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}}</ref>
==Reported incidence of non-therapeutic child circumcision==
The reported incidence of child circumcision in Canada varies by province and has diminished over time. Newfoundland has always had a very low incidence of child circumcision while Alberta and Ontario have had a higher incidence of child circumcision.
Johnston (1995) reported that the incidence of child circumcision in Canada had fallen from 60 percent a generation ago to an estimated 25 percent.<ref name="johnston1995">{{REFnews
|title=Under the Knife
|url=http://www.cirp.org/news/1995.09.11_TorontoStar/
|last=Johnston
|first=David
|coauthors=
|publisher=Toronto Star
|website=
|date=1995-09-11
|accessdate=2019-10-26
|quote=
}}</ref>
The Montreal ''Gazette'' (2006) reported that the incidence of circumcision has fallen by 36 percent to 14 percent according to the Association for Genital Integrity, while Statistics Canada reported a high of 29.5 percent in P.E.I. and a low of 1.1 percent in Nova Scotia.<ref>{{REFnews
|title=Rates of circumcision slashed in past 30 years.
|url=http://www.cirp.org/news/2006-03-23montrealgazette/
|last=
|first=
|coauthors=
|publisher=The Gazette
|website=
|date=2006-03-23
|accessdate=2019-10-26
|quote=
}}</ref><ref>{{REFnews
|title=Circumcisions continue to drop: Province has second-lowest rate in the country
|url=http://www.cirp.org/news/halifaxdailynews2006-03-25/
|last=MacDonald
|first=Andrea
|coauthors=
|publisher=Halifax Daily News
|website=
|date=2006-03-25
|accessdate=2019-10-26
|quote=
Clean up file.
|accessdate=2019-10-25
}}</ref>
==Reported incidence of non-therapeutic child circumcision==
The reported incidence of child circumcision in Canada varies by province and has diminished over time. Newfoundland has always had a very low incidence of child circumcision while Alberta and Ontario have had a higher incidence of child circumcision.
Johnston (1995) reported that the incidence of child circumcision in Canada had fallen from 60 percent a generation ago to an estimated 25 percent.<ref name="johnston1995">{{REFnews
|title=Under the Knife
|url=http://www.cirp.org/news/1995.09.11_TorontoStar/
|last=Johnston
|first=David
|coauthors=
|publisher=Toronto Star
|website=
|date=1995-09-11
|accessdate=2019-10-26
|quote=
}}</ref>
The Montreal ''Gazette'' (2006) reported that the incidence of circumcision has fallen by 36 percent to 14 percent according to the Association for Genital Integrity, while Statistics Canada reported a high of 29.5 percent in P.E.I. and a low of 1.1 percent in Nova Scotia.<ref>{{REFnews
|title=Rates of circumcision slashed in past 30 years.
|url=http://www.cirp.org/news/2006-03-23montrealgazette/
|last=
|first=
|coauthors=
|publisher=The Gazette
|website=
|date=2006-03-23
|accessdate=2019-10-26
|quote=
}}</ref><ref>{{REFnews
|title=Circumcisions continue to drop: Province has second-lowest rate in the country
|url=http://www.cirp.org/news/halifaxdailynews2006-03-25/
|last=MacDonald
|first=Andrea
|coauthors=
|publisher=Halifax Daily News
|website=
|date=2006-03-25
|accessdate=2019-10-26
|quote=
}}</ref>
==Position statements of medical societies==
|DOI=
|accessdate=2019-10-26
}}</ref>
==Availability of third-party payment==
Canada has fourteen single-payer health insurance plans (HIPs) — one for each of the ten provinces and three territories and a 14th plan for government employees. The British Columbia HIP stopped paying for non-therapeutic circumcision in the 1980s. Ontario HIP stopped payment for non-therapeutic circumcision in July 1995; Saskatchewan stopped in 1996. One by one, all other HIPs have stopped paying for non-therapeutic circumcision. Manitoba HIP was the last to stop, but only after the wrong boy was circumcised at [http://www.sbgh.mb.ca/ St. Boniface Hospital].<ref>{{REFnews
|title=Circumcision mix-up
|url=http://www.cirp.org/news/canadacom11-18-05/
}}</ref>
Third-party payment for non-therapeutic circumcision is not presently available anywhere in Canada.<refname="jamesloewen2019">James Loewen (2019). Personal communication.</ref> Parents who wish to have a son circumcised must pay out-of-pocket for the costs of the circumcision.<ref name="rediger-muller2013">{{REFjournal
|last=Rediger
|first=Chris
==Non-therapeutic circumcision and Canadian law==
Non-therapeutic circumcision of children in Canada is a practice that is of doubtful uncertain lawfulness.
