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Why sex-based spaces matter for women’s safety, dignity, and equality in law and public life. Women's Spaces The issue: Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation Bathroom Policy The Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation is altering its bathroom policy in community centres, libraries and parks. Its goal is to have three types of bathrooms/change rooms – men’s, women’s and “gender diverse”. In addition, the doors on all the men’s and women’s rooms will say “gender diverse people welcome”. There is no definition of “gender diverse”. The existing bathrooms are not being retrofitted to provide greater privacy, so the old knee-to-shoulder partitions between stalls will remain. No risk assessment was done and women were not consulted. Why does bathroom policy matter? Without clear definitions, any man can claim to be “gender diverse” and enter the women’s bathrooms and change rooms. Aside from the fact that trans id males commit crimes against women at the same rate as other men, studies in Britain show that many more men (of any gender id) assault women in mixed sex/unisex washrooms than in single sex washrooms. Men also use cell phones to secretly film women in washrooms and post the footage online. What can we do about the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation bathroom policy? We need to let the Vancouver Board Parks know we object, that we need this policy rolled back so that women’s washrooms remain for women only. Resources Our Letter to the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation Our Letter to the Vancouver Public Library Board of Directors Unisex Changing Rooms put Women at Danger of Sexual Assault, Data Reveals Study suggests that transwomen exhibit a male pattern of criminality Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation: Trans* and Gender Variant Inclusion Working Group - Final Report

Response and analysis regarding Vancouver Public Library board decisions affecting women’s rights. Presentation to the Board of Directors, Vancouver Public Library Please use any part of this letter for your own use. Wednesday, July 24, 2019 Good Evening, We are pleased to present our position on your draft room rental policy. We have several concerns, and we hope you will hear them as we offer them – with good intention and a spirit of collaboration. One of our main concerns is with the vague wording of this draft. We, the women of the Vancouver Adhoc Committee of Women for Women, are concerned that a relentless drive to be “inclusive and diverse” actually achieves only exclusion and conformity. A robust and healthy democracy depends upon a variety of viewpoints and opinions; the broad understanding of citizens that disagreement is not disrespect. We are aware that, as feminist, labour, and/or anti-poverty activists, our actions have been, for many years, unsettling for a lot of people. That’s good! We want to be unsettling; discomfort is not necessarily dangerous! We learn best when we step outside of that which is comfortable, and a public library is a great place to do that. It is a place where we can gather in public to discuss issues of interest and import to all of us – with people who may not always agree with us. The room rental policy must be explicit that these are places of public discourse with people who have different, often conflicting ideas and beliefs. How thrilling that should be. But at this moment in history, feminists are experiencing increasing intimidation, silencing, punishment and censoring (de-platforming) of dissent. Including from public institutions such as libraries and universities. Several of the women in our committee have experienced such punishment, including myself and my colleague. My father was also a social justice activist, and someone who felt the ugly and vicious hand of McCarthyism that tore apart North American society and the lives of many friends and families. He lost 2 jobs as a young father, because someone whispered in the ear of the owner of the company. His union didn’t utter a word. Many unions participated in McCarthyism. This was one of the saddest lessons in our history. It showed us how damaging hate speech can be, giving in to campaigns of labels, fear mongering, misinformation, and a lack of critical thinking. And the most important result – silencing. No one supports the horrors of that era or would admit they did at the time. I became an activist at the age of 15. I grew up during the Vietnam War and the Cold War. My work started with the Stockholm Peace Appeal, Doctor Helen Caldicott and her famous phrase, “if you love this planet”, working to end to the very real threat of a nuclear war and annihilation. I received constant insults when I worked on that campaign. I worked for Tenants’ Rights at the age of 18, the Right to Choose on abortion at 19, anti-apartheid campaigns defending atrocious treatment of Black South Africans, solidarity with the peoples in the many war-torn Latin American countries, and against unemployment & poverty. My home required a security assessment when I was a spokesperson for the pro-choice movement. I know what hate speech is and it’s affects, I know what discrimination is. I also know, after all that, what it’s like to be recognized for being on the right side of history when the smoke has cleared. I have not suddenly come undone and turned into a hate monger. And neither have the many women I work with, or those who organized, and who attended the Gender Critical January event. We are women who want to discuss our very real concerns about our human rights. We are women who were seeking and gathering information about our mutual concerns from learned and thoughtful people. Women assert that we have the same rights afforded us by the UN Declaration on Human Rights as all human beings . The Declaration reads, in part: “Preamble Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world, Article 18. Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance. Article 19. Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers. Article 20. (1) Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association. (2) No one may be compelled to belong to an association.” Don’t succumb to political expedience and popularity by accepting unfounded accusations and agreeing to limit the rights of others, and specifically Gender Critical women. We have the right to freedom of thought, assembly, and speech. We certainly understand the harmful impacts of hate speech, having been subject to it for most of our lives. We will not debase ourselves to engage in hateful speech or any other hateful acts against anyone, even those whose ideas we find repugnant or dangerous. We will dissent, dialogue, debate – and we will do so in public. It would be great to have the option to use the library spaces, for you and for us. We challenge you to give us evidence of any hateful or harmful speech acts from any feminist gatherings at the library For example, there is no evidence that any hate speech occurred at the controversial January 10th event featuring a panel of women discussing feminist critiques of gender ideology. This meeting was recorded and broadcast. There have been no legal actions. Because there was no hate speech. The Chief Librarian said (about the January 10 event), that gender-critical feminists don’t fit in with the Libraries values. She did not then describe the library’s values, so there’s no way to tell what this statement meant. We don’t believe it’s the Library’s role to take sides on political issues. The speakers at the January 10 event included two Aboriginal women who are both life long feminist and Indigenous activists. The library acknowledges that we are on the un-ceded territories of the coast Salish people, yet, at this event, imposed limits to this opportunity for Indigenous, and other women to speak about how their experiences as members of the sex-class female is diminished by trans ideology. This seems counter to the library’s values. Now even the VPL has been on the receiving end of vengeance by the Pride Parade Society, because you wouldn’t immediately cave to the demands of the Trans community to stop the Jan event. So, we applaud you for that, at least. Even though you did your best to ensure we knew we were not welcome to gather, you stopped short of cancelling the event altogether. That’s shameful behaviour of the so-called “Pride Society” If the Library concedes to the demand to apologize, you’ll be apologizing for allowing women to express concerns about our human rights. A sad reality is that hate speech against Gender Critical women has been prevalent, and disconcerting. TERF (Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminist), a slur used to describe Gender Critical women, is constantly used to dehumanize and demonize. We’ve found things such as a headline on a poster that says, “Tired of TERFS, SWERFS, and Other Fascists?”, and it was promoted on the Facebook page of the Pivot Legal Society. It’s shocking that a legal organization feels they can perpetuate that kind of extreme comparison and the hatred it will attract. You will regularly find tweets, comments on Facebook and other social media that threatens, mocks, demonizes, and even threatens physical harm to women labeled ‘TERFS’. We’ve provided a sample of those in our written presentation (you’ll find many examples on the website Terfisaslur). The Library itself recognized the level of threat to those of us at the January meeting, because you insisted on special security. That security concern was for a reason. It was not because those who organized, were presenting and attending the meeting were threatening violence. We provide you with two quotes that we think represent our perspective on how political discussion has been thwarted and distorted: Paul Willcocks, a journalist with the Tyee recently wrote in an article about the present political landscape, “We’re entering into a post-Trumpian political era in Canada, one where we are divided in ways that don’t allow rational discussion,” … “One where we no longer listen to one another, and where we see enemies, not people with different solutions to shared problems.” Pete Seeger, also denigrated by McCarthyism and at great personal cost, became an icon to North American society. He wrote a famous peace song called “Rainbow Race”. One of the lines in the song says, “You can’t kill all the unbelievers. There’s no shortcut to freedom.” That is, you can’t kill all the people that don’t think like you. There’d be no one left. Wise words. Don’t fall prey to prejudice, intolerance, and narrow mindedness. Ensure libraries welcome constructive and open discourse about tough issues that face our society, as all public spaces should. Critical thinking is key to our ability to evolve into better human beings. Dissent and debate are essential components of a healthy democracy, and Public Libraries are the ideal arena for such discourse. We will fight for the library to maintain accessible spaces for diverse views, heated debate, uncomfortable conflict, and the development and growth of knowledge and shared wisdom. Our society depends upon it. We ask that you ensure your policies reflect the role the library and other public institutions are meant to play – encouraging exploration of ideas and differing perspectives. Don’t shrink from that, embrace it. Respectfully submitted, Women's Space Vancouver

