WARNING: SUICIDE
This article contains mention of suicide If you or someone you know is struggling with their mental health, contact the Mental Health Crisis Line: 613-722-6914 (within Ottawa) and 1-866-996-0991 (outside Ottawa), the Ottawa Distress Centre Crisis Line: 613-238-3311, or the Youth Services Bureau 24/7 Crisis Line: 613-260-2360 or 1-877-377-7775 (toll).
Last September, transgender activists from six local advocacy groups joined forces to issue a series of demands to the City of Ottawa.
Citing the appearance of transphobic stickers and posters around the city last March as evidence of growing anti-trans sentiments, activists called for Ottawa to denounce anti-trans hate and create bureaus to ensure LGBTQ+ communities a permanent place in municipal politics.
Since those calls were made, threats to trans rights have only worsened. New laws in Florida, Texas and Alabama have targeted the rights of gay and trans residents. Closer to home, Halton and Ottawa school boards have faced anti-LGBTQ+ demonstrations, and an Ottawa coffee shop that had a pride flag in one window was vandalized.
Nearly seven months later, those calls remain unanswered.
“Sometimes trans activism can very much feel like screaming into a void,” Jaime Sadgrove, former trans and non-binary inclusion coordinator at Carleton University, said.
The calls did lead to the city publicly supporting Bill 17, the Gender Affirming Health Care Advisory Committee Act, which was created to establish a provincial advisory committee on gender-affirming care and is currently still under review. However, no substantive action has been taken on the calls to action themselves, including a denouncement of anti-trans hate.
“Our biggest issue in Ottawa is just getting on the agenda,” said Fae Johnstone, a transgender woman and activist.
Both Johnstone and Sadgrove were among those who drafted the calls to the city in September.
“The province and the city … have not at any point prioritized queer and trans services, or queer and trans issues,” Johnstone said.
Striving to carve out community
Ottawa is home to many organizations dedicated to supporting LGBTQ+ individuals, but some of these groups are struggling to survive due to a lack of municipal funding.
Kind Space, an organization that provides queer and trans youth with safe spaces, events and resources, opened a GoFundMe page in November 2021 in order to continue providing its services.
“The organizations that queer and trans folks are most likely to feel safe accessing are desperately working to just keep themselves afloat,” Johnstone said.
To increase funding for these services, some activists are calling for the city to re-allocate money from the police budge.
“Police don’t keep our communities safe,” Sadgrove said. “The [“Freedom Convoy”] has [shown] that the Ottawa Police Service is not equipped to do that.”
This year’s city budget includes $346.5 million dedicated to the Ottawa Police Services (OPS), an increase of $14 million from 2021. The budget for community funding, which goes toward supporting organizations such as Kind Space, is only $27 million. The $1.8 million increase to this budget from 2021 represents the largest increase since 2006.
“All of those organizations and services are sharing the same tiny pot of money in a city that’s overspending on policing and not seeing results for it,” Ariel Troster, a candidate for councillor of Somerset Ward in this year’s municipal election, said.
“It’s all about money,” Troster said. “Who you fund and what you fund shows what your city’s priorities are.”
Troster’s views are largely shared by Catherine McKenney, current councillor of Somerset Ward, transgender advocate and 2022 mayoral candidate. McKenney, who identifies as non-binary, has endorsed Troster in the upcoming election and said they agree the city is overspending on police.
“[Police are] not equipped to deal with issues of mental health and social services,” McKenney said. “It’s grossly unfair that you’ve got organizations like Kind Space … that are all struggling and kind of fighting for the same small dollar.”
Health care
Underfunded community services are not the only issue facing Ottawa’s trans community. The city’s community health centres, some of which offer a variety of trans health services, face similar problems.
“We have huge degrees of health crises in our communities, but queer and trans issues are still very rarely factored into health planning and health policy,” Johnstone said.
While Ontario’s trans community faces unmet healthcare needs and under-employment, existing services remain difficult to access.
An example of this is the two-year waitlist at the Centretown Community Health Centre’s trans health clinic.
Even if a patient makes it through the waitlist, Sadgrove said the barriers they face don’t stop there. They said once a trans person is finally able to enter the medical system, they often encounter doctors and psychiatrists with minimal experience treating LGBTQ+ people.
“I’ve gone to see a therapist and I’ve spent 20 minutes of my 45-minute session doing kind of ‘Trans 101,’” Sadgrove said.
Sadgrove and Johnstone said they have advocated for the widespread availability of competency training with LGBTQ+ patients to health practitioners.
Additionally, gender-affirming care is not insured by the provincial government, meaning trans people like Sadgrove have to pay out of pocket for what can be a subpar experience.
Health care is primarily the responsibility of the province. Community health centres are not created or funded by the city. Still, Johnstone said the city could make these services more accessible. She has advocated for the creation of a “queer and trans health hub,” bringing together physical and mental health services and resources in one building—an idea supported by McKenney.
“[There are] massive gaps in access to safe and inclusive service,” McKenney said. “There does need to be that hub, a system for trans health and trans wellness, and we just really don’t have that.”
Harassment
On top of underfunded services, trans communities across Ontario are continually faced with public harassment.
“In this city, the capital of one of the most wealthy countries in the world, a significant portion of the population is scared to leave their house because of years of discrimination,” Johnstone said.
Alongside nearly 70 per cent of transgender Ontarians reporting experiences of verbal harassment in 2020, Ottawa has also seen a recent rise in hate crimes, according to the Ottawa Police Service Hate and Bias Crime Unit. Last year, there was a 43.6 per cent increase in hate crimes from 2020, following a 56 per cent increase from 2019. The police reported LGBTQ+ groups among those most victimized by these crimes.
“I worry that there could be a moving of the needle away from the direction of progress we’ve been going in,” Sadgrove said. “The way that it takes root is when it’s kind of allowed to fester and grow unchecked.”
With growing attacks on trans rights abroad, activists are more committed than ever to eliminate the spread of hate in Canada.
“Every time it rears its head, stomp it down harder than anyone would ever believe possible,” Johnstone said. “I want our mayor and I want our city council to publicly and aggressively condemn anti-LGBTQ+ violence because otherwise, their silence is violence.”
According to McKenney, hate can be addressed by strengthening community bonds and support systems.
“In the end, you’re as strong as the community around you,” they said. “I think it does go back to funding and making sure that we’ve got systems and programs in place for people who identify with the LGBTQ+ community.”
The upcoming municipal elections could also mean change, according to Johnstone, who is hopeful that McKenney could make a difference simply by being elected as mayor.
“Having a non-binary mayor, who all of council has to refer to with the correct pronouns, who all of our media has to refer to with the correct pronouns—that in and of itself has an impact on what is tolerated public discourse,” Johnstone said. “I’m smiling just thinking about it.”
Featured graphic by Angel Xing.
