The British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal ordered LifeLabs and its subsidiary Excelleris Technologies to pay $32,000 for discrimination against transgender and non-binary patients involving misgendering and outing.
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The British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal has ordered a private laboratory provider to pay $32,000 in damages, plus other costs, for discrimination against transgender and non-binary patients.
In its decision, the tribunal said LifeLabs and its subsidiary Excelleris Technologies misgendered and outed three patients at clinics in Vancouver and Burnaby in 2019.
The tribunal found that one non-binary person was told they had to choose either male or female to receive lab services. It also said the person was outed to other patients because their gender identity was required to be discussed in a public space.
The tribunal also found that one transgender patient was unable to update their gender marker on medical records, while another was misgendered on lab reports and said they opted out of necessary cancer screening to avoid being misgendered again.
In the ruling issued Oct. 29, 2026, tribunal member Theressa Etmanski said LifeLabs must update its policies and staff training around gender identity and provide private spaces where transgender and non-binary patients can discuss their identity.
Etmanski also stated, in the decision, that “Information about a patient’s sex may be medically relevant in the provision of laboratory services,” and added: “there is no evidence before me to support that the standard is medically necessary or justified.”
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