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 positions from the BC Federation of Labour on gender identity and women’s rights. Our letter to the BC Federation of Labour Please use any part of this letter for your own use. February 11, 2021 Dear Member of the Women & Gender Rights Standing Committee, BC Federation of Labour Feminist organizations in BC are concerned to learn that the BC Federation of Labour has adopted a resolution calling for the recognition of prostitution as work, for the decriminalization of prostitution, and for protections for this work under the law. This resolution is contrary to the 2014 law called for by feminist organizations across Canada. Bill C-36, the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act, decriminalizes the sale of sex in most instances. It is the first law in Canada to govern prostitution in a manner consistent with Equality Rights, particularly those of women, as guaranteed by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. As noted in the Preamble to the law it is “important to protect human dignity and the equality of all Canadians by discouraging prostitution, which has disproportionate impact on women and children”(1) and “it is important to denounce and prohibit the purchase of sexual services because it creates a demand for prostitution”. Versions of this law, often referred as the Nordic Model, have been called for by feminists around the world and have been adopted by progressive pro-women’s equality and pro-labour governments in Sweden, Norway, France, and Ireland. It is notable to us that these facts are absent in your Policy on Sex Work. As a result, we wonder whose criminalization you truly intend to repeal. While feminists are glad that women are no longer being criminalized for men’s pimping and purchasing of sexual access to women, we do not agree that these men should be equally decriminalized through repeal of our current law. Such a move would amount to de facto legalization of prostitution in Canada, a situation that in other countries has led to the proliferation of the prostitution industry, of the number of women who are prostituted, and of violence against women in prostitution. Many progressives are quick to claim that “sex work is work”. However, feminists, particularly those who have exited prostitution and who have worked on the frontlines in women’s anti-violence and legal advocacy organizations, know that prostitution is not a job. Most of the people in prostitution worldwide (approximately 40 million according to SPACE International) are women and girls. Women enter prostitution at young ages with approximately 50% entering prostitution before the age of majority in their countries, including in Canada. Most women who enter prostitution do so under conditions of poverty, incest, other forms of sexual assault, and racism. Women of colour and Indigenous women are vastly over-represented in prostitution. One third of the victims of serial killer Robert Pickton were Indigenous women. Vancouver Rape Relief found that among their callers in prostitution Indigenous women made up 27% and Black women made 14%. This is 9 times and 12 times more than their representation in the female population of Greater Vancouver respectively.(2) Once in prostitution, it is extremely difficult to leave, given few exiting services or financial supports available. Vancouver Rape Relief and Women’s Shelter report that the most common requests from the women in prostitution who call them are for safe shelter and exiting support.(3) Canada’s depleted social safety net and increasingly precarious employment options, contexts that are now compounded by the global COVID-19 pandemic, are only making this problem worse for women, particularly for working class, poor, racialized, and Indigenous women. Women want to leave prostitution because it is an industry in which sexual harassment and assault are what pimps sell and johns purchase. A 2003 9-country study of violence in prostitution found that violence is the norm in prostitution globally, including in countries where it has been legalized.(4) A 2013 UN Study found that men who buy sex are also likely to commit rape. The study found that the correlation between prostitution and other forms of violence against women is that both entail men enacting their dominance over women.(5) Women do not make a living wage or experience the benefits of skill development and seniority in prostitution. Women in regimes where prostitution has been legalized, including in brothels, experience degraded work conditions and diminished autonomy over their own bodies as pimps and brothel owners compete for the business of johns, who seek to pay lower rates for more invasive and violent acts. Neither has indoor prostitution led to greater safety for women, as was noted by The Women’s Equality and Liberty Coalition in their intervention in the appeal of the acquittal of Bradley Barton for the murder of Cindy Gladue at the Supreme Court of Canada.