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See upcoming and past educational webinars featuring women involved in advocating for women's sex-based rights. Visit the WSV YouTube Channel to see all recorded events Educational Events June 20, 2026 at 11 AM (PST) - A conversation with the LGB Courage Coalition featuring Jamie Reed & Lauren Leggieri Registration in advance is required. After registration approval, you will receive a confirmation email with a link for the webinar. The LGB Courage Coalition is an organization of lesbian, gay, and bisexual adults concerned with the current state of gender medicine for children & adolescents in the United States and Canada. At its inception, the Coalition articulated a mission: to end the use of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries for minors. They envision a world where cultural and medical approaches embrace and support gender non-conformity without resorting to irreversible medical interventions, believing many contemporary “gender-affirming” practices are rooted in regressive stereotypes. Jamie Reed is Founder and Co-Executive Director of LGB Courage Coalition and is a public whistleblower from a U.S. pediatric gender clinic. Her explosive first-person account, “I thought I was saving trans kids, now I am blowing the whistle,” published in February 2023, rapidly gained global recognition for shedding light on critical issues in youth gender medicine in the United States. A highly sought-after speaker, Jamie co-hosts Informed Dissent, a weekly podcast bringing dispatches from the gender culture wars and has been interviewed and profiled in The New York Times. As a lesbian, a mother of five and a passionate advocate for LGB issues, her work is personal and impactful. Lauren Leggieri is Co-Executive Director of LGB Courage Coalition. She is pivotal in mobilizing volunteers and orchestrating direct actions. Much of her work occurs behind the scenes, ensuring the safety and effectiveness of volunteer efforts for maximum impact. Her strategic actions have made a significant impact, notably directing protests at the 2024 Endocrine Society Conference in Boston and the 2024 American Academy of Pediatrics Conference in Orlando. She also led a crucial action at the U.S. Supreme Court during the US v Skrmetti hearing in 2024. As a lesbian woman, Lauren brings her personal identity and intellectual rigour to her unwavering advocacy. May 24, 2026 - WHERE WE ARE, WHAT WE HAVE & WHAT WE COULD BE: Prostitution Laws in Canada Trisha Baptie is a survivor of prostitution from the ages of 13 to 28. She wants to change the conversation surrounding the sex industry by directly challenging the demand for paid sex as well as addressing the intersecting and systemic issues that drive women’s and girls' vulnerability to be trafficked into prostitution, and the sex industry as a whole. In 2008, she founded EVE (formerly Exploited Voices now Educating), a group that gives survivors a voice to help create societal, legal and policy change. Recognized nationally and internationally, her work includes a TEDx talk and the National Film Board of Canada documentary Buying Sex. She was a part of the process when Canada succeeded in gaining its new prostitution laws in 2014 called the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act (PCEPA). She has made multiple written and oral submissions to the Senate and Justice subcommittees on PCEPA and is an articulate, informative and sought-after writer and presenter. Janine Benedet, K.C. is Professor of Law at the Allard School of Law, UBC. Her research focuses on legal responses to men’s sexual violence against women and girls, including sexual assault, prostitution and pornography. She is a frequent presenter at judicial education conferences and an Associate Editor of the Criminal Reports. Professor Benedet is a member of the bar of British Columbia and has appeared before trial and appellate courts as intervener counsel pro bono in a number of cases involving prostitution and sexual violence against women. She has testified regularly before the House of Commons and Senate Committees on laws relating to human trafficking and the commercial sex trade. In 2024, she received a Governor General’s Medal in Commemoration of the Person’s Case for her work promoting the equality of women and girls. Cherry Smiley (https://www.cherrysmiley.com/) is a decolonizing feminist from the Nlaka’pamux (Thompson) and Diné (Navajo) Nations. She is an irreverent yet award-winning artist, researcher, troublemaker, cat lover, and #1 theme park fan. She holds a PhD in Communication Studies from Concordia University and a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) from Simon Fraser University. She works with others in the Women's Liberation Movement to end male violence against women and girls. In 2023, Spinifex Press published her first book, Not Sacred, Not Squaws: Indigenous Feminism Redefined. She is the founder and executive director of Women’s Studies Online. She really likes to laugh at her own jokes. March 7, 2026 - Political Courage: Women’s Rights & Democracy in Europe with Faika El-Nagashi Faika El-Nagashi is a political scientist and former Member of Parliament with Austria’s Green party, with 30 years of experience in human rights advocacy. She has worked on women’s rights, migration and LGBT issues. Her work now centres on addressing ideological shifts that, in the name of inclusion, constrain women’s rights and democratic debate across Europe. She is the founder and director of the Athena Forum, a new European initiative for sex-based rights, democratic values and political courage. About Athena Forum Athena Forum is a European initiative for sex-based rights, democratic values and political courage. We work to safeguard and advance women‘s rights, children’s rights and the rights of lesbians and gay men across law, policy and civil society. We recognise sex-based rights as foundational to legal and societal protections. We insist that public policy reflect material reality and be guided by robust evidence and transparency. We affirm the right of minors to bodily integrity and protection from premature or ideologically driven medical interventions. We defend open debate and the freedom to discuss complex issues, even when uncomfortable or controversial. We interact with European institutions and advocate for clarity, accountability and respect for sex-based rights in policy and decision-making. We provide cross-sector analysis and engage the media and the public. We convene public forums across Europe, supporting democratic processes. February 27, 2026 - LESBIANS IN AUSTRALIA DENIED: A conversation with Australia’s Lesbian Action Group An Australian human rights tribunal says that lesbians in Australia cannot host events that exclude men. The Lesbian Action Group has appealed the decision. February 7, 2026 - Hague Mothers: An Exposé of the Betrayal of Mothers by The Hague Convention on Child Abduction FiLiA Hague Mothers is a global campaign to end the injustices created by The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, specifically for mothers and children who are victims of domestic abuse. October 26, 2025 - Why Sex is Crucial in Data Collection with Alice Sullivan In February 2024, Prof. Sullivan was commissioned by the UK government to conduct an independent review of data, statistics and research on sex and gender. She spoke with Women's Space Vancouver about her research, as well as about having a scheduled talk cancelled by the Canadian government. May 10, 2025 - A Conversation with Susan Smith of For Women Scotland Women's Space Vancouver interviews Susan Smith of For Women Scotland discussing the landmark ruling by UK's Supreme Court interpreting the terms "woman" and "sex" under the Equality Act 2010 to refer strictly to biological sex. The court ruled that "woman" and "sex" in the Act refer to biological sex, meaning a person's sex, and not to gender identity. April 13, 2025 - A Conversation with Helen Joyce Irish journalist Helen Joyce writes a monthly column for the Critic, and between 2005 and 2022 was a staff writer for The Economist. Prior to 2017, Joyce was blissfully unaware of the fact that some people thought the words “man” and “woman” weren’t simple descriptors of biological sex in our mammalian species. After 2017, Joyce became best known as an author. Her first book, Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality, was an immediate bestseller, named by the Times, Spectator and Observer as one of their books of 2021. It was reissued in 2023 under the title: Trans: Gender Identity and the New Battle for Women’s Rights. Many have described the book as the most powerful and readable book on this topic. Trans is a compelling, overdue argument for viewing self-ID more critically. Even those outraged by Joyce's positions would benefit from understanding them….’ (New York Times) ‘A tour de force…simply a must-read’ (Evening Standard) As well as freelance work in journalism and consultancy, Joyce works part-time with human-rights charity Sex Matters, which campaigns for clarity about the two sexes in law and in life. For those who haven’t heard Helen Joyce speak, you’re in for a treat. Helen Joyce’s talk at Genspect Conference, 2024 Richard Dawkins interviews Helen Joyce Oct 20, 2024 - A Conversation with Julie Bindel Julie Bindel is a feminist campaigner, writer, and investigative journalist. She grew up in a working-class family in a north-east England council estate and has lived in London since 1987. She is a keen broadcaster and has travelled far and wide to investigate stories which relate to misogyny. For her book The Pimping of Prostitution: Abolishing the Sex Work Myth (2017), Bindel interviewed 250 people in nearly 40 countries, visited brothels, and spoke to prostitutes, pimps and the police. Her book Feminism for Women: The Real Route to Liberation (Little Brown, 2021), explores the tsunami of misogynistic backlash that feminists have encountered this past decade and more. Her new book, Lesbians: Where Are We Now? will be released in the spring of 2025. Bindel's views have resulted in personal backlash and attacks, both online and in person. In June 2022, her talk at Aspley Library, in Nottingham, was cancelled by Nottingham City Council following protests and complaints. The talk took place outside the library instead and after Bindel took legal action, the council later apologised for their unlawful action and paid for losses incurred. Bindel is the co-founder of the law reform group Justice for Women (justiceforwomen.org.uk), a feminist organization that supports and advocates on behalf of women who have fought back against or killed violent men. She is also the founder and co-director of the Lesbian Project (thelesbianproject.co.uk). Her wit and sense of humour are intact and sharp - to be enjoyed weekly on the Lesbian Project Podcast (thelesbianprojectpod.com), co-hosted with Kathleen Stock. Bindel's new podcast series is Julie in Genderland (juliebindel.substack.com). Bindel writes for Unherd, Observer, Sunday Times, The Critic, Spectator, Telegraph, Mail on Sunday, Tortoise, Prospect, among other news outlets. To relax, she imagines a world free of male violence towards women and girls. If that doesn't work, a negroni and a browse of Netflix usually do the trick. June 9, 2024 - A Conversation with Kathleen Stock: Why feminists must protect lesbian rights Kathleen Stock is a contributing writer at Unherd, a co-director of The Lesbian Project, and the author of Material Girls: Why Reality Matters for Feminism (Little Brown 2021). Until 2021 she was a Professor of Philosophy at Sussex University. Stock has written for UK national newspapers on a range of issues, and especially on sex, gender and women's rights. In 2023, she was shortlisted for Columnist of the Year by the British Society of Magazine Editors; in 2024 for Tabloid Columnist of the Year at the Press Awards; and in 2022, she was voted World’s Top Thinker in Prospect Magazine. Stock was awarded an OBE for services to higher education in 2020. Since being hounded out of her job at Sussex University (for her belief in biology and sex), Kathleen Stock has become an internationally renowned writer and speaker. With a focus on the UK’s Lesbian Project, she will be joining Women’s Space Vancouver for a webinar on June 9th, 2024. About The Lesbian Project Led by Julie Bindel and Kathleen Stock, the Lesbian Project gives voice and influence to women whose stories are too often overlooked. The Lesbian Project works to build knowledge about lesbian lives, promote sensible and evidence-based policy and contribute to building lesbian community in the UK and internationally. A not-for-profit organization (with Martina Navratilova as founding patron), the Lesbian Project is non-partisan. June 22, 2023 - Freedom of Expression: The Impact of Gender Ideology & Woke Politics in Suppressing Open Dialogue with Meghan Murphy & Jonathan Kay RECORDING NOT AVAILABLE Meghan Murphy is a Canadian writer who founded Feminist Current in 2012, the first feminist outlet in Canada articulating a feminist critique of gender identity ideology. She has since hosted the Feminist Current podcast and launched a second podcast, The Same Drugs. You can find her writing on Substack at meghanmurphy.ca. Meghan published the first op-ed against Bill C-16 in a Canadian mainstream news outlet in 2016, criticizing Bill C-16 from a feminist stance, and testified against this legislation at the Senate in 2017. She was the first in Canada to give a talk about women's rights and trans activism in October 2018 in Kitchener, ON and the first to debate this topic with a trans activist in Canada at Mount Royal University in Calgary in 2019. According to the police, there were 700 protesters outside her speaking engagement in Toronto in 2019, where she was there to address the conflict between women's rights and gender identity legislation. She was permanently banned from Twitter in 2018 for referring to a man as 'he' and for saying that 'men are not women', and her account was restored in November 2022 after Elon Musk took the reign. She’s spoken on this issue in New Zealand, Scotland, London, Vancouver, Calgary, Ontario, Seattle, New York, and beyond. She’s been one of the most outspoken and brave women to address this issue in Canada. Jonathan Kay is a Toronto based journalist, author, editor, and speaker. He was the editor-in-chief of The Walrus, and is a senior editor of Quillette and a host of the Quillette podcast. He was previously comment pages editor, columnist, and blogger for the National Post, and continues to contribute to multiple publications in Canada and the US. His recent books include "Panics and Persecutions“ and "Magic in the Dark: One Family's Century of Adventures in the Movie Business“. In November of 2022, the court dismissed a defamation lawsuit launched against him by lawyer Richard Warman, a board member of the Canadian Anti-Hate Network (CAHN) who sued journalists Jonathan and Barbara Kay for tweets that criticized CAHN’s links to the Antifa movement in the United States. May 13, 2023 - Youth Gender Dysphoria: First Do No Harm with Dr. Bradley and Dr. Sinai About the Speakers Dr. Susan Bradley Founder of Gender Identity Clinic for Children and Adolescents at Clarke Institute of Psychiatry 1975. Dr. Joanne Sinai A Canadian psychiatrist who became interested in gender dysphoria when she began to notice increasing numbers of young adults referred to her clinic with psychiatric issues and gender dysphoria. Sinai is now one of two psychiatrists in Canada speaking up publicly about concerns regarding the gender affirming model in youth medicine. About the Talk Dr. Bradley and Dr. Sinai share their research, practice and evidence-based approach to examining issues such as: What is gender dysphoria? Does gender dysphoria create a suicide risk? Why has there been such a dramatic increase recently in the numbers of children and youth with gender dysphoria -- especially girls? What harms are being done by gender affirming care? Why is the medical profession reluctant to research this issue or apply evidence-based practice? May 13, 2023 - Learning about the Gender Dysphoria Alliance with Aaron Kimberly and Aaron Terrell RECORDING NOT AVAILABLE Gender Dysphoria Alliance (GDA) was established in 2021 by people with personal experience of Gender Dysphoria (GD). It is volunteer run, non-partisan and not for profit. The way in which gender and GD are often discussed today assumes that there is just one way people experience gender dysphoria and only one way to manage it. Too often, people talk about related processes such as medical transition, in ways that make it sound as though everyone thinks, or should think, the same way about these issues. People don’t always feel comfortable asking questions, feeling doubt or disagreeing with the dominant activist framework. GDA's central aim is to help create a more evidence-based, less ideological conversation about GD. They work to broaden the way we all talk about this condition to help show the richness and reality of individual experiences. They believe that honesty and transparency about the full range of experiences of those with GD are in the best interest of all. Aaron Kimberly is a female to male transsexual who started to medically transition in 2006, having experienced a Gender Identity Disorder since age 3. He’s a Registered Nurse with a specialization in psychiatric nursing and has worked in a psychiatric stabilization unit at St Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver, BC, was a nurse educator for the British Columbia Specialized Adult Tertiary Eating Disorders Program, and a counsellor and case manager within a network of community-based clinics for youth ages 12-25. From January-March 2023 he was a clinical instructor at Brandon University, Department of Psychiatric Nursing and currently works as a community mental Health nurse in rural Manitoba. Aaron Terrell is an American transman interested in the causes of gender dysphoria as well as the sociopolitical trends that facilitate medical transition. Aaron transitioned in 2011 at the age of 27. In 2017 he became concerned by the exponential rise in adolescent girls seeking gender transition and what he has come to view as institutional negligence on the part of the healthcare