Supporting Gender-Diverse Survivors

Exploring Current Approaches to Trauma Support for
Trans, Two-Spirit, and Nonbinary People
Who Have Experienced Violence

Mattie Walker

Thursday, January 14th, 2021
11:30AM - 12:30PM PST

Cáel Keegan

“In Praise of Bad Transgender Objects”

Adrienne Smith

"Recent Advances in Transgender Law"

Zoom Registration Required 

Adrienne Smith is a transgender human rights activist and social justice lawyer. They recently settled a BC Supreme Court case which guaranteed access to opiate replacement therapy for prisoners in BC jails. Adrienne appeared at the BC Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada where they argued about the deleterious effects of mandatory minimum sentences for women, indigenous people, and drug users. As a trade union activist, they advocate for transgender inclusion in our unions and workplaces. Adrienne volunteers at the Catherine White Holman Wellness Clinic where they give free legal advice, take on human rights cases, and notarize name change documents for trans people.

They hold a double honours BA in English Literature and Geography (2000), a Masters in Human Geography (2005) and a JD (2013) all from the University of British Columbia. They held a UBC undergraduate entrance scholarship for 4 years, and the Geography Alumni Award during their undergraduate degree. They received a University Graduate Fellowship and were named the Green College Scholar. They were called to the bar in British Columbia in 2014.

Adrienne is the recipient of the Canadian Bar Association BC Diversity Award; the Canadian Mental Health Association BC Branch Nancy Hall Public Policy Leadership Award; the Allard Law Alumni Achievement Award; and the Vancouver and District Labour Council Syd Thompson award for Award for Community Service.

The struggle for transgender recognition and rights in Canada is an evolving area of law. In this short zoom presentation, Adrienne Smith, a Vancouver Social Justice Lawyer will discuss recent legal victories for trans people, and a will discuss the issues that may be next for transgender litigants. Adrienne will begin with foundational cases about the right to access bathrooms and other gendered facilities, the right to change sex designations on government-issued ID without surgery, and the explicit recognition of gender identity and expression in provincial and federal human rights legislation. They will then give participants an update on the types of cases that have been argued since explicit recognition, and what types of cases we can expect in the future.

Chair in Transgender Studies Scholar
MA Student, Anthropology, UVIC

Lydia Toorenburgh

Nitawâhtâw

Searching for a Métis Approach to Audio-Visual Anthropology:
Cultural, Linguistic, Methodological, & Ethical Considerations

Wed., Feb. 26th, 2020
1:00-2:30 PM
UVic Cornett A317
Accessibility Information 

Decolonizing and Indigenizing the Academy has long been an important focus in Indigenous scholarship, particularly in the social sciences. From this project has come a push for each researcher to design a unique approach rooted in their own personal, familial, community, and cultural values. With this attention to values and protocol, Indigenous and non-Indigenous researchers can develop an approach that challenges the colonial thinking and practices which have so profoundly harmed Indigenous peoples around the globe. As a Cree-Métis person with mixed European ancestry, I feel a responsibility to, and a passion for, learning to work and be in the community in a good way. My thesis is an exploration toward developing my own Cree-Métis approach to audio-visual anthropology and to my academic language. Learning from the work of salient Cree-Métis filmmakers, such as Christine Welsh and Gil Cardinal, and the literature of Indigenous and audio-visual researchers, I search for a practice that speaks to my teachings and values. In addition, I discuss the importance of language and my desire to depart from the history of the words “research”, “researcher”, and “research participant”. Instead, I consider Cree words whose meanings reflect my commitment to my unique, culturally informed, anti-oppressive, decolonized approach to my work, my “participants”, and academia. All my relations!​

Dr. Chamindra Weerawardhana

"Decoloniality, Transfeminism, and Love:
The Personal as Political"

Decolonial politics are inherently interlinked to the sphere of trans politics, a reality that is often overlooked. The world we live in prefers to compartmentalise people, their lived realities and their travails. This talk seeks to go against these trends, and build a common thread between decolonial politics and priorities in Turtle Island and elsewhere, intersectional feminist imperatives and trans politics.

Dr. Chamindra Kumari Weerawardhana is a political and international affairs analyst, and a gender justice activist, working especially in the areas of inclusive reproductive justice and intersectional feminist advocacy. A Sri Lankan national, she is a Research Affiliate at the Centre for Gender, Feminisms and Sexualities at University College Dublin. She currently serves as the Secretary to the Regional Steering Committee of the Asia-Pacific Transgender Network. She also serves as Directress of Venasa, Sri Lanka’s oldest trans equality network.

ANN TRAVERS

"TRANSGENDER KIDS AND SOCIAL INEQUALITY:

SITUATING SOCIAL MOVEMENTS WITHIN
WHITE SUPREMACY, COLONIALISM AND ENFORCED POVERTY"

In recent years transgender children have gained visibility via mainstream and social media but most of the stories we hear belong to white and relatively affluent kids. Given the range of complex experiences trans kids are vulnerable to, it is crucial to situate transgender kids within broader relations of power and oppression. This lecture draws on critical theory from trans scholars of colour and allies to outline the importance of an integrated anti-oppression approach for understanding and supporting more precarious transgender kids.