(6) Finally, as women in prostitution age, become ill, or suffer addiction, they are pushed to the margins where they are subjected to yet more violence, more degraded conditions, and even deeper poverty. Unionization cannot fix these problems, because they are inherent in prostitution itself: when men buy and sell sexual access to women, they do so to enact their power over women. Our current law recognizes and responds to this inequality in the prostitution transaction. The more we tolerate such inequality, such as by promoting prostitution legalization, the more likely we are to see it manifest in our society. This has already been made apparent through news stories of Pornhub and its Canadian parent company, MindGeek. These companies post non-consensual and violent imagery of women for purchase. In these situations, women have little to no recourse to stop such exploitation. Legalizing prostitution will only deepen this problem. We therefore find it inappropriate that prostitution be defended as work by a union organization whose purpose is to defend the rights of workers. Protective and positive labour conditions, especially for women, include freedom from sexual harassment and assault, strong health and safety protections, above poverty wages, recognition of seniority and skill, possibility for advancement, and freedom to refuse dangerous, unequal, and unfair work. Prostitution does not and cannot meet any of these conditions. We would like to meet with you to discuss a truly progressive position on prostitution among labour unions. The law that we have in Canada currently is protective of the wellbeing of women in prostitution because it prevents prostituted women (and men and trans-identified people) from being arrested and charged for crimes committed against them. The primary problem with this law is that it not enforced. Labour unions have an important role in bringing forward internal and public discussions on the failures of enforcement, of labour conditions generally, and of our social safety net. These failures embolden men and entrap women contrary to the wellbeing and equality of all women in Canada. Unions should never stand up for the idea that sexual harassment and sexual assault are normal work conditions for women. To do so is to abrogate your role in securing worker’s rights and, especially, in protecting the rights of women. For further information and discussion on this topic, we hope you will contact us to arrange a meeting between now and March 15, 2021. Additional information can be found through the following resources: The Sex Trade – NFB film by Eve Lamont (2015) Prostitution is not a job and never will be. Here’s why. - Dana Levy Nordic Model Now Consent, Coercion, and Culpability: Is Prostitution Stigmatized Work or an Exploitive and Violent Practice Rooted in Sex, Race, and Class Inequality? Rachel Moran and Melissa Farley PhD. SPACE International (Organization of women with lived experience of the sex trade ) Regardless of whether we hear from you, we intend to pursue this matter, using public channels if necessary. Sincerely, Aboriginal Women’s Action Network Asian Women for Equality EVE (Formerly Exploited Voices now Educating) Vancouver Lesbian Collective Vancouver Rape Relief and Women’s Shelter Women’s Space Vancouver https://www.parl.ca/DocumentViewer/en/41-2/bill/C-36/royal-assent https://www.rapereliefshelter.bc.ca/photos/vancouver-rape-relief-and- women%E2%80%99s-shelter-data-prostitution https://www.rapereliefshelter.bc.ca/photos/vancouver-rape-relief-and-women%E2%80%99s-shelter-data-prostitution Farley, M., et al. (2003). “Prostitution and Trafficking in Nine Countries: An Update on Violence and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder”. Journal of Trauma Practice Vol. 2(3/4), pp. 33-74 Fulu, E., Warner, X., Miedema, S., Jewkes, R., Roselli, T. and Lang, J. (2013). Why Do SomeMen Use Violence Against Women and How Can We Prevent It? Quantitative Findings from the United Nations Multi-Country Study on Men and Violence in Asia and the Pacific. Bangkok: UNDP, UNFPA, Un Women and UNV . https://scc-csc.lexum.com/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/17800/index.do