establishment's response to the phenomenon. Aaron has spent countless hours in FtM communities (both online and off) and offers valuable insight into the subculture influencing these young people. April 15, 2023 - Lesbian not Criminal with Tonje Gjevjon RECORDING NOT AVAILABLE In 2022, feminist Tonje Gjevjon was reported and investigated by the police in Norway for hate speech. She was charged initially then recently, without explanation, charges were dropped. Tonje is a Norwegian visual artist, composer, editor, filmmaker and activist who has participated in the Norwegian and international visual art, film, music and LGB scenes since she was 16 years old. Her main project, the lesbian performance group Hungry Hearts, participated in the Norwegian Eurovision Song Contest final in 2016. Tonje has published articles about issues related to women, the arts and the LGB community since 2005 and is editor and producer of the 2020 book We ate, slept, and drank feminism. As a blogger at the Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet, she kicked off the debate in 2017 on how the legislation of gender identities has consequences for women’s sex-based rights, language, children, parenthood and society as a whole. About the talk In 2023, the LGB Alliance and Lesbian Labour in the UK organized a Lesbian Not Criminal Roadshow tour where Tonje spoke about her experience. Now on Saturday, April 15th, 2023, Women’s Space Vancouver will be hosting Tonje Gjevjon, who will tell us her story about how women in Norway are being criminalized and charged with hate speech for speaking out about the rights of women and lesbians. October 22, 2022 - Vancouver Lesbian Collective RECORDING NOT AVAILABLE A discussion with Jacqueline & Natalie from the Vancouver Lesbian Collective on the current threats to lesbians and to learn how to support their campaign at sexbasedrights.ca. The Vancouver Lesbian Collective is a group of mostly Vancouver-based lesbians founded in 2015. They advocate for the rights of lesbians to define themselves and their boundaries and to organize politically in pursuit of women’s liberation from patriarchy. Get in touch via the Contact page or through Facebook or Instagram. November 27, 2022 - Dr. Linda Blade – athlete, coach, author – Fighting to Save Women’s Sports RECORDING NOT AVAILABLE Dr. Linda Blade is a former NCAA All American and National Champion of Canada in track & field (heptathlon) with a PhD in Kinesiology. For the past 26 years, she has run a private consulting business as a Sport Performance Professional coach in Edmonton, Alberta working with athletes in over 15 sports (beginner to elite). Since 2014, Linda has also served as President of the Board for Athletics Alberta, where she has a duty to represent the province of Alberta at Canadian national sport policy meetings. Linda has been fearlessly speaking out against gender ideology and its impact on women’s sports. In order to increase public awareness of this threat, Linda has partnered with journalist Barbara Kay to author a book titled: UNSPORTING: How Trans Activism and Science Denial are Destroying Sport. About the talk Should we believe male leaders in sports when they say they consulted with women on including trans identified males in women’s sports? Who were the women consulted and why are those who disagree with “trans inclusion” seen as a fringe minority? Why are women who demand to be included treated as if none of them can lay claim to having legitimacy in representing the vast collective of female persons nationally or globally? The question surrounding FEMALE representation of women’s sports has proven to be far more difficult than anyone might have thought. Over the past year, an International Consortium on Female Sport has taken form and is on the cusp of making a charge at the drawbridge that shields the males who presume to impose their will upon women’s sports. Linda will share with us her journey fighting to save women’s sports. June 18, 2022 - Surrogacy with Ghislaine Gendron RECORDING NOT AVAILABLE Ghislaine Gendron has been active in feminist organizations since 2014 and sat on the Board of Directors of ‘Pour le droits des femmes du Québec’ until 2021. While with that organization, she was involved with two strategic committees focusing on gender identity and surrogacy. She has written numerous articles published in Québec newspapers, she has contributed to submissions to the provincial and federal governments and she has done interviews with media. Ghislaine has presented on surrogacy in French and English. Ghislaine recently co-wrote an article with Ghislaine Sirois that is being published in a book, “Ventres à louer” (Wombs For Rent), now available in France and in Canada; 26 authors from around the world contributed articles. Ghislaine is currently national co-coordinator for Women’s Declaration International (WDI) Canada, responsible for Québec and francophonie. We offer this link to an article co-written by Ghislaine on surrogacy: https://actualnewsmagazine.com/english/surrogate-mothers-quebec-must-say-no-to-the-regulation-of-the-commodification-of-women-and-children/ As well, you’ll find commentary from the Special Rapporteur on the Sale of Children here: https://www.ohchr.org/en/special-procedures/sr-sale-of-children/surrogacy This recent article from the Globe and Mail examines how the Russian invasion of the Ukraine has exposed the reality of the Surrogacy business there. May 7, 2022 - The Consequences of Allowing Men into Women's Prisons with Heather Mason and Alia Perini Heather Mason is an Advocate, Activist, Former Federal Prisoner, Survivor of Fentanyl Addiction, Founding Member of caWsbar, and on the Board of Directors for Strength in SISterhood. She submitted an insightful brief on this topic to The Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security in June of 2021. She has helped organize protests at prisons in 2021 and 2022 to create awareness for the public, who have no concept of what's happening to women in women’s prisons. Alia is also a former federal prisoner, advocate for women and member of Strength is SISterhood. The alarm has been sounded, who’s going to respond? is an excellent article on the subject written by Heather for the website Woman are Human. March 5, 2022 - How Did We Get Here: Examining the Rise of Gender Identity Ideology and Its Impact on Women and Girls with Renee Gerlich and Cherry Smiley RECORDING NOT AVAILABLE Renee Gerlich is a feminist writer from New Zealand whose work can be found on Feminist Current, Savage Minds, and her blog, reneejg.net. In 2021 she founded Dragon Cloud Press to publish her Brief Complete Herstory, an illustrated herstory of the world from the birth of life to neoliberalism that is available at dragoncloudpress.com. Cherry Smiley is a feminist, artist, and researcher from the Nlaka'pamux (Thompson) and Diné (Navajo) Nations. With other women, she works to end male violence against women. She is in the final stages of completing a PhD in communication studies at Concordia University where her thesis examines the prostitution of Indigenous women in Canada as a form of male violence and proposes a female-centered definition of colonization and decolonizing feminism. She is the founder and executive director of Women’s Studies Online, a platform for decolonizing feminist research, education, action, and community-building. We offer this link to an article that we think provides important information about one element of how we got here – the funding of the ideology. Renee and Cherry won’t be speaking specifically to this aspect of the question, but we thought you’d find this information of interest. It was published in an online media outlet that is known for being right wing. Don’t let that deter you. Before very recently, it was incredibly difficult for feminists and those who questioned Gender Identity Ideology to find venues for their research and analysis. https://thefederalist.com/2018/02/20/rich-white-men-institutionalizing-transgender-ideology/ January 23, 2022 - The Impact of Gender Identity Ideology on Children & Youth, School Curriculum, and the Rights of Parents with Pamela Buffone & Stella O'Malley RECORDING NOT AVAILABLE Stella O’Malley is a psychotherapist, best-selling author, public speaker and a parent. In addition to her B.A. in Counselling and Psychotherapy, and M.A. in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, she is currently studying for a PhD in gender dysphoria among children and adolescents. Much of Stella's counselling and teaching work is with parents and young people which culminated in the publication of her two bestselling books Cotton Wool Kids in 2015 and Bully-Proof Kids in 2017. Her latest book, Fragile, was released in 2019 (focusing on overcoming anxiety and stress). Stella is a regular contributor to local and national media, fast becoming one of the leading voices on what’s influencing people’s behaviour in Ireland today. She’s spoken extensively, locally and internationally, on the impact of gender ideology on the development of children and youth. Pamela Buffone created Canadian Gender Report after people started reaching out to her after her family’s