2SLGBTQIA+ History and Identities in Canada

Around 2012, we decided to start some family groups, one for parents of trans youth and one for the trans youth themselves. And this group was one of the first in Ottawa to provide a safe space for these people, these children and these parents. And because of that, those same groups now have hundreds of families with them.

We got assistance on this project from Family Services of Ottawa and CHEO’s Gender Identity Clinic. By about 2014, we had a workshop going about gender diversity. It was geared towards anyone especially… we’ve repeatedly presented it to early childhood educators, forming that basis for support that could save children later on in life.

From there, we began growing our audience. We began growing our network of supporters and allies. We were impacting so many people positively through this work and we decided to expand further on that.

– Mr. Garrison seconded by Mr. Comartin moves for leave to introduce the bill entitled An Act to amend the Criminal Code, sorry an Act to amend the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code, gender identity and gender expression. This motion is deemed adopted. The Honourable member for Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca. – Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There is an urgent need for this legislation to help end the discrimination, social exclusion and, all too often, violence that face transgender Canadians. I hope to work with members from all parties to ensure that this important bill becomes law. –

By 2014-2015, a bill called Bill C-279, was introduced under the Conservative government. And it was a bill that would have protected the rights of people like me. It would protect us from hate propaganda, hate speech and discrimination in workplaces, hospitals, housing markets. It would protect us from genital checks and various forms of discrimination involving bathrooms. Unfortunately, there was a bill added to it by an unappointed senator that would defeat the entire purpose of the bill. And that amendment would have made people like me go into the bathroom of our assigned gender at birth. So for me, that would mean it would force me to enter a male’s bathroom and put myself at risk of hate crimes.

I was 10 years old and I just wanted to express myself authentically and as I was. So that’s part of what inspired us to start this protest, to start this act. We called it Occupotty in honor of the Occupy movement that happened between 2011 and 2012. Sort of a tongue-in-cheek reference to it, and we brought toilet seats, signs, and a microphone up to Parliament Hill. We sang a parody of a Beatles song called Let Us Pee. It also included my first public speech where I spoke about fearmongering, trans rights. We had some close family members, some activists, and some members of Parliament there as well, like Senator Grant Mitchell.

Unfortunately, the bill died on the order table. Because of our protest and our connections with various MPs, we were one of the 60 invitees to a conversation about the bill in, I believe, May of 2016. I was the only 10-year-old to attend, which was definitely an oddity. Despite this, despite my age, Jody Wilson-Raybould still listened. She still listened to what I had to say. She made me feel like I was heard, unlike many adults at the time.

After that, I was… our entire family was reinvited to the tabling of Bill C-16. I believe it was right in front of the House of Commons, and Jody Wilson-Raybould came up to the podium to speak.

– We believe this legislation would ensure that everyone can live according to their gender identity and express their gender as they choose, because Canada is only made stronger through inclusiveness. And as young Charlie who is somewhere behind me… –

I decided to walk up through the crowd of people and there I was, right next to her in front of the podium, with tens of cameras and lights flashing at me, and I asked if I could speak for a brief moment and she was kind enough to let me. This will provide hope in our future and it will improve our future so that we can live a more accepting, a more joyful life in the future. That was my first really big speaking role within the community. I was really able to talk about what I was feeling and get it out there and have it heard in front of the entire province, maybe even the country. That was sort of the start of this activism journey.

Since then, I was invited to be the youngest Grand Marshall of 2016’s Pride Parade. I had people walking up to me saying that I inspired them to have a voice and to speak out against this sort of stuff. That feeling of being the inspiration of somebody, making a change in the world was just absolutely incredible.