Canada is no safe haven for trans and non-binary people who simply want to live their lives openly and without fear, but the non-profit and charitable sector rarely discusses how to end anti-trans hatred — both in the sector and in communities.

Every Canadian province and territory now has human rights laws that prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identity and expression. However, trans Canadians, according to Statistics Canada, are more likely than cisgender Canadians to experience street harassment, be the victims of violence, or receive unwanted comments about their appearance at work. Other research points to a much higher poverty and homelessness rate compared to cisgender Canadians, as well as poorer mental health, higher drug use, and a much higher risk of suicide.

All of these issues, to some degree, are rooted in anti-trans hatred – and while news of Texas’s attorney general calling gender-affirming care “child abuse” or Idaho’s recently scuttled attempt to criminalize gender-affirming care may dominate public attention, Canada can also be a very hostile place to live as a trans or nonbinary person. “We are seeing more and more active anti-trans groups here in Canada that have joined hands with the far-right and with populist and white supremacist movements in this country,” said Fae Johnstone, executive director of Wisdom2Action, during a recent panel on resisting anti-trans hate in Canada.

Johnstone, along with four other trans organizers, activists, and executive directors, spoke about how anti-trans hatred manifests itself in Canada as not only hurtful comments, but also seemingly innocent columns in major publications that question whether trans people should be allowed to enter the bathroom of their choice, participate on the team of their choice, or simply access the medical care they deserve. As panelist Niko Stratis, a freelancer writer who has consulted on trans issues, eloquently explained: “We’ve been demonized for so long that we still just exist as questions.”

During the virtual panel – sponsored by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) National, a union representing public sector workers – all five participants laid out an extensive roadmap for how to carve out space for trans and nonbinary Canadians, and how the non-profit and charitable sectors should take part:

Quit it with project-only funding for trans-serving organizations

Florence Ashley, a transfeminine jurist, bioethicist, and writer based in Toronto, says governments need to stop giving project-based funding only to organizations serving trans clients – and while they didn’t mention philanthropic organizations, the same issues apply. One of Ashley’s friends recently told them they spent a third of their time just writing grant applications to secure funding.

“It’s just ridiculous,” Ashley told the panel. “How are people supposed to do support work when they’re constantly doing grant work, but also constantly having to shape-shift to fit grants because they have to make everything slightly different each time around – because it’s project funding?” They believe the precarious nature of non-profit funding – for trans-serving organizations and others – is done deliberately to ensure governments have a degree of power over the sector.

Giving trans-serving organizations a steady stream of funding will allow them to care for clients without having to constantly worry about whether those organizations will be able to do so long-term. The issue isn’t confined to trans-serving organizations specifically (nearly all community service organizations struggle with project funding, too), but trans Canadians are among the most vulnerable populations in the country, and desperately require stable, long-term support services.

Explicitly reject transphobia at every level

All non-profits and charities, at an organizational level, need to make the rejection of transphobia crystal clear to anyone who works for them or relies on their services. “There can’t be any doubt,” Ashley explains, “because transphobes rely on this idea of the ‘silent majority’ to promote their views. You need to nip that in the bud and cannot leave anything thinking that they have this shared view with everyone.”

One example of how to handle transphobia played out in the virtual panel’s comment section. One commenter wrote, in response to messages about dealing with transphobic colleagues, a post that asked rhetorically what punishments panel attendees would suggest “for women who don’t consent to sharing intimate space with men identifying as women, or who refuse to use neopronouns when demanded.” (The language suggests trans women aren’t real women, that requests to use particular pronouns are unreasonable demands, and that a person’s preferred pronouns aren’t legitimate.)

After being flagged by a second commenter, Johnstone did exactly what she promised viewers she would do at the beginning of the panel if any transphobia appeared in the chat. She instantly banned the commenter – no explanation, no second chances. 

Serve trans Canadians outside major cities

Trans Canadians live and depend on services in major cities like Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal. But they don’t live exclusively in those cities, and services for trans people in rural areas are few and far between. (Trans-serving organizations do exist in smaller cities, like St. John’s, NL, or Saskatoon, SK.) 

