‘Death Before Detransition’: Trans Americans seek safety in Canada
Anti-trans political repression in Trump’s U.S. is pushing individuals over the edge, and over the border North
By: Ophélie Dénommée-Marchand
While in Florida, Michael lived in fear of Trump’s increasingly frightening anti-trans policies. The 20-year-old trans man, whose name has been changed to protect his identity, knew he needed to escape.
“Florida was always scary to be trans in. I did experience a lot of discrimination… someone I thought was a friend said that ‘all trans should be rounded up and killed.’”
“When Trump won the election, me and two friends realized we needed to get out. My parents were not supportive of this, but I just want to feel safe. So, I made sure I got to Canada before the inauguration.” He understands when people say they would rather no longer be alive than be forced back into the closet. “The ‘death before detransition’ slogan resonates with me because if I can’t live as myself, what’s the point of living?”
Michael is just one of an increasing numbers of trans Americans attempting to escape Donald Trump’s repression by crossing the border to Canada. We speak to a clandestine trans network working to find underground pathways, a trans man who has already fled, as well as politicians and lawyers trying to welcome asylum-seekers to Canada.
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‘The bylaw is not necessary. End of story’: Toronto activists and one city councillor react to new anti-protest law
Enforcing ‘bubble zones’ in the city is a clear violation of Charter rights, experts say
By: Sophia de Guzman Rivadeiro
Some of Toronto’s veteran activists are decrying the city’s new “bubble zone” anti-protest law, and the “disappointing” vote from stalwart NDP leader Mayor Olivia Chow.
Last week Toronto’s city council voted to pass the controversial law, restricting demonstrations around places of worship, faith-based schools and cultural institutions, that “appears to fly in the face of legal advice.”
“It’s a reaction to protests against the genocide happening in Gaza,” said Toronto city councillor Gord Perks.
“Every moment of freedom that we enjoy in Toronto and Canada was fought for and won and is defended by public protest. Efforts to constrain public protest put our fundamental freedoms at risk,” he said.
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Brandi Morin in Ecuador: Science and tradition unite to fight a giant copper mine
Solaris Resources was a Canadian company until a few months ago. Its project now threatens not only the environment, but the cultural survival of the Shuar people
By: Brandi Morin
Over the past six months, Indigenous journalist Brandi Morin has travelled repeatedly to Ecuador, reporting on the impact of Canadian mining projects on the Indigenous Peoples who live there. In February, she spent time with the Shuar people, whose ancestral territory is threatened by a copper mining project.
Their pristine territory covering 8,500 hectares, and home to 430 people, has sustained their ancestors for millennia. Today, however, it faces an existential threat from Solaris Resources, a multinational mining company based, until a few months ago, in Vancouver. Solaris is eager to extract copper from beneath the soil that the Shuar consider sacred.
In the eastern shadows of Ecuador’s Andes mountains, where the dense Amazon rainforest begins its sprawl toward the horizon, the Maikuaints Shuar stand at a crossroads of survival.Their pristine territory covering 8,500 hectares, and home to 430 people, has sustained their ancestors for millennia. Today, however, it faces an existential threat from Solaris Resources, a multinational mining company based, until a few months ago, in Vancouver. Solaris is eager to extract copper from beneath the soil that the Shuar consider sacred.
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“What, materially, do Conservatives have to offer workers?” host Adrian Harewood asks Conservative analyst Sean Speer in the latest episode of In Bed with the Elephant. What is the future of Canadian Conservatism?
Sean is an editor at The Hub, a Conservative-leaning news and commentary website that he helped found in 2021, and a senior fellow at University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. During the Stephen Harper government, he was a senior policy advisor on financial matters, then director of policy for Conservative Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, and later he worked at the rightwing think tank the Fraser Institute.
Sean and Adrian unpack the election and discuss how this version of the Conservative party successfully appealed to NDP voters. “There will be a limit,” Sean warned, when it comes to party policy that meets the needs of working class people.
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Behind-the-scenes of Brandi in Ecuador.
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As you know, Indigenous journalist Brandi Morin has travelled repeatedly to Ecuador, investigating Canadian mining activities and the impact on the Indigenous Peoples who live there. In her latest, she spends time with the Shuar people, whose ancestral territory is threatened by a copper mining project. It is just one of many projects. In fact, at least 70 per cent of the world’s mining companies are headquartered in Canada.
Support Brandi’s critical journalism. Sign up as a monthly contributor today.
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