Critical perspectives on SOGI policies in schools and their impact on children, education, and parental rights. Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity The Issue: All schools in BC are required to follow the guidelines presented in SOGI 123. All schools in BC are required to follow the guidelines presented in SOGI 123. The SOGI guidance is imbued with the ideology that people can be born trans, just as people can be born homosexual. The Resources for Parents website states that everyone has both a gender identity, and a sexual orientation. The following statements can also be found on the website: “There aren’t two boxes – boy and girl”, and “Some people’s biology doesn’t fit neatly into two boxes”. Why does SOGI 123 matter? These statements either have no basis in science, or they are false. That people can be born trans (born in the wrong body) has no scientific backing. That people don’t come in two types – male and female – is false. Aside from a tiny percentage (about .2%) of people born with Disorders of Sexual Development, all humans (like all other mammals) are either male or female. The gender ideology of SOGI teaches children that their bodies have no relationship to their sex, that they might be the opposite sex from what their bodies indicate. Thus, teachers and students are expected to applaud a child who announces that they are not the same sex as their body. This is the promotion of an unscientific ideology that leads to children in distress wanting experimental medical procedures including powerful drugs, wrong sex hormones and surgery – all of which have negative effects on their long-term sexual function and health. Since children who “identify” as the opposite sex tend to exhibit mental/emotional distress, the possible causes of that distress are ignored when gender identity is named as the cause. Identifiable other causes include sexual/physical abuse, parental neglect, parental alienation, autism, and latent homosexuality. What can we do about SOGI 123? Refuse to accept the conflation of gender and sex. Demand a definition of gender that does not include stereotypes. Protest in person or through letter campaigns at schools, boards of education, Ministries of Education. Lobby the BC Federation of Teachers to stop its support for SOGI. Demand that parents be informed of all signs of child distress, including a wish to be known as the opposite sex or by wrong sex pronouns. Resources These two videos provide a critical analysis of what is taught about gender identity throughout the elementary, middle, and high school grades in Seattle's schools. The videos highlight the harmful messages inherent in the approaches taken to teach children about gender identity; e.g. you might be born into the wrong body. Ideology is presented as fact, biology is erased or misrepresented and children are presented with information that may be confused, misleading or incorrect. The same ideology is being taught to children in BC schools. If you have children in your family in K-12, ask their teachers if these lesson plans and resources are used. Gender Identity Ideology in Our Schools, Part 1 Gender Identity Ideology in Our Schools, Part 2

Overview of Canada’s prostitution laws and their impact on women, safety, and exploitation. Bill C-36 The Protection of Communities & Exploited Persons Act PCEPA Dear Ms. Kwan, There is a powerful lobby attacking Canada’s prostitution legislation, The Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act. This law recognizes the inherent risks of violence and exploitation to those who engage in prostitution. The legislation seeks to end the demand for prostitution. Countries who have enacted laws similar to Canada’s law on prostitution are often described as the Nordic Model or the Equality Model. These countries are Sweden, Norway, Iceland, N. Ireland, France, Ireland, Israel. Israel, in 2018, became the most recent country to adopt this Equality Model and has put in place an impressive action plan that includes funding and multiple resources to help women exit from prostitution, and stop human trafficking. Canada would do well to emulate this country’s efforts. Sadly, Canada has put in place no direct support to prostituted women to help them exit. As a result, trafficking, both domestic and international abounds in Canada, with brothels in every neighbourhood. Enforcement of our laws is negligible or none. Nanos Poll results Support for Current Legislation. Survivors speak out about why they support PSEPA. This video following shows the hearing of evidence regarding Bill C36 and is a reminder of why this legislation passed into law in 2014. I am asking you to continue to support Canada’s existing laws on prostitution and recommend real action to help women exit. We know that it is poverty, abuse, racialization, addiction and mental illness that drives prostitution. To legalize makes the State the pimp. Trafficking of women into Canada will become legal as they will be required temporary foreign workers for a legalized sex trade. Sincerely, A Women’s Space Vancouver member and a constituent

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

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 - A conversation with the LGB Courage Coalition featuring Jamie Reed & Lauren Leggieri 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.

