Canadian transgender and transsexual (trans) workers experience harassment and discrimination in all areas of life. This backgrounder focuses on two major areas: employment and health care.
It presents trans workers’ top employment and health care concerns and how CUPE has tackled those.
This paper draws from the work of Line Chamberland, Homophobia Research Chair and professor in sexual and gender diversity studies at the Université du Québec à Montréal.
It is also based substantially on the personal experiences of three CUPE trans activists: Audrey Gauthier, Deidra Roberts and Martine Stonehouse. Audrey, Deidra and Martine are members on the CUPE National Pink Triangle Committee. We thank them for sharing their stories, and we acknowledge the work of other CUPE trans activists who have blazed the trans rights trail.