as possible, because the suicide rate was very, very, very high in the first year (of transition).” 

Clara began puberty blockers at 15, before moving on to cross-sex hormones. She had a double mastectomy at 17. 

Later, she began to regret those choices and has since “detransitioned,” choosing to live as a woman again, despite the permanent consequences those choices had on her body. 

Jane Rocheleau-Matte began cross-sex hormones at 16 and was quickly approved for a double mastectomy.  

She reports having regrets almost immediately after the surgery. She was also surprised to find that “detransitioning” wouldn’t be nearly as easy as transitioning had been. 

“They told me I had to wait two or three years and have psychological follow-up for over a year,” she said. “[But], before they removed my breasts, they didn’t ask me for psychological follow-up. 

“I find that when you’re transitioning, there’s a lot of people welcoming you, no one questioning you. But, when you arrive to detransition … all of a sudden, you’re lower on the priority list.” 

Reactions to the Radio-Canada report have been mixed.  

Some, including at least one high-profile transgender Quebec resident, were “profoundly shocked” at how easy it’s become for children to receive life-altering medical treatments. 

Others criticized Radio-Canada, saying that airing the report was “platforming anti-trans junk science,” from people “attempting to erase us (trans people), to dehumanize us, to eliminate us from public life.” 

After the report, Radio-Canada’s headquarters in Montreal was vandalized. 

“Far-left extremists” reportedly took credit in an anonymous letter published on the Montréal Contre-Information website. 

Director of Public Relations for Radio-Canada, Marc Pichette, issued a statement to True North dismissing the allegations published in the anonymous letter. 

“We do not wish to comment on this case of vandalism and the demands that might be associated with it. A police investigation is currently underway. We consider the insinuations published on MTL Contre-Information baseless and misguided.”