Exploring fairness, safety, and policy in women’s sports, with a focus on sex-based categories and female athletes. Women in Sports Women Space Vancouver stands in support of the sex-based rights of women and girls in sports. Women's sports have been sex-based for decades and must remain so to be fair and just to women and girl athletes. Below is an article by Linda Blade, co-author of UNSPORTING: How Trans Activism and Science Denial are Destroying Sport , offering insight into the monumental struggle for women's sex-based rights in sport and athletics that is currently playing out on the world stage and in Canada. Linda Blade: International body upholds fairness for women in sport. Will Canada follow suit? National Post World Athletics now understands that there is no way to mitigate the enormous advantage that male-born transgender athletes have in women's sports by Linda Blade, Mar 30, 2023 At its spring council meeting in Monaco on March 23, World Athletics (WA), the global governing body of athletics, announced that it would “exclude male-to-female transgender athletes who have been through male puberty from female World Rankings competition.” With this one announcement, WA sent ripples across the sports world. As many federations look to WA for guidance on eligibility policy in sports requiring speed, power and endurance, the ruling is bound to have an influence on other sports. American swimmer Riley Gaines, who was forced to compete against male-born Lia Thomas at the 2022 NCAA Championships, stated that, “As a woman of sport, I sincerely thank World Athletics and Seb Coe for prioritizing fairness and integrity in sports over so-called ‘inclusion’ … this decision is monumental and gives me hope for other (sports) organizations.” It is significant that Gaines contrasted “fairness and integrity” with “inclusion,” because at the heart of this debate is a question over what principle takes precedence: inclusion or safety? After an extensive review in 2021, the Sports Councils in the United Kingdom concluded that when it comes to males seeking to self-identify as women in gender-segregated sports, it is not possible to balance fairness and safety with inclusion. Including male-born competitors in a women’s event is unfair — and potentially unsafe, in the case of contact sports — to the female athletes involved. The physical manifestations of male physiology, especially post-puberty, offer extraordinary competitive advantages over female characteristics when it comes to performance in sports. After its review, World Athletics now understands that there is currently no known way to mitigate the enormous male advantage. Hormonal suppression doesn’t do it. Nor does reassignment surgery. So a decision had to be made and WA chose to prioritize fairness at the expense of including transgender athletes. The impact on Canadian sports will be significant, particularly for Athletics Canada. Eligibility rules for WA- and World Para Athletics-sanctioned competitions will have to be revised immediately to comply with the new framework. Otherwise, athletes from Canada will not qualify for elite international events. Neither would Canada be cleared to host international competitions without complying with WA rules. In domestic “grassroots” competitions, however, Athletics Canada is leaning towards inclusion. Its current policy states: “In registering for a domestic competition, an athlete may select the category that best reflects their gender identity and sense of self. “Coaches, officials, staff and volunteers must support an athlete’s right to select a competitive category that best matches their gender identity.” There are three problems, however, that arise from the misalignment of domestic and international policies: philosophical, legal and jurisdictional. If we are to accept the WA dichotomy of a choice between fairness and inclusion, Athletics Canada’s prioritization of “inclusion” means that it is choosing to be unfair to women and girls. Due to sex-based advantages, including male-bodied athletes in the female category is not only unfair but is bound to exclude women and girls from their rightful places on the podium, on national rankings and in domestic record books. Presumably, greater inclusivity on the domestic front is an attempt to avoid discrimination on the basis of “gender identity” and “gender expression,” as mandated by Bill C-16. On the other hand, doing so in sport is a form of sex discrimination against women and girls. Both the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Canadian Human Rights Act forbid discrimination against girls and women on the basis of their sex. Confusion and conflict at the provincial level is bound to ensue. What is to become of the Athletics Alberta policy, for example, that enforces sex-based boundaries that align more with international standards set by the WA and less with the Canadian recommendations? Why should a provincial sports organization be forced to choose unfairness for the sake of a certain kind of “inclusion” that, in fact, excludes women and girls from their rightful placings and results? These questions illustrate that even as the majority of people involved in track and field rejoice at the establishment of clarity and fairness for elite female athletes by World Athletics, we recognize that it opens an entirely new debate here at home. Linda Blade is president of Athletics Alberta and co-author (with Barbara Kay) of the book, UNSPORTING: How Trans Activism and Science Denial are Destroying Sport (2021). World governing body bans transgender women athletes, By Lori Ewing, March 23, 2023

