On February 21st, Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre shared his support for banning transgender women from women’s spaces, services, and shelters. Feminist and women-serving organizations recognize that any attack on the rights of transgender people is an attack on gender equity and women’s rights.
In 2021, feminist and women-serving organizations across Canada signed a joint statement affirming that our feminism includes trans people. The consensus is clear in Canadian feminism: trans women are women, and feminists reject any attack on the rights of transgender people under the guise of “protecting women.”
“Feminist and women-serving organizations across Canada are proudly inclusive of transgender women and gender-diverse people, because we recognize our shared struggle against systemic misogyny and gender inequity,” said Kaitlin Geiger-Bardswich, Acting Executive Director of Women’s Shelters Canada. “Banning transgender women from women’s spaces, particularly shelters, will exacerbate inequality for an already-marginalized community.”
“Whether we’re talking about prisons, bathrooms, or shelters, transgender people are overwhelmingly the victims of violence, not the perpetrators,” said Emilie Coyle, Executive Director of the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies. “These attacks on transgender rights are a dangerous and opportunistic distraction from our shared efforts to build a world where no women are unsafe, unhoused or subjected to violence.”
“These comments are an affront to the rights and dignity of transgender people and come at a time of rising anti-2SLGBTQIA+ hate in Canada,” said Brea Hutchinson, Director of Operations for the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund. “As feminists, we recognize anti-queer hate as a trojan horse assault on the rights of women, girls and gender-diverse people. We urge Pierre Poilievre to retract his statements and apologize to women and trans people.”
About WSC
Women’s Shelters Canada (WSC) brings together 16 provincial and territorial shelter organizations and supports the over 600 shelters across the country for women and children fleeing violence.
About CAEFS
The Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies (CAEFS) works to address the persistent ways in which women and gender-diverse people impacted by criminalization are denied humanity and excluded from community.
About LEAF
The Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF) is a national not-for-profit that works to advance the equality rights of women, girls, trans, and non-binary people in Canada through litigation, law reform, and public legal education. Since 1985, LEAF has intervened in more than 130 cases that have helped shape the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.