Hello Everyone!
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Here at Queer Ontario, we always have a number of important projects and initiatives on the go, but not always the time, skills or knowledge to get them done. So here’s your chance to get involved with us and to put your mark on one of our key projects!
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Below you will find a list of projects that involve some info-gathering, policy work, critical analysis, and report writing that will help us get the ball rolling around the Provincial Election, proposed Federal Government initiatives, and the establishment of LGBTQ Addiction & Mental Health services across Ontario. These projects can be done from anywhere in Ontario.
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If you are interested in getting involved with any of these projects or if you have any questions, please contact Alana, our Research & Education Chair, at
alana.boltwood[at]gmail.com.
.We hope to hear back from many of you soon!
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The Research and Education Committee
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Queer Ontario is fundamentally opposed to the regulatory changes to the bawdyhouse laws that were secretly passed by the Conservative government on July 13, 2010, and the undemocratic process that was used to pass them.
By designating bawdyhouses as ‘criminal organizations’ and by designating their operation as a ‘serious offence’ under the law, the Harper government has once again demonstrated that it is incapable of passing provisions that are publicly accountable. In advancing their tough-on-crime agenda above any nuanced understanding of organized crime in Canada; above any consideration for the lived realities of sex professionals; and above polls demonstrating the statistical drop in crime and the low priority crime-fighting has among Canadians, the Conservative government has made yet another unwarranted decision. Unfortunately, these measures are only exacerbated by the fact that the regulation was passed behind closed doors, without any opportunity for informed debate from either fellow MPs or the stakeholders who were to be affected by these amendments.
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Toronto: Queer Ontario strongly supports the inclusion of the terms “gender identity” and “gender expression” in human rights legislation as tabled in private members bills brought forth by NDP MP Bill Siksay at the federal level and NDP MPP Cheri DiNovo at the provincial level in Ontario. The extension of human rights protections to Canadians who do not base their gender identity or expression solely on their innate biological gender is long overdue, given they are one of the most disenfranchised and oppressed populations in the country.
Queer Ontario urges that all MPs support Siksay’s Bill-389 that would include “gender identity” and “gender expression” in both the Canadian Human Rights Act and Hate Crimes Provisions. Similarly, Queer Ontario calls upon all MPPs in the Ontario provincial legislature to support DeNovo’s private member’s bill known as Toby’s Act that would include “gender identity” as an enumerated ground in the Ontario Human Rights Code. Queer Ontario also urges organizations and residents across Ontario and Canada to support these legislative amendments to prectect trans people from harassment and discrimination.
Read more…