Examining Canada's legislation on conversion therapy and its potential impact on children and clinical practice. Letter to MPs on reintroduction of Bill C-6 to amend the criminal code regarding conversion therapy Please use any part of this letter for your own use. Dear [name] MP Congratulations on your election as MP for [riding] of which I am a constituent. I write from a deep concern about the physical and mental health of children and the hazards of the current transgender identity movement. This may be an issue you have not looked into much, as many people haven’t until it affects them as a parent, a grandparent, a teacher, a mental health counsellor, a doctor, or some other connection. I’m assuming in the coming days you will be faced with a vote on a reintroduction of Bill C-6 , An Act to amend the Criminal Code (conversion therapy). Your party has sponsored this poorly-written piece of legislation. As a new member of parliament I ask you to please fully inform yourself on the implications of criminalizing thoughtful, professional health care for children and youth presenting with gender dysphoria through Bill C-6. It is unfortunate that Bill C-6 conflates lots of good research and medical statements on the harms of conversion therapy related to sexual orientation with treatment of gender dysphoria. The politicized singular focus on “affirming therapy” is a gross disservice to children and youth who need thoughtful, evidence-based treatment for their distress. In many cases they need to be supported to accept their homosexuality, or bisexuality, which is still stigmatized, rather than be put on a path to lifelong medicalization through experimental puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to “affirm” their identity as the opposite sex. Conversion therapy as it is properly understood — trying to change a person’s sexual orientation — is unacceptable and deserving of a prohibition. Yet by the addition of “gender identity” this bill will criminalize therapy that helps children and adolescents deal with the homophobia they have experienced and often internalized and come to accept themselves as they are. Please think carefully about amending the bill to either remove gender identity or more specifically insert an assurance that medical practitioners will not be subject to spurious and intrusive accusations of providing ‘conversion therapy’ when they are not. Exploratory counselling and psychotherapy that is neither “affirmation” nor “conversion” should be the first-line treatment for all young people with gender dysphoria, potentially reducing the need for invasive and irreversible medical procedures. This is especially critical now, when we are witnessing an exponential rise in the incidence of young people presenting with gender dysphoria who have diverse and complex mental health issues and require careful assessment and treatment planning. For your convenience, here is a link to the excellent submission on Bill C-6 by Canadian Gender Report . Please read this thoroughly researched, balanced submission and ask yourself some questions about the ethics of Bill C-6 and its potential consequences for the safeguarding of children’s health. If you have not had time to thoroughly research this issue as many of us have, this submission has done it for you, including a linked bibliography of relevant research studies, reviews, and news reports. You owe it to the young people of this country to do no harm to them. In reviewing this bill, please call in medical professionals on all sides of this issue and create room for civil dialogue to inform your decision. In your zeal to protect the human rights and dignity of all people, please don’t shy away from examining unintended consequences for children’s health. I also ask you to read this beautifully written post on the pitt.substack (PITT stands for Parents with Inconvenient Truths about Trans): Letter To a Well Meaning Bystander: Open your mind-when it comes to trans, you might be misguided I trust you will give this issue the careful thought it deserves. It takes courage in the current social/political climate to challenge beliefs adopted by your political friends. For your information, I am not a conservative in my social or political views and am deeply dismayed by the failure, represented by Bill C-6, to safeguard children’s mental and physical health by the “left” or “centre left” or “progressives.” Sincerely, [name]

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

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

Submission to the UN Special Rapporteur outlining concerns about women’s rights and policy impacts. Submission to the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls to the Human Rights Council on prostitution and violence against women and girls. January 2024 Submission by Women’s Space Vancouver, BC, Canada What we stand for: The protection of women's human rights The protection of women-only spaces The rejection of sex-role stereotypes The right to discuss and describe our bodies, our sexual lives, and our reproductive abilities The right to express ourselves without bullying and intimidation Democracy Canada, after a large feminist lobby, adopted a version of the Nordic Model in 2014. Women’s Space Vancouver supports this model and is opposed to the legalization or decriminalization of prostitution. The Canadian Parliament recognizes prostitution as an inherently harmful activity that harms women and girls, negatively impacts marginalized groups (especially racialized and Indigenous women and girls) and harms the communities in which it takes place. The Act, The Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act (PCEPA) received Royal Assent in 2014. Canada’s intent in adopting the Nordic Model was to reduce the demand for sex work. The Government stated through its Technical Paper, at the time: The majority of those who sell their own sexual services are women and