NDP statement on the Trans Day of Remembrance

NDP Critic for LGBTQ issues, Randall Garrison (Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke, issued the following statement:

On November 20, Canadians mark the annual Trans Day of Remembrance, a day started in 1998 to highlight violence that faces Transgender and gender diverse people. On this day we memorialize the more than 86 lives of Trans people that were senselessly lost to transphobia and hate this year. We also pause to recognize the thousands of other incidents of violence and transphobia that trans people face in their daily lives.

On this Trans Day of Remembrance many of us will ask how such violence and discrimination can still be the reality for so many people. But today we must also ask what is being done to make things better.

Although long overdue, I’m proud of the work we’ve done to get Bill C-16 passed through the House of Commons on Friday. This legislation is the first step in a process to ensure the full rights and protections of transgender and gender diverse Canadians.

New Democrats stands in solidarity with the trans community on this Trans Day of Remembrance.