Defending freedom of expression in discussions about sex-based rights, policy, and public debate. Freedom of Expression The Issue: Enforced Language The women’s movement for equal rights has had its share of pushback over the decades. But perhaps in no recent time has the need to express ourselves and maintain our rights, in our own words, been under more threat than in this early part of the 21st century. There is a clash of rights between women’s sex-based rights and gender identity rights (both ‘protected classes’ under the Canadian Charter of Rights). Gender identity activists—backed by some Canadian academics and politicians—have created a narrative that states that any expressed concerns about our female sex-based rights and needs for things like single sex spaces for women and girls (change rooms, prisons, and spaces on sports teams), constitutes a form of ‘hate’ speech. This constant ‘shape shifting’ around the word ‘woman’, and now, the questioning of even the material reality between female and sex classes, is moving women’s hard-won rights backwards. Why does enforced language matter? Language is power, and powerful. People who wish to undo the rights women have fought for over a century, understand this and are trying to re-define—or trying to have no objective, scientific recognized definition at all--around the meaning of the word ‘woman.’ Section 2(b) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms establishes our right to freedom of expression, on issues like gender and sex. The Supreme Court of Canada has interpreted this right in a very broad fashion. What false narratives do: Go against our Freedom of Expression rights; Attempt to shut down our ability to debate openly and express counter arguments to new ideologies, which we would base on critical thought, material reality, reason and science; At its base, attempts to strip us of our agency as Canadian women and citizens What can we do about enforced language? Women’s Space Vancouver has written a letter to the BCCDC and multiple politicians in response to the BCCDC Language Guide . We can all refuse to use the new language. We can refuse to accept it, and let people know why. We can boycott products sold by companies that use the new language and let them know why. Resources Women are human Pronouns are Rohypnol

Analysis of Canada’s 2021 Census and issues related to sex, gender, and data accuracy. Census 2021 The issue: Changes to the 2021 Census Those who fill in the 2021 Canadian Census, and by law, we must do so, will notice some troubling changes. The changes to the 2021 Census are, according to the Government website, to be in keeping with Bill C 16. ”In 2017, Bill C16 was passed in Parliament, adding gender expression and identity as protected grounds under the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code”. The Government website goes on to explain, that when “funds were allocated to create the Centre for Gender Diversity and inclusion Statistics, “this was direction to Stats Canada to begin to gather statistics regarding gender identity. However, in the Stats Can Technical Report that gives background to the 2021 changes, Stats Canada was, from 2016 on, engaged in a proactive strategy to serve gender identity activists to fill “publicly identified” gaps. An online consultation was conducted to gather input from Canadians on the Gender, Diversity and Inclusion Statistics Hub . Also, invitations were sent out to specific LGBTQ groups soliciting suggestions for changes to the next Census. In 2018, the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat released a Summary Report, Modernizing the Government of Canada’s Sex and Gender Information Practices . There are some troubling descriptions and expectations as to how the Canadian Government will define and treat the categories of sex and gender that lead to conflating the two categories and/or privileging gender. Self-identification of gender leads to the erasure on Government documents of the category of biological sex . Why do the changes to the 2021 Census matter? The resulting changes in the next Census provide for an identification of female or male sex and an additional question on gender identity. A Citizen can identify with a gender different than the ’Sex Assigned at Birth”. Adding “gender identity” to the Census has not been publicly examined or debated in Canada. We could find no specific concerns raised by the Canadian academic community such as those raised by UK academics (the UK and Scottish 2021 Censuses will add a third option for gender identity). In an open letter published in the Sunday Times in December the UK academics said, “As social statisticians, quantitative social scientists and epidemiologists, we are concerned about the proposed online guidance to accompany the sex question which advises respondents that they may respond in terms of their self-identified gender. The guidelines “will effectively transform the sex question into one about gender identity.” The fear was that these changes would “undermine data reliability on a key demographic variable and affect the ability to measure sex-based discrimination and inequality. “The signators to the letter emphasized that “Sex and gender identity are distinct and should not be conflated.” The fears of the UK academics hold true for the upcoming Canadian Census. Feminists must become aware of the intentions of the Government to fulfill the goals of the gender identity activists to privilege gender over biological sex. Women, as a category, are being eliminated from political platforms, policy development, government action, and the justice system. The Census 2021 questions on gender identity deepen this dilemma.