girls. Marginalized groups, such as Aboriginal women and girls, are disproportionately represented. Prostitution reinforces gender inequalities in society at large by normalizing the treatment of primarily women’s bodies as commodities to be bought and sold. In this regard, prostitution harms everyone in society by sending the message that sexual acts can be bought by those with money and power. Prostitution allows men, who are primarily the purchasers of sexual services, paid access to female bodies, thereby demeaning and degrading the human dignity of all women and girls by entrenching a clearly gendered practice in Canadian society. Prostitution is an extremely dangerous activity that poses a risk of violence and psychological harm to those subjected to it, regardless of the venue or legal framework in which it takes place, both from purchasers of sexual services and from third parties.” The legal status of sex work is no longer ambiguous in Canada. The purchase of sex is prohibited. Sex work is no longer legal, but sellers of their own sexual services are immune from prosecution. Other prohibited activities, procuring, advertising, stopping traffic, and communicated for the purposes of sex work near a school, daycare centre, or playground. Also, an offence is receiving a material benefit from sex work. Sex workers are immune from prosecution for advertising their own sexual services. There is a growing call in Canada, to decriminalize or legalize prostitution, to recognize selling sexual services as work. This change would make legal, both the selling and buying of sexual services and make legal all transactions in support of the sex trade. A recent court case heard by the Ontario Supreme Court was brought by a coalition of sex workers challenging aspects of the PCPCA as unconstitutional. Justice Robert Goldstein, found that, in his view,” many of the harms complained of are simply the collateral consequence of prohibiting the purchase of sex by customers, or the collateral consequences of the other challenged offenses.” In the Judgment, he asks the question: Is The Purpose of PCEPA Pressing and Substantial? Judge Goldstein in the Findings of Fact regarding prostitution in Canada, is convinced that the purpose of PCEPA is indeed “pressing and substantial.” Below is taken directly from Judge Goldstein’s judgment: [482] Moreover, some of the key findings of fact in these reasons support that the objective is pressing and substantial (I repeat and condense some of my earlier findings of fact): Significant numbers of sex workers come from marginalized and racialized groups.Indigenous women and girls make up a disproportionate number of those involved in the sex trade.Large numbers of sex workers are coerced or trafficked into the sex trade. Many, of those who are coerced and trafficked are themselves women and girls from marginalized groups. There is a very strong link between sex work and human trafficking.Violence and the threat of violence are present in the everyday lives of many sex workers. Sex workers have not been displaced to more isolated and dangerous areas as a result of the communications and stopping traffic offences. The Special Rapporteur asks in Question 9, How effective have legislative frameworks and policies been in preventing and responding to violence against women and girls in prostitution? Judge Goldstein in the Ontario Supreme Court Judgment notes several salutary effects of PCEPA since 2014: “With respect, I have found in my analysis of the evidence that the Attorneys General have established at least some salutary effects since the enactment of PCEPA. The number of women charged with communications or stopping traffic offences since the enactment of PCEPA has declined sharply. The number was already declining significantly prior to PCEPA, but the number has continued to fall. Prior to PCEPA, the number of women charged with communications or stopping traffic offences resulted in a majority being found guilty and many being sentenced to jail terms. In the five-year period after PCEPA only two women in Canada were found guilty and neither were sentenced to jail. Over the same period, the number of men charged with the purchasing offence has increased. While correlation is not causation, these results were an objective of the immunity provisions, as well as the narrow targeting of the new communications and stopping traffic offences. Another salutary effect is that the number of homicides of sex workers has also declined. Again, it is unclear if there is a causal effect with PCEPA, or with better policing, or commensurate with a drop in the homicide rate generally, but it is real. What is also striking is that in the five years prior to PCEPA the perpetrator of a homicide against a sex worker was identified as being in a criminal relationship with the victim in 43% of those cases (a client, drug dealer or client, or gang member); in the five years after PCEPA this number was 29%. The number of Indigenous homicide victims among sex workers also declined: from 20 of 54 sex workers in the five years prior to PCEPA, to 7 of 35 sex workers in the five years after. Of course, even one homicide is one homicide too many. As well the statistical significance has limits, given the small numbers. Nonetheless, the numbers are real. Certainly there is no evidence that homicides of sex workers have increased. Finally, as I have emphasized in these reasons, when the offences are properly interpreted, sex workers are able to take measures to enhance safety without fear of prosecution.” Ontario Superior Court Ruling https://rapereliefshelter.bc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/CAFSWLR-v.