Why more involuntary care in B.C. is not the answer
Framing involuntary care as âtimely, compassionate and appropriate careâ is disingenuous when people in B.C. often struggle to access voluntary services
The detention of migrants in Canadian jails is a public health emergency
Every year, hundreds are held arbitrarily in provincial jails. The Canadian government must take action to end the jailing of migrants.
All people who live and work in Canada should have access to health care
A program to expand permanent residency for undocumented migrants (or regularization) and permanent resident status for those on temporary authorizations would effectively improve their health.
Building back equitably: 4 ways to address mental health inequities magnified by the pandemic, and ensure access to care
Responding to the mental health needs of people who are unjustly disadvantaged by the pandemic in Canada will require accurate data.
Canada needs a gender-responsive pandemic preparedness plan
COVID-19 exposed Canadaâs lack of preparedness for the secondary gendered effects of the pandemic such as violence and the loss of work and income.
If sex workers are as âvulnerableâ as the law suggests, whereâs their pandemic support?
A year ago, governments across Canada declared a state of emergency and encouraged people to shelter in place. Many workers, supported by the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB), ceased work to abide by public health guidelines for physical distancing. Sex workers, as workers, were expected to follow suit. Instead, what happened was just an extension of sex workersâ normal: exclusion from labour rights and protections.
We need to ensure universal health care includes migrant workers during and beyond COVID-19
Migrants in front-line jobs face higher chances of COVID-19 exposure and transmission yet face immense barriers to critical services and supports.
A Personal Letter from Erika Muse
My name is Erika Muse, and I spoke at the press conference introducing the Canadian federal governmentâs Bill C-8 to ban conversion therapy on March 9th, 2020. I got up, and I broke down in tears, and I said that I could not support that bill, as a survivor of conversion therapy, and as an activist who has fought to make sure conversion therapy is banned in Canada. I want to tell you why I said what I said, why I still cannot support this bill, and why I am pushing for desperately needed changes to be made to that legislation to ensure it protects trans people. Ever since I stood up and said that the bill wasnât good enough, my concerns with this legislation have gone unreported, and have largely been ignored. Many people may not have seen or…
To end conversion therapy, we must understand what it actually means: Dr. Travis Salway
This op-ed by Dr. Travis Salway first appeared in the The Globe & Mail on May 26, 2020. On Monday, Calgary City Council voted, nearly unanimously, to pass a municipal ban of advertising around conversion therapy, which the city defined as “practice, treatment, or service designed to change, repress, or discourage a personâs sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression, or to repress or reduce non-heterosexual attraction or sexual behaviour.â In doing so, Calgary joined cities such as Vancouver, Edmonton and Fort McMurray, along with provinces including Ontario and Nova Scotia, in passing legislation banning conversion therapies. The discourse at the publicly-broadcast citizen debate before the council vote was polarizing, however, with hundreds of speakers passionately arguing on either side of the issue over two days. Those opposed to the ban argued that they do not want to see their fellow…