COVID-19 has caused tremendous disruption and racial, gender, and sexual orientation inequities have intensified. COVID-19’s differential impact based on race has been demonstrated in the United States, yet Canada’s inability to track racial and other healthcare disparity data has been widely shown. Many women have struggled to adapt to managing work and child-care simultaneously from home, or have been unable to flee domestic violence due to lockdown restrictions. Calls for reforms to combat racist policing, have also intensified following police-involved deaths of George Floyd and others in the United States and deaths of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (“BIPOC”) Canadians, including Regis Korchinski-Paquet, D’Andre Campbell, Ejaz Choudry, Julian Jones, Chantel Moore, James Williams, and recently a Black trans woman in Toronto known as Coco.

In response to these developments, the BC Police Act is undergoing a review, there has been a report commissioned on better disaggregated data collection to illuminate systemic inequalities from the Office of the BC Human Rights Commission, and a second report was commissioned on anti-Indigenous racism in BC healthcare.

Within this context, where understanding on intersectional barriers involving race, gender, and sexual orientation are lacking, SOGIC is planning three upcoming webinars:

March 30 Join us for a discussion with West Coast LEAF about its decision to expand its mandate to focus on all people who experience gender-based marginalization, and about the research, findings, and recommendations of the BC Gender Equality Report Card with respect to trans, Two-Spirit, non-binary, and gender non-conforming people;

May-TBD with Aboriginal Lawyers Forum — Discussion of the intersection between Indigenous and LGBTQ2SI+ identities — including two-spirit 101, practice tips on respect and inclusion of Indigenous LGBTQ2SI+ clients, and a summary of National Inquiry Into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls findings; and

June-TBD with Constitutional Law/Civil Liberties — The intersections between BIPOC and LGBTQ2SI+ identities in policing.