human rights case went public. What she heard from parents and others echoed their experience dealing with our school – yet most people were afraid to speak out using their own names. She is a strong believer that activism and wishful thinking are no substitute for evidence and common sense. The activism on this topic has gone way too far and is poisoning our ability to come together as Canadians to understand and discuss critical issues on the sensitive topic of gender and identity. October 9, 2021 - The Right to Freedom of Expression: Stop the Silencing of Gender Critical Women with Shahdin Farsai and Lindsay Shepard RECORDING NOT AVAILABLE Shahdin Farsai is a lawyer that practices in Kelowna, British Columbia. She originally immigrated from Iran to Canada at the age of 8. She obtained a law degree from the University of Ottawa. She has recently come under fire by some members of her profession for speaking out about a court practice directive that strayed too close to compelled speech. She was not successful in getting an article published expressing her concerns until it was eventually published in the C2C online journal magazine. She has put a resolution on this issue before the Law Society, the outcome of which will be known on October 5, 2021. Lindsay Shepherd is the author of "Diversity and Exclusion: Confronting the Campus Free Speech Crisis." She holds fellowships with True North (www.tnc.news) and the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (www.jccf.ca). Lindsay has had personal experience being ‘cancelled’ in the academic environment. June 12, 2021 - The Impact of Gender Identity Ideology on Children and Youth, School Curriculum, and the Rights of Parents with Stephanie Davies-Arai RECORDING NOT AVAILABLE On June 12, 2021 Women's Space Vancouver hosted an event with Stephanie Davies-Arai the founder of the UK organization Transgender Trend. Her presentation included a summary of the Keira Bell case and the global impact the issues in that case raise for children's health. Stephanie is an accredited communication skills trainer, writer and author of the book Communicating with Kids. She has delivered courses and workshops for parents and teachers for over twenty years. From 2013 - 2015 Stephanie was a prominent member of the No More Page 3 campaign, speaking on female objectification at schools, universities and organizations including Girlguiding and the Institute of Public Policy Research. She founded the organization Transgender Trend in 2015 and produced a schools guide Supporting gender variant and trans-identified students in schools in 2018, for which she was shortlisted for the John Maddox Prize which “recognizes the work of individuals who promote sound science and evidence on a matter of public interest, facing difficulty or hostility in doing so.” Stephanie has delivered presentations on the subject of transgender children at events across the UK, including in the House of Commons and House of Lords, and has appeared numerous times on TV and radio, including Newsnight, Good Morning Britain, the Today Programme and Woman’s Hour. Stephanie contributed chapters to the best-selling books Transgender Children and Young People: Born in Your Own Body (2018) and Inventing Transgender Children and Young People (2019), both edited by Heather Brunskell-Evans and Michele Moore and published by Cambridge Scholars. She also contributed a chapter to Transgender Children: A Discussion published by Civitas (2019). You can find Stephanie on Twitter @cwknews and on email at hello@stephaniedaviesarai.com April 18, 2021 - Prostitution, Trafficking and Law Enforcement: Why Left Feminists are Abolitionists with Suzanne Jay, Trisha Baptie and Cherry Smiley RECORDING NOT AVAILABLE Suzanne Jay from Asian Women for Equality works to advance equality for women and to create opportunities for Asian women to have meaningful participation and to take leadership roles in civil society. They fight the sexualized Asian women stereotype. Trisha Baptie co-founded EVE, a volunteer, non-governmental, non-profit organization of former sex-industry women dedicated to naming prostitution violence against women and seeing its abolition through political action, advocacy, and public education. Cherry Smiley is an artist and feminist activist from the Nlaka'pamux (Thompson) and Diné (Navajo) Nations. Feminist sex trade researchers cite Indigenous women and girls as “Canada’s first prostituted women.” Cherry Smiley speaks nationally and internationally on the topic of prostituted Indigenous women and girls in Canada.

Other groups advocating for women's sex-based rights. Other Canadian Women's Organizations Aboriginal Women’s Action Network (AWAN) @awanbc on FaceBook Asian Women’s Coalition CaWsbar - Canadian Women's Sex-Based Rights @cawsbar on X EVE Feminist Current @FemlnistCurrent on X Gender Dissent @gender_dissent on X GIDYVR @GIDYVR on FaceBook Heather Mason - Keep Prisons Single Sex @Mason134211f on X Meghan Murphy @MeghanEMurphy on X @Meghan_Murphy on GETTR Vancouver Lesbian Collective @FeministDykesVancouver on FaceBook Vancouver Rape Relief (VRR) @VanRapeRelief on X Women Are Real Canada Women’s Studies Online @WMSTonline on X @WomensStudies on FaceBook Women's Rights Network Canada @WRNCanada on X

WSV members and allies took to the street to celebrate International Women's Day 2022 with a rally to raise awareness of the impact of gender self-id on women and girls. A courageous and brave collection of our members, allies, and supporters took to the street to celebrate International Women's Day with a rally to raise awareness of the impact to women and girls of the BC NDP Government's administrative change allowing anyone by simply filling out a form to self-identity as the opposite sex. Download our brochure on Gender Self-Declaration. International Women's Day Rally March 12, 2022

Tools and guidance to contact your MP or MLA about policies affecting women’s rights in Canada. Contact your BC MLA Abbotsford-South - Liberal bruce.banman.MLA@leg.bc.ca Abbotsford-Mission - NDP pam.alexis.MLA@leg.bc.ca Abbotsford-West - Liberal mike.dejong.mla@leg.bc.ca Boundary-Similkameen - NDP roly.russell.MLA@leg.bc.ca Burnaby-Deer Lake - NDP anne.kang.MLA@leg.bc.ca Burnaby-Edmonds - NDP raj.chouhan.MLA@leg.bc.ca Burnaby-Lougheed - NDP katrina.chen.MLA@leg.bc.ca Burnaby-North - NDP janet.routledge.MLA@leg.bc.ca Cariboo-Chilcotin - Liberal lorne.doerkson.MLA@leg.bc.ca Cariboo-North - Liberal coralee.oakes.MLA@leg.bc.ca Chilliwack - NDP dan.coulter.MLA@leg.bc.ca Chilliwack-Kent - NDP kelli.paddon.MLA@leg.bc.ca Columbia River-Revelstoke - Liberal doug.clovechok.MLA@leg.bc.ca Coquitlam-Burke Mountain - NDP fin.donnelly.MLA@leg.bc.ca Coquitlam-Maillardville - NDP selina.robinson.MLA@leg.bc.ca Courtenay-Comox - NDP ronna-rae.leonard.MLA@leg.bc.ca Cowichan Valley - Green sonia.furstenau.MLA@leg.bc.ca Delta-North - NDP ravi.kahlon.MLA@leg.bc.ca Delta-South - Liberal ian.paton.MLA@leg.bc.ca Esquimalt-Metchosin - NDP mitzi.dean.MLA@leg.bc.ca Fraser-Nicola - Liberal jackie.tegart.MLA@leg.bc.ca Kamloops-North Thompson - Liberal peter.milobar.MLA@leg.bc.ca Kamloops-South Thompson - Liberal todd.stone.MLA@leg.bc.ca Kelowna-Lake Country - Liberal norm.letnick.MLA@leg.bc.ca Kelowna-Mission - Liberal renee.merrifield.MLA@leg.bc.ca Kelowna-West - Liberal ben.stewart.MLA@leg.bc.ca Kootenay-East - Liberal tom.shypitka.MLA@leg.bc.ca Kootenay-West - NDP katrine.conroy.MLA@leg.bc.ca Langford-Juan de Fuca - NDP john.horgan.mla@leg.bc.ca Langley - NDP andrew.mercier.MLA@leg.bc.ca Langley-East - NDP megan.dykeman.MLA@leg.bc.ca Maple Ridge-Mission - NDP bob.deith.MLA@leg.bc.ca Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows - NDP lisa.beare.MLA@leg.bc.ca Mid Island-Pacific Rim - NDP josie.osborne.MLA@leg.bc.ca Nanaimo - NDP sheila.malcolmson.MLA@leg.bc.ca Nanaimo-North Cowichan - NDP douglas.routley.MLA@leg.bc.ca Nechako Lakes - Liberal john.rustad.MLA@leg.bc.ca Nelson-Creston - NDP brittny.anderson.MLA@leg.bc.ca New Westminster - NDP jennifer.whiteside.MLA@leg.bc.ca North Coast - NDP jennifer.rice.MLA@leg.bc.ca North Island - NDP michele.babchuk.MLA@leg.bc.ca North Vancouver-Lonsdale - NDP bowinn.ma.MLA@leg.bc.ca North Vancouver-Seymour - NDP susie.chant.MLA@leg.bc.ca Oak Bay-Gordon Head - NDP murray.rankin.MLA@leg.bc.ca Parksville-Qualicum - NDP adam.walker.MLA@leg.bc.ca Peace River-South - Liberal mike.bernier.MLA@leg.bc.ca Peace River-North - Liberal dan.davies.MLA@leg.bc.ca Penticton - Liberal dan.ashton.MLA@leg.bc.ca Port Coquitlam - NDP mike.farnworth.MLA@leg.bc.ca Port Moody-Coquitlam - NDP rick.glumac.MLA@leg.bc.ca Powell River-Sunshine Coast - NDP nicholas.simons.MLA@leg.bc.ca Prince George-Mackenzie - Liberal mike.morris.MLA@leg.bc.ca Prince George-Valemount - Liberal shirley.bond.MLA@leg.bc.ca Richmond-North Centre - Liberal teresa.wat.MLA@leg.bc.ca Richmond-Queensborough - NDP aman.singh.MLA@leg.bc.ca Richmond-South Centre - NDP henry.yao.MLA@leg.bc.ca Richmond-Steveston - NDP kelly.greene.MLA@leg.bc.ca Saanich-North and the Islands - Green adam.olsen.MLA@leg.bc.ca Saanich-South - NDP lana.popham.MLA@leg.bc.ca Shuswap - Liberal greg.kyllo.MLA@leg.bc.ca Skeena - Liberal ellis.ross.MLA@leg.bc.ca Stikine - NDP nathan.cullen.MLA@leg.bc.ca Surrey-Cloverdale - NDP mike.starchuk.MLA@leg.bc.ca Surrey-Fleetwood - NDP jagrup.brar.MLA@leg.bc.ca Surrey-Green Timbers - NDP rachna.singh.MLA@leg.bc.ca Surrey-Guildford - NDP garry.begg.MLA@leg.bc.ca Surrey-Newton - NDP harry.bains.MLA@leg.bc.ca Surrey-Panorama - NDP jinny.sims.MLA@leg.bc.ca Surrey-South - Liberal stephanie.cadieux.MLA@leg.bc.ca Surrey-Whalley - NDP bruce.ralston.MLA@leg.bc.ca Surrey-White Rock - Liberal trevor.halford.MLA@leg.bc.ca Vancouver-Fairview - NDP george.heyman.MLA@leg.bc.ca Vancouver-False Creek - NDP brenda.bailey.MLA@leg.bc.ca Vancouver-Fraserview - NDP george.chow.MLA@leg.bc.ca Vancouver-Hastings - NDP niki.sharma.MLA@leg.bc.ca Vancouver-Kensington - NDP mable.elmore.MLA@leg.bc.ca Vancouver-Kingsway - NDP adrian.dix.MLA@leg.bc.ca Vancouver-Langara - Liberal michael.lee.MLA@leg.bc.ca Vancouver-Mount Pleasant - NDP melanie.mark.mla@leg.bc.ca Vancouver-Point Grey - NDP david.eby.MLA@leg.bc.ca Vancouver-Quilchena - Liberal andrew.wilkinson.MLA@leg.bc.ca Vancouver-West End - NDP s.chandraherbert.MLA@leg.bc.ca Vernon-Monashee - NDP harwinder.sandhu.MLA@leg.bc.ca Victoria-Beacon Hill - NDP grace.lore.MLA@leg.bc.ca Victoria-Swan Lake - NDP rob.fleming.MLA@leg.bc.ca West Vancouver-Capilano - Liberal karin.kirkpatrick.MLA@leg.bc.ca West Vancouver-Sea to Sky - Liberal jordan.sturdy.MLA@leg.bc.ca Contact your BC MP Abbotsford - Conservative ed.fast@parl.gc.ca Burnaby-North Seymour - Liberal Terry.Beech@parl.gc.ca Burnaby-South - NDP Jagmeet.Singh@parl.gc.ca Cariboo-Prince George - Conservative Todd.Doherty@parl.gc.ca Central Okanagan-Similkameen-Nicola - Conservative Dan.Albas@parl.gc.ca Chilliwack-Hope - Conservative Mark.Strahl@parl.gc.ca Cloverdale-Langley City - Conservative tamara.jansen@parl.gc.ca Coquitlam-Port Coquitlam - Liberal Ron.McKinnon@parl.gc.ca Courtenay-Alberni - NDP Gord.Johns@parl.gc.ca Cowichan-Malahat-Langford - NDP Alistair.MacGregor@parl.gc.ca Delta - Liberal Carla.Qualtrough@parl.gc.ca Esquimalt-Saanich-Sooke - NDP Randall.Garrison@parl.gc.ca Fleetwood-Port Kells - Liberal Ken.Hardie@parl.gc.ca Kamloops-Thompson Caribo o - Conservative cathy.mcleod@parl.gc.ca Kelowna-Lake Country - Conservative Tracy.Gray@parl.gc.ca Kootenay-Columbia - Conservative Rob.Morrison@parl.gc.ca Langley-Aldergrove - Conservative Tako.VanPopta@parl.gc.ca Mission-Matsqui-Fraser Canyon - Conservative Brad.Vis@parl.gc.ca Nanaimo-Ladysmith - Green Party Paul.Manly@parl.gc.ca New Westminster-Burnaby - NDP peter.julian@parl.gc.ca North Island-Powell River - NDP Rachel.Blaney@parl.gc.ca North Okanagan-Shuswap - Conservative Mel.Arnold@parl.gc.ca North Vancouver - Liberal Jonathan.Wilkinson@parl.gc.ca Pitt Meadows-Maple Ridge - Conservative Marc.Dalton@parl.gc.ca Port Moody-Coquitlam - Conservative Nelly.Shin@parl.gc.ca Prince George-Peace River-Northern Rockies - Conservative Bob.Zimmer@parl.gc.ca Richmond-Centre - Conservative alice.wong@parl.gc.ca Saanich-Gulf Islands - Green Party Elizabeth.May@parl.gc.ca Skeena-Bulkley Valley - NDP Taylor.Bachrach@parl.gc.ca South Okanagan-West Kootenay - NDP Richard.Cannings@parl.gc.ca South Surrey-White Rock - Conservative kerry-lynne.findlay@parl.gc.ca Steveston-Richmond East - Conservative Kenny.Chiu@parl.gc.ca Surrey-Centre - Liberal Randeep.Sarai@parl.gc.ca Surrey-Newton - Liberal Sukh.Dhaliwal@parl.gc.ca Vancouver-Centre - Liberal hedy.fry@parl.gc.ca Vancouver-East - NDP Jenny.Kwan@parl.gc.ca Vancouver-Granville - Independent Jody.Wilson-Raybould@parl.gc.ca Vancouver-Kingsway - NDP don.davies@parl.gc.ca Vancouver-Quadra - Liberal joyce.murray@parl.gc.ca Vancouver-South - Liberal Harjit.Sajjan@parl.gc.ca Victoria - NDP Laurel.Collins@parl.gc.ca West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky - Liberal Patrick.Weiler@parl.gc.ca

Highlights and reflections from International Women’s Day 2022 events and advocacy efforts in Vancouver. International Women's Day 2022 - Letter to BC Legislative Assembly Dear Member of the Legislative Assembly, Happy International Women's Day! We are Women's Space Vancouver, writing on this important day of international solidarity for women to raise a concern with you regarding women's safety. Recently, the BC Government implemented a change to allow men or women to identify as the opposite sex (or neither) on official government documents . This change was enacted without consultation or consideration of its consequences on the safety of women. Women have good reasons to have safety concerns. In Canada, one woman dies every three days at the hands of an abuser. Rape, sexual abuse, sexual harassment and violence from men are prevalent in the daily lives of many women, particularly in the lives of Indigenous and Asian women. The government may have had good intentions, but this change in government policy has given sex offenders and predatory men a welcome mat into women's intimate spaces. The threat posed now is that any predatory male who feels entitled to women's bodies can access all spaces reserved for women by a simple self-declaration. There are solutions to ensure the safety of everyone, such as providing gender neutral as well as male and female designated washrooms. The government's change of policy is not acceptable because their effort to provide safety for some has resulted in a lack of safety for many others. We enclose our brochure outlining other problems inherent in this ill-conceived policy change that affects the rights, needs, safety and sensibilities of women. We would like to discuss this situation further and request a meeting with you at your earliest convenience. Download our brochure on Gender Self-Declaration

Information and commentary on UN Special Rapporteur Reem Alsalem and her work on violence against women. Reem Alsalem on the definition of woman The definition of woman is common sense and been used for hundreds of years without a concern or question as to its meaning, legally or otherwise. However, in the era of gender ideology and its effort to insert new definitions to our language, adding confusion and uncertainty to the rights of women and children, sadly, such an assertion had to be made by the UN Rapporteur, Reem Alsalem. In fact, she went back into the history of the development of women’s rights at the UN level to find multiple sources to support the biological definition of women. Women worldwide are grateful for her vigilant work. Here’s her statement: April 4, 2024, Position paper on the definition of “woman” in international human rights treaties, in particular the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women

Examining concerns about sexual boundaries, education, and safeguarding children in school environments. We Are Failing Our Kids: A Wake-Up Call. From a retired public-school teacher with 35 years of experience. Photo: Duy Pham - Unsplash For several years I have been following the evidence of rape culture* in our public schools in British Columbia. The evidence is being mostly revealed by female secondary students and they have gone public; holding protests outside their high schools and demanding meetings with school board officials. In 2022, several protests and at least one petition were reported in local media. Parents are also involved . The Parent Advisory Committee (PAC), in the Comox Valley school district drafted comprehensive resolutions to the 2022 British Columbia Parent Advisory Council (BCPAC) convention to address the ongoing sexual harassment and abuse experienced by female students in high schools. The Comox PAC realized that this serious issue needed to be addressed at all levels of the education system; the Ministry, districts, schools, and the British Columbia Teacher’s Federation (BCTF). Their resolutions at the BCCPAC carried almost unanimously – it appears that nothing has happened since. The sexual attack of a grade 7 girl by grade 8 boys on the playground of her Victoria school was reported in the Times Colonist . The article describes how at every level this child was betrayed. School employees, the police, the school district, all seemed to lack the knowledge or have the processes in place to deal with the sexual attack of a child at school. The girl’s parents were left to figure out what to do to support their child and to get her justice. They have confronted all who were involved and demanded answers and action – it’s unclear if there will be a satisfactory resolution. The attack left the girl traumatized. It should shock us all. Something is seriously wrong. It must be addressed. Children are being exposed to and influenced by pornography at younger and younger ages. Teachers in elementary schools are aware but aren't equipped to deal with the issue. One elementary teacher commented. One of my great concerns about the socialization of boys and girls today is the impact of pornography on their developing brains. I see evidence of porn culture in the classroom often, and it's really disturbing. I think many kids don't even know what they're joking and laughing about, but it's far more adult than what my peers and I were exposed to at the same age. Sex Ed, as we knew it, has taken second place to the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) curriculum. Notably -- there is no mandatory curriculum that deals with pornography, rape culture, healthy sexual behaviour, or responsible sexual relations. The issue of consent is not understood. The coercion in sexual power relations and lack of sexual knowledge, beyond what kids are watching on porn, makes it impossible for consent to be the determinant of whether sexual activity is freely given or coercively obtained. The behaviour described by the protesting female students reveal abuse and coercion is what they are experiencing. No one is stopping it. Pornography, social media, cell phone use, bullying, rape culture, and the confusion some students experience with the concept of identity as promoted in the SOGI curriculum , all contribute to an unhealthy and even dangerous sexual environment. It’s clear our public schools are not prepared to deal with what is an increasingly problematic rape culture developing across all age groups. We are failing our children by not equipping them with the information and emotional strength to protect themselves. We are failing by not providing the age-appropriate curriculum to address serious social issues regarding sexuality. And we fail them by not putting in place policies, procedures, and protocols to be used to address student concerns and reports of sexual harassment and abuse in our schools. The Ministry of Education, school districts, the BCTF, and teacher training institutions must provide teachers with the knowledge, training, tools, and confidence to tackle the hard issues that today’s kids are confronting. Share this article with your friends and family. Write a letter to your local paper, and post it on your social networks, if you use them. Mail this article to your local School Board, the Minister of Education, and your MLA with a cover letter of your own. Copy the Premier. Ask for a meeting with your MLA. If you are a teacher, or a parent, raise this issue and call to action with your staff and/or Parent Advisory Committee. Lobby the BCTF to develop an action plan to address rape culture in our schools. Links to media reporting about rape culture in our schools: Explainer: What is rape culture and what does it look like in B.C.? Debate erupts over sexual harassment, rape culture at NWSS Kelowna high school students launch coordinated protests against sex assault B.C. students protest school district’s sexual violence policy B.C. students, parents call for better public school education about consent and sexual violence New Westminster students rally against high school rape culture * Rape culture is a complex of beliefs that encourages male sexual aggression and supports violence against women. It is a society where violence is seen as sexy and sexuality as violent. In a rape culture, women perceive a continuum of threatened violence that ranges from sexual remarks to sexual touching to rape itself. A rape culture condones physical and emotional terrorism against women as the norm. In a rape culture both men and women assume that sexual violence is a fact of life and inevitable. This violence, however, is neither biologically nor divinely ordained. Much of what we accept as inevitable is in fact the expression of values and attitudes that can change.

Response to Employment Equity Act review and its implications for women’s sex-based rights. Employment Equity Act Review The aim of the Employment Equity Act is to remove systemic barriers for individuals in the 4 designated groups under the Act in federally regulated workplaces: women Indigenous peoples persons with disabilities, and members of visible minorities The Employment Equity Act Review Task Force , among other topics, seeks to redefine equity groups, as they say "How to modernize and define EEA designated groups". This is our group's submission to the Employment Equity Act Review Task Force - you are free to use this in whole or part for your own communication. Via email: EDSC.LEE-EEA.ESDC@labour-travail.gc.ca April 27, 2022 Regarding: Submission to the Employment Equity Act Review Dear Task Force members: Please accept this letter as our submission in response to your Employment Equity Act Review. As this submission also speaks to the Government of Canada’s government-wide directive to default to the collection of gender rather than sex, we copy the Prime Minister’s office on this as well. We confine our response to the first question in the consultation guide: defining equity groups. In general, we urge the task force to define the category of ‘women’ as adult female persons. This is consistent with the way Canadians understood the definition of women in 1986, based on science and medicine, and it is the way the vast majority of Canadians understand it today. It is also the reality of why women experience sex discrimination at various levels of society, in addition to assault and violence. As your consultation guide notes, “the names and definitions of equity groups have not changed since the EEA was passed in 1986. There have been changes in the language that the Government of Canada and key stakeholders use to describe designated groups.” We agree that the Government of Canada has recently introduced new language and concepts, specifically the addition of gender identity into human rights law and the administration of programs and data collection. Significantly however, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms has not changed. Sex, as in the sex of a person, defined by government is a protected characteristic. Equality rights set out in section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms are clear: “Section 15 of the Charter makes it clear that every individual in Canada – regardless of race, religion, national or ethnic origin, colour, sex, age or physical or mental disability – is to be treated with the same respect, dignity, and consideration. This means that governments must not discriminate on any of these grounds in its laws or programs.” While government has noted that sex and gender are different concepts, government has yet to define gender, gender identity, and gender expression in law, and there are multiple definitions in use. In fact, government often conflates sex and gender in data collection by defaulting to gender identity as a way to include the small minority for whom this is a meaningful category and as a proxy for sex. This creates myriad problems, not least of which is the (perhaps unintended) erasure of women and lesbians. We do not “identify” into our sex. This conflation of the two terms also means that those who are not women may end up speaking for or representing women when they should not. While some Canadians understand themselves to have a gender identity, the vast majority, as evidenced by the recent 2021 census report, do not. In addition, many people think the term ‘gender’ is a polite euphemism for ‘sex.’ While a small minority of Canadians use the new term “cisgender” to identify women and men, we believe this term is inappropriate, unscientific, and is not used as a self descriptor by those it supposedly represents. Using gender-identity related language in questions where sex is the central inquiry poses the real problem of obscuring a person’s sex in data collection and subsequently in accurately measuring employment equity as it relates to women and the specific barriers to employment they face. At best, data conflating sex and gender is inaccurate, at worst it is a violation of women’s sex-based rights set out in the Charter. As you consider modernizing definitions, we encourage you to ensure the Act maintains the category of women for female people to: ensure integrity in data collection and analysis for women; meaningfully measure progress towards eliminating discrimination and other barriers experienced by women; design programs and initiatives that will address employment barriers experienced by women; and respect the right of Canadians who want the government to collect accurate information that reflects the composition of our society as it relates to sex in particular the right for women to be counted as female. Thank you for your consideration. Below are letters written by our members and allies - you are free to use them in whole or part for your own communication. To Whom It May Concern With regard to your recent EDSC post on an active federal consultation regarding Canada’s Employment Equity Act, I am writing with extreme concern about the possible redefinition of an identified group within your policy framework: that of the category of ‘women.’ There must be NO tinkering with the science and definition of the word ‘woman’: that of an ‘Adult Human Female.’ No ‘update’ or ‘modernization’ required, thanks. People born as males and who wish to self-identify as ‘women’ should not act as qualifiers within the category of women or as a definition changer, either as part of the category, or a sub-category of the word ‘woman.’ And women, as a sex group, should not be considered a ‘gender identity’ or a sub-group within our own category. If you wish to create a new ‘gender’ listing for those who self-identify, fill your boots. You cannot change sex biology markers, however. It is dishonest, anti-science and goes against our sex-based rights, still protected under the Canadian Human Rights Act. It is illiberal in every sense of the word. In other words, any movement to replace the category of ‘sex’ for employment equity purposes, or place it in another category such as ‘gender.’ is invalidating us, and unlawful. Women as a sex class—regardless of ethnicity, race and class--are already at a disadvantage with lack of substantial affirmative actions ,when it comes to employment, equity and diversity. You must not muddy the waters by including natal males in our ‘category.’ Further, changing definitions and designations in this way will have immediate deleterious effect in other areas: in spaces like the pay equity act, in sports, in the correction system, and wherever women have struggled to gain equity, security, safety and privacy. To Whom It May Concern, We are writing regarding the federal government's consultation regarding Canada's Employment Equity Act (EEA). "Defining equity groups" is our main concern, specifically, defining who women are. Section 15 of Canada's Charter ensures the equal protection and benefit of the law “without discrimination […] based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability.” Section 28 guarantees that all rights covered in the Charter apply equally to men and women. The Canadian Human Rights Act of 1977 states that all Canadians have the right to equality, equal opportunity, fair treatment, and an environment free of discrimination on the basis of sex, sexual orientation, marital status and family status. In recent years, unfortunately, many organizations, institutions, and levels of government have muddled the difference between "gender" (which describes societal stereotypes) and "sex" (which is an immutable characteristic). And at least one federal government website references "The Yogyakarta Principles", which undermine the sex-based rights of women and girls and the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women. This document also provides a rationale for some governments to adopt "self-ID", which I believe is already seriously undermining the rights of Canadian women and girls, e.g. in prisons. Yet Professor Robert Wintemute, one of the original Yogyakarta authors, now says that "women’s rights were not considered during the meeting where the principles were written and the authors “failed to consider” that fully intact males would seek to access female-only spaces." (https://sex-matters.org/posts/updates/yogyakarta-principles/ ) Mixing sex with gender leads to many confusions, contradictions and even outright absurdities, e.g. the document at https://www23.statcan.gc.ca/imdb/p3Var.pl?Function=DEC&Id=410445 states, "The concept of gender is also different from that of sexual orientation, which is an umbrella term that includes a person's sexual identity, sexual attraction and sexual behaviour." Then it contradicts this statement by mixing sex, gender, and sexual orientation: "The variable 'sex at birth of person' can be used where information on sex at birth is needed, for example, for measuring some demographic and health indicators. It can be used in conjunction with the variable 'gender of person' to estimate the transgender population. These two variables can also be used, together with the variable 'sexual orientation of person', to estimate the gender and sexual diversity populations, which are often represented by the LGBTQ2+ acronym (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, Two-Spirit or another identity of gender or sexual diversity)." This document also uses the absurd phrase, "sex assigned at birth", as does this one: https://www.justice.gc.ca/socjs-esjp/en/women-femmes/Definitions Activists have appropriated the term "sex assigned at birth" from literature concerning the extremely rare number of intersex people who now prefer the term Disorders of sexual development (DSD). Everyone knows that sex is observed, not assigned at birth, and in recent decades can be observed before birth. Defining equity groups on the basis of contradictory, circular, confused and absurd terminology and concepts, and especially legalizing self-ID, will undermine the sex-based rights of women and girls. We already witness this in Canadian prisons, where male offenders can "identify" as female to be housed in women's prisons instead of in men's prisons. Indeed, the Department of Justice's own definition is facilitating this travesty: "Women: All people who identify as women, whether they are cisgender or transgender women." We urge you to reject the intrusion of "identities" into any legislation and policies, and to retain a definition of women based in material, immutable, biological reality, such as "adult female human being." (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/woman ) If you want a more detailed definition, here is one from Heather Heying, a biologist: "Females are individuals who do or did or will or would, but for developmental or genetic anomalies, produce eggs. Eggs are large, sessile gametes. Gametes are sex cells. In plants and animals, and most other sexually reproducing organisms, there are two sexes: female and male1. Like “adult,” the term female applies across many species. Female is used to distinguish such people from males, who produce small, mobile gametes (e.g. sperm, pollen)." (https://naturalselections.substack.com/p/iamawoman?s=r ) Employment Equity Act Review Task Force C/O Employment Equity Act Review Secretariat (mailstop # 911) ESDC, 140 Promenade du Portage, Phase IV Gatineau, QC, K1A 0J9 Email: EDSC.LEE-EEA.ESDC@labour-travail.gc.ca

Learn how to support Women’s Space Vancouver through advocacy, events, and community involvement. How you can help Familiarize yourself with women’s sex-based rights under: The BC Human Rights Code The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms The United Nations Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) Get involved: Write to your MLA Talk to your family, friends, schools, Parents Advisory Councils Join our mailing list for educational events, email us at womenspaceyvr@gmail.com Follow us on Twitter @womenvancouver Distribute our brochure on Gender Self-Declaration

Our letter to the BC CDC addressing public health policy and its impact on women and children. Our Letter to BC Centre for Disease Control Please use any part of this letter for your own use. November 2, 2020 Re: BCCDC COVID-19 Language Guide “New language guide helps to destigmatize COVID-19” We of Women’s Space Vancouver are concerned about the new language guide, which purports to address issues related to the pandemic, but in fact violates the rights of women and children, repudiates decades worth of work in reducing shame and ignorance about female bodies, and threatens the safety of children. Very little of it addresses issues related to the pandemic. This ill conceived guide must be revoked. The Guide was created without the knowledge of or input from the public. Rather, a small group of people with what appears to be gender identity bias were invited to participate in the development of the guide. It presupposes science, medicine, law, and public opinion agree that sex is not binary. The BCCDC does not have the right to make such a call. This kind of politic does not belong in medicine or our healthcare system. The Guide uses political language that perpetuates stereotypes and misinformation. The Guide purports to serves as a tool for “writing about COVID-19 and its effect on people”. Rather, it asks the reader to replace specific and objective medical and scientific language with language it says is politically correct. This has serious consequences. The Guide conflates sex and gender. Sex is a material biological reality. Sex is not “assigned at birth”, as the guide would have us think. It is observed and confirmed. It is because of that material reality that women face discrimination, violence, and oppression. Girls grow up in that oppression and endure a society that forces gender role stereotypes on them daily, including grooming them for sexual objectification by and for men. Sex is not something we choose or anyone chooses for us. Sex has caused women and girls to be treated differently in healthcare, and not always in a positive way. Women have asserted for decades our right to access objective information and appropriate treatment, and to make informed health and medical choices. We’ve welcomed studies and research that will collect data to better analyze the unique needs of women. Gender, on the other hand, has no medical or biological definition. It is purely a set of sexist stereotypes designed to confine the sexes to traits that are considered female or male. The Guide says gender is something you think, feel, and express. Thoughts and feelings can change minute by minute and day by day. Thus, so can “gender”. This is scientifically untenable for a healthcare system – gender can’t be studied and researched when it has no definition beyond the thoughts and feelings of and individual on any given day. Gender stereotypes are harmful to women. To children. And to men. The Guide misinforms, and dismisses women’s material bodies and functions. It