What’s Current: Canadian government gives $500,000 to trans activist group to ‘track anti-trans organizing’

Canadian Heritage, the department of the Government of Canada tasked with promoting and supporting “Canadian identity and values, cultural development, and heritage,” has given $500,000 to a trans activist group to track “anti-trans organizing in Canada” and develop a “safety solution to address it.” The grant recipient, JusticeTrans, is largely funded by Women and Gender Equality Canada. They state on their website:

“JusticeTrans recognizes that Canadian law is a colonial creation that is inherently oppressive to the lives of many. Canadian law exists to uphold the colonial state’s authority and the unequitable power structures it places upon us. 

As such, the law is often used to harm Indigenous, Black, and racialized communities and to uphold systems of white supremacy and patriarchy. It also has a long history of being used as a tool for transphobia, homophobia, and sexism.“

The project being funded, “Tracking Transphobia: Identifying and countering anti-trans organizing in Canada,” aims to change “cultural norms and behaviours and to encourage decision-makers to implement new policy and practices.”

Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez recently passed Bill C-11, the Online Streaming Act, which gives the government the power to control what Canadians see online.

Meghan Murphy

Founder & Editor

Meghan Murphy is a freelance writer and journalist from Vancouver, BC. She has been podcasting and writing about feminism since 2010 and has published work in numerous national and international publications, including The Spectator, UnHerd, Quillette, the CBC, New Statesman, Vice, Al Jazeera, The Globe and Mail, and more. Meghan completed a Masters degree in the department of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies at Simon Fraser University in 2012 and is now exiled in Mexico with her very photogenic dog.