-Attorney-General-Reasons-for-Judgment-CV-21-659594-signed-2.pdf Women’s Space Vancouver believes that the salutary effects of Canada’s Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act. would increase with a serious and dedicated intention by all levels of government to end prostitution in Canada. The following are some of the measures that would contribute to achieving that goal: Ensure the funding and supports are in place across Canada to help women exit prostitution. Most women who enter prostitution do so under conditions of poverty, incest and other forms of sexual assault and racism. In Canada, women of colour and Indigenous women are vastly overrepresented in prostitution. (One third of the victims of serial killer of prostitutes, Robert Picton, were Indigenous women.) Government initiatives like, guaranteed livable income, affordable housing. universal daycare, are all initiatives currently being considered at the Federal and Provincial levels in Canada and would support prostituted women’s exit from a dangerous activity. Women have informed front line women’s shelters that given safe economic certainty and support, they would exit prostitution. To maximize the potential of the PCEPC there needs to be increased enforcement of the legislation to charge the pimps, johns, brothel owners, sex traffickers, and businesses that hide prostitution behind a façade of legitimacy. When laws against sex purchase are publicized and enforced, the demand for prostitution decreases. A program of public awareness regarding the extent of domestic sex trafficking in Canada would help to educate Canadians about this very serious problem. There is a misconception that sex trafficking is an international issue, outside of the control of Canadian authorities. However, national statistics of sex trafficking show that nine in 10 (91%) victims of police-reported human trafficking incidents between 2011 and 2021 knew their accused trafficker, while a relatively small proportion (9%) of victims were trafficked by a stranger (Government of Canada, 2022). A trafficker tends to be someone close to the victim (e.g., boyfriend, friend, relative, or peer) (Canadian Centre to End Human trafficking, 2020). Globally, and in Canada, it can be observed that trafficked victims often come from places of oppression, systemic discrimination, and poverty. Only by dealing with the systemic issues of women’s inequality and oppression and violence, will we be able to tackle the subsequent dangerous commodification of women’s bodies, Violence against women and girls is increasing everywhere in Canada, as reported by front line workers and health care officials in Canada. Prostitution and pornography contribute to a rape culture. Female students in high schools across Canada are sounding the alarm protesting inside and outside their schools about the sexual harassment and sexual abuse they endure at school. Recently, in Victoria, BC, a 12-year-old girl was sexually attacked by grade 8 boys in their school playground. Influenced by an unregulated porn industry, children are being influenced by internet porn that teaches them that females are sexual objects to be used. All levels of Government need to include and involve the front-line women’s organizations in recommending the changes necessary to protect women and girls from becoming victims. Some of the recurring themes identified by the Native Women’s Association of Canada, that contribute to the recruitment of Indigenous women into human trafficking include: • Precarious housing and poor living conditions • High rates of unemployment, unstable unemployment, and low working wages • Lack of access to social and economic resources and programs • Prior exposure to human trafficking and the sex trade from a young age (through family or friends) • Family violence and the impacts of colonization (such as the residential school experience and intergenerational trauma) In conclusion, Women’s Space Vancouver vehemently opposes the legalization or decriminalization of prostitution in Canada. The outcome of such a legal change would be to ignore the conditions that force women and girls into prostitution, and make legal a dangerous practice that harms our most vulnerable. Legalizing prostitution is no path to women’s equality. Canada must take steps to strengthen its commitment to ending prostitution in Canada. Resources The Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW) submission to the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women and Girls report on Prostitution

Vancouver feminists protecting women's sex-based rights: protect women-only space, define ourselves, reject sex role stereotypes, reject silencing and intimidation. We are Vancouver feminists making our voices heard: protecting women’s sex-based rights including the right to retain spaces created specifically for us. Support our work by eTransferring a donation via womenspaceyvr@gmail.com For all females who are curious about, or who have questions about why keeping women only spaces is still so important, we'll provide our research and learnings, support your concerns, and answer your questions. Because sex discrimination and violence against women still plays too big a role in ‘enlightened’ Canada. Women make up over 50% of the our population, and the law must continue to work for women and girls. We appreciate all women and allies who stand with us and say: Yes, our sex still matters . What we stand for The protection of women's human rights The protection of women-only spaces The rejection of sex-role stereotypes The right to discuss and describe our bodies, our sexual lives, and our reproductive abilities The right to express ourselves without bullying and intimidation Democracy See our upcoming and past educational events listed here Video Our educational events are available on YouTube Download our brochure on Gender Self-ID