Analysis and response to positions from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives on women’s issues. Our Letter to the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) Please use any part of this letter for your own use. October 17, 2021 Dear Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, We are writing this open letter on behalf of Women’s Space Vancouver to CCPA Board Directors, Steering Committee Members and senior staff members regarding a political position recently taken by the CCPA. In June of this year, 2021, the CCPA signed onto a document called, “ An Affirmation of Feminist Principles .” Individuals and groups, by signing, indicate support for a list of “key feminist principles and their alignment with issues pertaining to sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics.” As several members of our group are decades long sex-based rights advocates and are also contributors to the CCPA, we are very concerned about the position the CCPA has taken to “align with issues” that leave out the issues of discrimination against women based on their sex. By signing the document, you have taken a position in support of changing Canadian laws to legalize prostitution, that drastic experimental and physical interventions on the bodies of children and teens seeking help with gender dysphoria is not to be questioned and, even more disturbing, that the CCPA agrees that “sex, gender and sexuality are social constructs like race, class and caste.” Does the CCPA actually agree that biological sex is a social construct? Does the CCPA believe that race is a social construct? Does the CCPA believe that homosexuality is a social construct? Is the CCPA not convinced by massive global UN data that women are an oppressed class, based on their immutable sex? Has the CCPA forgotten that patriarchy around the world oppresses, terrorizes and murders women and girls based on their biological sex, a reality they cannot identify out of or deconstruct? The CCPA is a highly respected organization that has gained the trust of many Canadians for the high quality of research done, for the depth of coverage you provide on issues of social and economic importance to Canadians. The Institute describes itself as “an independent, non-partisan research institute concerned with issues of social, economic and environmental justice.” However, by signing this document, which is clearly a statement of gender credibility. For this reason, we ask that the CCPA withdraw its endorsement of the Affirmation of Feminist Principles. We suggest that the CCPA do some research into the money supporting the gender ideology movement worldwide and the money several of these “philanthropists” stand to make through their pharmaceutical interests. Ask who benefits when children are convinced they need to become medical patients for life in order to be their “true selves.” Homophobia runs rampant when children are told they “must be affirmed as the opposite sex” because they do not “identify” with the stereotypes ascribed to their birth sex. In order for the CCPA to live up to its reputation for independence, we challenge you to provide space in the Monitor for the expression of alternate points of view on the issues of trans rights in relation to sex-based rights, laws regarding prostitution, and the consequences of irreversible medical interventions promoted for children who may identify with the opposite sex or with stereotypes associated with the opposite sex. Finally, the CCPA has signed a statement that includes this: “We recognize that there is no common human experience, including in the experience of gender.” Women’s Space Vancouver regards this as a dystopian, neoliberal fallacy that undermines the solidarity of shared experience in the workplace, home and communities, among women and men, across national boundaries and among the oppressed. We look forward to your response so that we may share it with our members. Sincerely, Women’s Space Vancouver These letters have been written by allies in support of our actions. They have allowed us to share them here. Please feel free to use the content of these letters for your own submissions. CCPA re: An Affirmation of Feminist Principles To Whom it may concern, I am cancelling my monthly donation to the CCPA. As a radical feminist, I no longer believe that the CCPA is committed to working toward equality for all women. When the CCPA signed the document called, “An Affirmation of Feminist Principles,” you signed on to a statement that seeks to change Canadian laws to legalize prostitution, that supports experimental interventions to sterilize children and teens and you agree that sex, gender and sexuality are social constructs. You have become advocates for and proponents of Gender Identity Ideology, that conflates sex and gender, privileges gender over sex, ignores human biology, says we are born with an internal gender, and that makes the sex based category, women, meaningless, thereby undermining women’s protected sex based rights as stated in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The CCPA would have shown an intent to address the category women, an oppressed class, if you had instead signed onto the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 18 December 1979. In the recent BCSOLUTIONS Shanon Daub writes to celebrate 25 years of research for hope and change. What is missing from the list of struggles she says the CCPA is committed to addressing, is any mention of sexism, misogyny or the Patriarchy. I am sorry to withdraw financial support from the CCPA. As a long time supporter, and, who has made a portion of my estate willed to the CCPA, I will instead donate to organizations that I know support women’s sex based rights. I find untenable that the CCPA has signed on to an Ideology that undermines these rights. CCPA re: An Affirmation of Feminist Principles Dear Shannon Daub and the BC office, I was a dedicated supporter of the CCPA. I worked with teachers in Burnaby (as union President) in 1996-98 to become members of the CCPA just as the BC office was getting off the ground. I am a monthly supporter and attended many fundraisers over the years. I have included a substantial donation to you in my will. But my disappointment with your endorsation of the document, “Affirmation of Feminist Principles” has brought me to a new understanding of how far you have strayed from being a research organization. Your silence regarding the letter from Women's Space Vancouver was truly disappointing. Surely I thought, if they are going to sign a letter that denies the existence of sex based rights, they will have a rationale or some research that seeks to justify this action. Nothing. I understand it is a strategic response in a world that now punishes anyone who questions gender ideology. Powerful forces have aligned to make it impossible for organizations like the CCPA to raise questions or examine actual research that might identify problems with gender identity ideology or prostitution as a normalized form of work. You must conform or be attacked as transphobic or uncaring of women’s safety. Sometimes our work and our positions take courage. I am truly sorry that you have chosen the least line of resistance. I have been here before. The political left had huge problems when women asserted their rights to address their oppression and not just that of the working class as a whole. Once again, women are being told that someone else’s rights, needs and sensibilities are more important than ours and we must adjust to a new reality—sex is just a social construct—gender is the more modern approach. The worst part is that my “research” organization has now told me that too. So I choose to assert my sex based rights because understanding my own oppression in a capitalist world is how I understand racism, homophobia, colonization and class oppression. I can’t be a progressive feminist on the political left and accept your under researched position that panders to a fragile hold on reality and barely masquerades as analysis. You do good work in many areas. But in this instance, you cross a line—a core value—that means I can no longer support you. Please stop my monthly payments and membership. I will amend my will soon.

