“The complete ban on so-called conversion therapies has received Royal Assent [from Queen Elizabeth II],” said David Lametti, Canada’s justice minister. “This is a victory for Canada . . . This is what making history feels like.”

According to the legislation, those who engage in “a practice, treatment or service designed to change a person’s sexual orientation to heterosexual; change a person’s gender identity to cisgender; change a person’s gender expression so that it conforms to the sex assigned to the person at birth; [or] repress or reduce non-heterosexual attraction or sexual behaviour” face up to five years in prison.

The legislation also adds the phrase “advertisement for conversion therapy” to criminal statutes that address obscenity and child pornography.