They are explicitly different from sexual orientation, which only refers to what sex someone is attracted to. For example, someone could be both transgender and gay.

"These are well-defined terms used in both medicine and psychology, and in legal circles," Siksay said. "They are terms that have been used for many years in Canadian law. There's no human rights commission that doesn't understand what they mean."

Some members of the Conservative Party question whether the bill is needed.

"Transsexuals are already protected against discrimination based on sex under the Canada Human Rights Act, a federal law," said MP Daniel Petit.

But Siksay said these protections are not explicit.

"Folks have won human rights cases using sex and disability," Siksay said. "But for human rights law to be effective, people have to see themselves in it."

The transgender community is able to file cases for discrimination based on disability, but it's not necessarily a category it's comfortable with. For transgender people to feel protected, they need to see gender identity and expression in Canadian laws.

Protection under grounds of disability is only possible if the person was diagnosed with gender dysphoria, a psychiatric disorder. But that doesn't sit well with the transgender community, said Shannon Blatt, a labour lawyer who is a transgender woman.

"The hope is that, like homosexuality, gender identity would not be pathologized and viewed as a psychiatric disorder anymore," Blatt said.

She believes these protections specific for transgender people would have helped Shelby Tom's case.

"It should have been a hate crime," Blatt said. "I think there's a way of striking a balance in a better way than simply rejecting the hate crime application.

"And to the best of my knowledge, we've never yet successfully achieved a hate crime designation for any transphobic type of murder in Canada."

Tough, long journey

Tami Starlight supports a bill for transgender rights, but believes much more needs to be done for those rights in B.C.

"We may have legislation, but it doesn't change the way people think and do, right?" Starlight said. "That's probably one of the last things to happen, which is that society slowly changes their outlook."

She braved the winter storm, soaked and covered in snow, to put up posters around the city for the annual Vancouver Transgender Day of Remembrance, which she started organizing in 2002.

It's been a tough, long journey for the former drug-addicted man, who a decade ago slept on the streets of Vancouver.

"I can walk on broken glass right now," Starlight said. "Because I understand why I'm doing what I'm doing and that if this can save somebody's life, then it's a piece of cake."

Her activism resulted from her own struggles with identifying as a woman, despite having a male body, she said.

"I was in denial about who I really was," Starlight said. "And after being clean for a year and a half, it became real and apparent to me that I had these issues, and I had to deal with them."

Starlight realized she had to come out as a woman and make the transition. But her family did not support her decision and chose to estrange her. So, she sought support from the transgender community.

Eventually, she learned about the Transgender Day of Remembrance, which happens annually on Nov. 20 in some U.S. cities.

The event started in 1999 as a candlelight vigil in San Francisco to commemorate Rita Hester, a transgender woman murdered in 1998. Now it happens annually to memorialize all transgender people murdered each year.

There were 197 reported murders of transgender people around the world in 2010, according to the Transgender Murder Monitoring Project in Europe. There have been 13 such killings in Canada since 1982, three of which occurred in B.C., according to Gender Education & Advocacy, a U.S.-based non-profit organization.

The remembrance day is now observed in 17 cities across Canada and in 19 different countries, including the chapter Starlight started in Vancouver.

At least 150 people gathered outside Carnegie Community Centre last year. Some carried signs that read "Stop Transgender Violence," and "I Am Proud 2 B Transgender," and others held candles as they marched down Hastings Street from Main Street to Richards Street.

Brady Ciel Marks and R. Nelson Brown, who took part in the march, both said the day helps unite the transgender community. "It's a show of solidarity, so we're all here just to support each other," Marks said.

But more than that, the march is a step forward in eliminating discrimination.

"Events like this lets the world know that there's a community and that the community is really at risk," said Jenn de Roo, another participant at the march.

The march ended at the SFU Harbour Centre, where the participants flooded into an auditorium. Those who couldn't find seats crowded into the aisles, huddled at the back and some even resorted to sitting outside the entrance.

Inside the auditorium, Starlight told the crowd it's important to remember murdered transgender people and those who have committed suicide. "But we also have to acknowledge that many of the murdered transgender people were women, were of colour and were sex workers," she said.

Participants took turns reading out the stories of 32 transgender people murdered around the world last year, and then had a moment of silence.

[Tomorrow on The Tyee: Reporter Ryan Elias shares a meal with friends Amy and Gavin, two transgender people living in Vancouver. Hear their stories in a two part series, starting Thursday.]

[Click for more Rights and Justice reporting on The Tyee.]