Exploring self-identification policies and their implications for women’s spaces, law, and public policy. Response to the BC Government change in law allowing anyone, by self-declaration, to change their sex designation on all BC identification On Friday January 14, 2022, the BC NDP Government announced a change in legislation that now allows any person to self-identify as the opposite sex by simply filling out a form to have their sex changed on all BC legal identification documents: BC Services Card Driver’s License BCID Card Birth Certificate Women’s Space Vancouver condemns this action as another nail in the coffin of women’s human rights. This change is driven by gender identity ideology with its ill-defined and subjective concepts of gender, in contrast to science and fact. This will further impede the lives of women and girls and make a mockery of our material reality, endangering services, programs, and all spaces designated for women only. Women and girls are human females with immutable characteristics, a protected class under provincial, federal, and international human rights law. The discrimination and oppression we face is based on the reality of our biology, not because we ‘think’ or ‘feel’ we are women. This move shows contempt for women and the public, as the Provincial NDP government has, once again, made major changes to law and policy by focusing on the demands of a small interest group without consulting all of those affected. We understand they have made no assessment on the impact of these legal changes, including no Gender Based Analysis (GBA) intended to safeguard equality rights, which would be critical to share with the public. The NDP government calls this support for the ability to be true to a person’s gender. However, the document conflates gender with sex. The Vital Statistics form reads, “my gender designation captured as "Sex” …”male” or ”female“ or “X” . Sex is a fact – observable and immutable. Gender has no one definition and has been described as a ‘feeling’, as socially constructed stereotypes for roles, relationships, behaviours, and other traits that society ascribes to women and men. “We are not a costume or a feeling”, said Kim Zander, Chair for WSV. “Our human sex-based rights took a long time to be recognized, and we continue to face sexism, systemic discrimination, and horrific misogyny in BC, Canada, and around the world, on the basis of our biology. Women and girls are being sentenced to further vulnerability at every level of our lives by allowing men to declare they are women and therefore access washrooms and showers, counselling and programs, sports, prisons, medical care, and other services, and facilities that are meant to address and protect our dignity and our rights.” The BC government said, “This announcement will make it easier for people to have their true genders reflected on their B.C. identification documents.” This raises a number of concerns, but most importantly, why does the government think it is important for individuals to express their personality traits on legal identification, in place of a factual piece of data often used for statistics. Zander added, “It is possible to respect gender identity while also acknowledging that all trans/non-binary people were born male or female. Allowing a subjective expression of personality to replace a factual and protected characteristic is unnecessary and harmful to women and girls.” The Minister of Citizen’s Services said, “By removing the medical requirement for a change of gender designation, this is part of our continued commitment to making this government, its services and the province increasingly accessible for people of all genders.” This move does not support the acknowledgement of gender diverse people, but rather hides them under the incorrect or no sex category. This will compromise the integrity of important statistics upon which government and organizations base the development of programs and services for specific populations, including those who consider themselves “gender diverse”. The government did not provide information about services that are not currently available to gender diverse individuals or how this change to identification will address accessibility to services. “We believe the intent is to allow access to female-only services and spaces. This gender identity ideology driven change will only put human rights in conflict and women and girls at risk”, said Zander. The consequences of allowing men to self-declare they are women on legal documents is huge. Women and girls are already experiencing a violation of our human rights as government allows and facilitates access to our spaces to men who self-identify as women. Men will be able to enter spaces, services, and programs meant only for women, such as public and school washrooms and showers, transition houses, counselling services, training programs, equity programs, women’s committees and organizations, including those created to heal from and combat male violence, and those organizations, programs and services meant for Lesbian women. Women will have no space without male interference and influence. Male criminals will be allowed, without question, to be placed in women’s prisons, threatening the well-being of women prisoners. Already, with the few males claiming to be women that the government has