When Stratis recently drove from Toronto to visit her family in the Yukon, she found herself driving through rural areas filled with People’s Party of Canada signs – an unnerving experience given the party’s hatred of trans people. As a trans person, Stratis told the panel, “It is unsafe to get out of your vehicle and pump gas in most parts of the country.”

As Johnstone pointed out, the presence of trans people in public is often contested, even in major cities. She lives in downtown Ottawa and still finds herself facing street harassment on a regular basis. Trans liberation, in her view, is mainly about the ability of trans people to walk around in whatever community they happen to live in. “I often say that I will measure success when I am able to go to the convenience store without being worried,” Johnstone told the panel.

The result of thinking that trans people only exist in major urban centres means many folks needing services could be left out – not just clients, but also organizations. “That’s really, really important in terms of places where there are more resources and foundations who are giving funds,” said Jade Byard Peek, a trans woman, community advocate, and currently director of operations at Kind Space, an Ottawa-based social services organization focused on providing education, peer support, and advocacy to clients regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity.  

Give all trans people the megaphone

Better representation of the trans community is badly needed in Canada, especially in the media. Transphobic opinion columns routinely appear in the pages of the country’s national newspapers and magazines. In recent years, they’ve included concerns about the idea of giving trans children hormones (medical risks are very, very low), that trans people in prison could be a danger to other incarcerated people (the reverse is true, statistically), or that trans athletes have an unfair advantage over their cis-gender competitors (sporting competitions have accommodated trans athletes for years).

The trans community – like every other community – is not a monolith, but Stratis said a lot of organizations will bring in one trans person to act as a consultant and then believe their work is done. She says organizations need to stop exclusively bringing in white trans people, transmasculine people, or trans people who aren’t disabled to consult for them. “Otherwise, you’re really only seeing what a small percentage of a small percentage needs – and you’re not getting the full picture,” Stratis says. Organizations should also prepare for consultations to be a long-term commitment, Stratis said, rather than a one-and-done initiative. 

Get involved in civic life

Trans representation everywhere in Canadian society is very important for Byard Peek, but she said cisgender allies of trans and nonbinary people can play a role, too. One easy way is by participating in civic spaces like municipal councils or school boards (or even social media) – places where trans people need to be seen but often face hateful vitriol.

Addressing anti-trans hatred as a non-profit or charity, she says, ultimately starts with what the individuals in that organization decide to do about it. Leaders, especially, must learn to engage with their own bias and ask themselves some tough questions: how they may be doing something wrong (and do better) without turning it into self-loathing or pity. “If you can’t ask yourself those questions, then it’s going to be very hard if you want to be in a position of power and leverage that in order to combat anti-trans hatred,” Byard Peek says. “You really got to start with yourself.”

That doesn’t mean fighting anti-trans hatred requires long and articulate public statements on social media, especially in response to anti-trans vitriol in replies and comment sections. Dalia Tourki, an advocate and educator on trans issues and a McGill University law student, says sometimes just saying you support trans people is enough. “Just writing that ‘I support trans people and support them living in dignity and respect’ – that could mean a lot to a person who is trans and reading the comments section,” Tourki told the panel.

Connect trans rights to other social causes

Many non-profits and charities likely don’t serve trans clients primarily, and may not see trans rights as central to their mission, but Ashley said it is important to show how organizations with very different clienteles and viewpoints may find common ground in fighting anti-trans hate. The violence trans people face doesn’t just include street harassment – it also means alarmingly high unemployment, suicide, and poverty rates.

These are all issues social purpose organizations, even those completely unfamiliar with trans rights, tackle every single day. And there are often parallels between anti-trans hatred and racist or sexist hatred, too. Ashley drew similarities between white supremacist rhetoric calling for racist policies as a way to “secure the future for white children” and the rhetoric of an Idaho lawmaker around banning access to gender-affirming care for trans children. Many organizations in Canada are explicitly anti-racist, and it wouldn’t be much of a stretch for them to extent their views to include opposition to anti-trans hatred.

Building bridges between organizations who understand anti-trans hate and those who are willing to take action against this hatred could be a crucial step towards ending it. “There is a lot of potential for coalitions and full solidarity-building across groups,” Ashley explained. “Making these links is really important in terms of establishing these networks of solidarity.” 

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