The Charter of Rights and Freedoms (1982), [https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/services/how-rights-protected/guide-canadian-charter-rights-freedoms.html#a2e Article 7] provides every Canadian with the right to security of the person.
In addition, Canada is a state-party to the United Nations ''Covenant on Civil and Political Rights'' (1966) and the ''Convention on the Rights of the Child'' (1989), both of which provide various [[human rights ]] to children, which are violated by non-therapeutic child circumcision.
Several decisions of the Supreme Court of Canada call consent for non-therapeutic circumcision of a child in question, but no case so far has ruled on the matter of circumcision.
Suzanne Bouclin (2005) has examined the issues and concluded:
<blockquote>
Where a parent or substitute decision maker has deemed that it is in the child’s best interest to undergo a treatment, there may be some conflict between that privilege and the fundamental right to security of the person protected under Section 7 of the Charter. Because the State’s power to intervene is broad and can be permanent, parental decision making has been protected under the Charter. Nevertheless, the Court has determined that parents’ rights are not absolute and that the State will intervene when necessity is demonstrated.
Section 7 of the Charter provides everyone with a certain degree of autonomy in decisions concerning their private lives, including those concerning medical treatment. The protection of the security of the person is so fundamental that medical treatment administered without a patient’s informed consent may amount to battery. In the context of circumcision, if a medical practitioner performs routine neonatal circumcision without an infant’s parental consent, that practitioner may be liable for criminal assault as well as for damages for any harm that resulted from her or his negligence (Somerville, 2000).
Given that a portion of the medical community has agreed that routine male circumcision is nontherapeutic and that it may be in and of itself be a harmful practice, it is arguable that when performed on neonates for nontherapeutic reasons, it amounts to a violation of the child’s Section 7 rights. As stated at the Declaration of the First International Symposium on Circumcision, “parents and/or guardians do not have the right to consent to the surgical removal or modification of their children’s normal genitalia.” The Declaration adds that the only person who may consent to medically unnecessary procedures upon herself or himself is that individual, having reached a stage in life where she or he can consent and only upon being fully informed about the risks and benefits of the procedure. Note, however, that the Declaration is not a binding legal instrument.
Public awareness is increasing, as evidenced by the numerous parents, health practitioners, children’s rights activists, ethicists, lawyers, and concerned citizens who have voiced their opinion. Insofar as male circumcision is the removal of healthy erogenous flesh without medical purpose and without the consent of the child and given that it is a painful procedure, neonatal circumcision is unnecessary and may well violate a child’s bodily integrity.<ref name="bouclin2005">{{REFjournal
|last=Bouclin
}}</ref>
At the beginning of the 21st Century, only the Manitoba Health Insurance Plan (HIP) still paid for non-therapeutic circumcision, however that was ended in 2006.
The Public Health Agency of Canada carried out a survey of mother' birth experiences in 2006-7. Item 38 was male infant non-therapeutic circumcision.(See pages 224-5.)
}}</ref>
As of 2019, third-party payment for circumcision is not available in Canada. Moreover, non-therapeutic circumcision is not done in hospitals,<ref name="loewen2019jamesloewen2019">[[James Loewen (2019). Personal communication.</ref> so parents who want to have a boy circumcised must take the boy to the surgery of a practitioner who specializes in non-therapeutic male circumcision, and furthermore must pay out of pocket.
The prevalence of circumcision is high among older males, but low among younger males. As older mostly circumcised males die and are replaced by younger, mostly intact males, the prevalence of circumcision in Canada is gradually declining.