The International Transgender Day of Visibility is Tuesday, March 31, 2026
Ottawa, 25 March 2026: Many Canadians support and are allies to trans people. Approximately 75% of Canadians agree that transgender people should be protected from discrimination in areas such as employment, housing, and access to businesses (source). However, that support has decreased from 78% in 2023.
Women’s Shelters Canada joins other organizations, individual women, feminist leaders, and allies from across Canada in launching Not In Our Name: Women for Trans Rights, a national campaign rejecting efforts to use women’s equality as cover for attacks on trans people.
Transphobia continues to be a significant issue that leads to direct harm. Discrimination against transgender people causes severe disparities in mental health, physical safety, and economic stability. It leads to higher rates of suicide, depression, anxiety, and PTSD, along with increased homelessness and employment loss. 59% of transgender and gender-diverse people experience violent victimization compared to 37% of cisgender people (source). Data from 2019–2021 indicates that transgender and non-binary people in Canada are more than twice as likely to experience violent incidents and online harassment compared to cisgender individuals (source, source). Many face violence and limited access to healthcare — simply for being their true selves.
The message is clear: trans rights and women’s rights are not in conflict, and attempts to pit them against one another must be rejected. Respecting trans rights does not take anything away from cisgender women. Rights are not limited resources. Ensuring that trans people can live safely, access services, and participate fully in society strengthens the same principles of dignity, safety, and equality that benefit all women. Efforts to exclude trans people do not protect women’s rights; they create more division and cause real harm to people who already face high levels of discrimination and violence. A society that upholds the rights of trans people is one that is more fair, more inclusive, and safer for everyone.
Anchoring the campaign is an open letter (womenfortransrights.ca) already endorsed by over 30 feminist and women’s equality organizations. The letter rejects the false and increasingly common narrative that trans people are a threat to women and girls, and calls instead for visible solidarity between women, girls, and trans communities at a time of rising hostility and political scapegoating.
“The women’s shelter sector grew out of a feminist desire to address the impact of violence on all women,” said Anuradha Dugal, Executive Director of Women’s Shelters Canada. “Women’s rights should never be weaponized against trans people. Gender justice cannot be built through exclusion. It has to be built through solidarity.”
Anti-trans rhetoric has become an increasingly visible part of public debate in Canada, often framed through claims about women’s safety and equality. Not In Our Name directly challenges that framing, arguing that it intentionally misidentifies the source of harm and redirects attention away from the systems and power structures that continue to drive gender-based violence, discrimination, and inequality.
“At a moment when anti-trans politics are being dressed up as concern for women, it is critical to say plainly that this does not speak for us,” said Emilie Coyle, Co-Executive Director of the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies. “Trans people are not the reason women face violence, inequality, or insecurity. This campaign is about rejecting that lie and refusing politics that tries to divide people who should be standing together.”
About the Campaign
Not In Our Name: Women for Trans Rights is a national campaign rejecting attacks on trans rights carried out in the name of women and girls. The campaign seeks to build visible solidarity between women, girls, and trans communities, while refocusing public attention on the systems and structures that continue to drive gender-based inequality, violence, and discrimination.
The Canadian campaign builds on a sister initiative launched in the United Kingdom, where cisgender women came together to reject anti-trans organizing carried out in the name of women’s rights. Organizers in Canada received permission to adapt the initiative here in response to similar narratives taking hold domestically.
Organizers are calling on individuals and organizations across Canada to join the campaign by signing the open letter, sharing campaign materials, and helping amplify the message in the lead-up to Trans Day of Visibility.
Learn more at www.WomenForTransRights.ca
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For media enquiries, contact:
Kaitlin Geiger-Bardswich, Director of Communications and Advocacy
kbardswich@endvaw.ca
OR
Fae Johnstone, Executive Director at Queer Momentum
fae@momentumcanada.net
Women’s Shelters Canada brings together 16 provincial and territorial shelter organizations and supports the over 600 shelters across the country for women and children fleeing violence. If you or someone you know is experiencing violence, you can find your nearest women’s shelter and its crisis line on www.sheltersafe.ca.