skews material reality and alienates the vast majority of people from what they understand of science and medicine. Women have fought for many decades asserting our bodies be spoken about with correct, respectful language in medicine, law, and in the public realm. We’ve demanded our children be taught objectively, positively, about their bodies and respect for their right to physical boundaries. Misinformation and politically skewed language is the antithesis to this goal. Girls need to be able to speak of vulva and vagina in order to understand their reproductive systems, sexuality, appreciate their bodies, and when needed, speak of being sexually abused. “External genitals” and “internal genitals” has no useful meaning. Both men and women have external genitalia. Telling your doctor you have a concern with your “external genitals” will not help a physician provide an assessment. A physician speaking to a woman of her “external genitals” will not help that women understand the medical assessment being made. Further, only women – not people and not men - have female reproductive systems, are childbearing, get pregnant, and nurse children with their breasts, not their chest. Women get pregnant through intercourse with men, not “insertive sex”. Most, if not all, health and medical issues are influenced by our sex. That’s why women have asserted our right to have science and medicine recognize and research our unique needs and treatment, accurately and objectively. This requires accurate statistics be gathered upon which to analyse those needs. This Guide makes a mockery of that critical work by encouraging people to ignore objective medical terms and physical processes and replace them with vague ‘politically correct’ language. “Gender violence” hides the fact that what we are talking about is violence against women. When gender violence is used to replace violence against women, an increasing and disturbing epidemic in the pandemic, it’s not just offensive, it’s harmful. Violence against women, domestic violence, is perpetrated by men against women because we are women. Women need transition services and housing. Women and children need supportive services to flee violence and address the harms. “Gender violence” obfuscates reality and hides the harms to women. It’s shocking that a guide that proports to want to address the pandemic encourages the realities of the pandemic be masked. Language is a powerful tool. It can be used to inform or manipulate. As Dr. Réka Gustafson, vice president of public health and wellness for Provincial Health Services Authority and deputy provincial health officer said, “We don’t want how we say things to perpetuate harms and marginalize individuals…”. The Guide says, “When we write or speak, the words we choose have the power to respectfully and accurately represent people...Words also have the power to perpetuate ignorance and bias.” This Guide will do just that. It will perpetuate stereotypes and discrimination and remove medically objective language. What has happened in the UK is a cautionary tale. Their healthcare system is under serious scrutiny for ignoring medical ethics and letting political pressure influence the treatment of children, creating potential life long damage for many. They also realized that women’s sex based rights were in jeopardy because the distinct needs and services for women were being dismissed. Our women-only organization works to defend women’s sex-based rights. We act to ensure women’s voices are heard, our unique life experiences are understood and respected, and that actions are taken to address the harms that arise as a result of the oppression created by patriarchy and misogyny. We oppose stereotypes and ideology that attempt to confine and define women into “gender” roles, silence us, or make us invisible through manipulated language. CC: BCCDC – Language Guide Project Leader, Harlan Pruden, harlan.pruden@bccdc.ca and admininfo@bccdc.ca Provincial Health Services Authority – CEO, Benoit Morin c/o Manager, Communications Ben.Hadaway@phsa.ca PHSA Patient Quality Review Board - contact@patientcarequalityreviewboard.ca Doctors of BC – Dr Kathleen Ross,President president@doctorsofbc.ca , Dr Jeff Dresselhuis ChairOfBoardOfDirectors@doctorsofbc.ca College of Physicians & Surgeons – President, Bruce C. Bell, by standard mail Provincial Minister of Health – Adrian Dix HLTH.Minister@gov.bc.ca Provincial Health Officer - Dr Bonnie Henry, by standard mail BC Association of Community Health Centres – Chair, Piotr Majkowski majkowskip@douglascollege.ca BC Pediatric Society – President, Dr. Stephen Noseworthy bcpeds@cw.bc.ca

Overview of the Cass Review and its findings on gender identity services for children and youth. The Cass Report Kamran Abbasi, Editor of the British Medical Journal provides an overview of the Report’s key findings. A key finding after a four year study is “the evidence base for interventions in gender medicine is threadbare, whichever research question you wish to consider — from social transition to hormone treatment.” In her report, Hilary Cass, sums up the major problem with affirmative care; "a too narrow focus on gender dysphoria, neglected other presenting features and failed to provide a holistic model of care." BMJ Review of the Cass Report The Full Cass Report Talk TV UK, April 10 2024 Bombshell Gender Report with NHS GP and CEO of LGB Alliance (UK) Talk TV UK, April 12 2024 with KJK (Kelly Jay Keen) on the Cass Report UK: Implementation of ‘Cass report’ key to protecting girls from serious harm, says UN expert

Information and analysis on women’s health, including the importance of sex-based data, research, and care. Women's Health The Issue: The medical system has historically discriminated against women The medical system has historically discriminated against women leaving them, misunderstood, mistreated and misdiagnosed. Over time, the limitations of a biomedical view of health as well as the concepts of sex and gender became central to advance our knowledge of women’s health, improve how research is conducted and make health research more impactful on the quality of life of women. Definitions of Sex and Gender Sex is defined as “biological and physiological characteristics that distinguish females from males” CIHR, 2010. Gender , on the other hand, describes “socially constructed roles, relationships, behaviours, relative power, and other traits that society ascribe to women and men.” The current gender ideology denies the biological reality of women, human adult females, by using language that deliberately creates confusion between sex and gender, as if they were interchangeable. This is harmful to women and girls in an alarming and growing number of ways. Why does women's health matter? By replacing sex with gender, the biological reality of women disappears as well as the social reality of being born women in a patriarchy and living our lives in societies designed and organized by men for men. Erasing biological sex, erasing women: language identifying female anatomy and biology no longer reflects the specific experience of women. We are menstruators, chest-feeders, uterus-havers, people who get pregnant and people who give birth. More and more health care institutions are using this language to signal “inclusion” when in fact they are promoting the gender ideology agenda that dehumanizes women. Replacing sex with gender, a concept, not a measurable and observable element, means that gathering and analyzing data will become impossible. Medical research is already biased against women, and now that anyone can identify with any gender they feel males will be able to participate in medical research and surveys as women. Without scientific rigor, based on biological realities, the physical well-being of women can be compromised and many of the gains made in the last decades in women’s health may be lost. Funding for women’s health research has always been lagging and will probably suffer more with the current push by governments and pharmaceutical companies to fund “inclusive” research. As women are gradually punished and chastised for using language describing their biological reality and for expecting female-centered care, the health care system is determined to impose the new policies and protocols. Women are expected to accept to share spaces with males who identify as women, or to accept intimate care from them. What can we do about women's health? Refuse language that dehumanizes us and takes away our biological reality. We are women, not menstruators or uterus-havers. Refer to yourself as a woman – not a cis-woman or a cisgender woman. We are not a sub-category, we are one of the two sexes, women (adult female human) or men (adult male human). We were not “assigned a sex at birth” our sex is observed and recorded. Read up on the differences between sex and gender to feel comfortable with the terms and be attentive to the ways that they are being used in society. Speak up and let people know how you feel about these issue – you can do it through discussion or by writing on social media, writing to politicians, newspapers, etc. Resources Our Letter to BC Centre for Disease Control