Honouring the legacy of two-spirit and transgender people, fighting for a better future
On November 20th, for Two-Spirit and Transgender Day of Remembrance, the Inner City Student Council in collaboration with the Inner City Social Work faculty and staff partnered with the Clan Mother’s Healing Village to come together and honour the lives lost due to anti-transgender violence.
Elder Mae Louise Campbell, Jamie Goulet, and Debra Diubaldo from the Clan Mother’s Healing Village led ceremony while staff, students, and community members from Mount Carmel Clinic shared stories of remembrance, violence, and the need for change.
“We have a responsibility in social work to advocate for policies and practices, both within the university and beyond, that allow two-spirit, trans and gender diverse folks to thrive,” says Dr. Christine Mayor (she/her), assistant professor, Faculty of Social Work.
Given the rise of anti-trans rhetoric and violence, this day is also a call to action for all cisgender people to work in solidarity to dismantle cisgenderism, colonialism, sexism, racism, poverty, and other systems of oppression that continue to disproportionately impact racialized trans, two-spirit, and gender diverse peoples. This work is needed both within and outside of the Faculty of Social Work.
Two-Spirit and Transgender Day of Remembrance is an annual observance on November 20th that honours the memory of transgender, two-spirit, and gender diverse people whose lives were lost due to anti-transgender violence. It was founded in 1999 by Gwendolyn Ann Smith to memorialize the murder of Rita Hester.