allowed into women’s prisons, women prisoners have reported abusive behaviour, assault, rape, a diminishing of their mental well-being, and a fear of participation in prison counseling programs. Men will now be included as women in statistics and data collection, skewing the real-life experiences of women. They will be able to speak for women in surveys, focus groups, government working groups, and in every area data is gathered to understand and address women’s experiences, needs, and goals. Their crimes will be counted as women’s crimes. Their violence and rape will be counted as acts committed by women. Men claiming to be women, and their advocates, have already harassed and bullied women who have spoken up for women’s and girls’ human rights, calling them intolerant and hateful, transphobic, and fascists. They have targeted women who will not conform to the language of gender identity ideology but instead insist on scientific material reality. They have already tried to skew sexual orientation by saying that gay men and lesbian women are “same-gender” attracted, when sexual orientation is based on biology, not what someone thinks or feels. They have harassed Lesbians who will not accept men who claim to be women as intimate partners, calling them transphobic. They attempt to compel speech/language that is confusing, lacks fact, and distorts reality. And they demand this ideology be taught and enacted in our schools. Women speaking up for our human rights have been threatened with and experienced job loss, censorship, and violence. Men self-declaring they are women will misrepresent women’s experiences and the rights women are entitled to. Those claiming to be women, and their advocates, have put a lot of energy into doing as much harm as possible to women who won’t ‘behave’. Men who self-identify as female have been and will continue demanding that the medical and healthcare system conform to language that includes their male bodies as women. They demand that women as biological beings be referred to by body parts, that women-only bodily functions be renamed, and that the system assert that men who claim to be women can also carry out these functions. They have and will continue to demand they be medically treated as women and deny the distinct differences in male and female bodies. Healthcare for women will be dehumanizing, distorted and confused, particularly in the area of education about our unique bodies. There is no such thing as a ”girl penis”. Allowing men to self-identify as women will create huge difficulties for law enforcement when they need to describe suspects, to forewarn the public of dangerous criminals, or to keep accurate statistics. Already we see Stats Can and policing records conflating sex and gender, and therefore crimes committed by men are attributed to women. Men self-identifying as women will destroy women’s sports. The very basis of competition in sports is based on physical attributes. It is well documented that male bodies have distinct differences and advantages over female bodies. Sports will no longer be fair, safe, and inclusive for women. It has and will ruin opportunities for hardworking women athletes to find acknowledgement of their achievements. Already, several female sports records have been broken by men claiming to be a woman. Lastly, when government is complicit in the conflation of gender and sex, it has and will have an impact on our schools and education of children, resulting in the denial of basic biology. Children are becoming more confused about material reality. This creates an opening for harmful ideas that children who do not conform to the gender-based stereotypes expected from their sex need social and medical interventions to correct the ‘wrong sex’. The B.C. NDP government has been fully captured by this ideology, showing disregard for basic science, and the rights of parents. It boasts of the number of mastectomies done on youth and young adults for gender reassignment surgery (often called “chest masculinization”). Generations of children will pay for our government allowing society to be steeped in a political ideology. We demand the NDP government commit to the following: Uphold women’s sex-based human rights and Canada’s commitment to the standards the United Nations have developed through CEDAW. The collection and registry of objective data and statistics based on science and clear and meaningful language. Stop using the tenets and language of gender identity ideology. Remove provisions for self-declared identification using selected gender stereotypes. Removal of the word ‘gender’ as a synonym for ‘sex’ and retrospectively update all official documents that conflate the two terms. The government can always collect additional data rather than replacing data with inaccurate terms. Democratic processes that involve the public and affected populations in the development of law and policy. This is a key element to ensuring an engaged, respectful, and respected civil society and that no stakeholder groups are disenfranchised in the law and policy making process. Prevent a conflict of human rights. Women and girls and those who are gender diverse have human rights that are equally important. No one group’s human right need be sacrificed for another. Women won’t sit idly by while our rights are destroyed by a government that has submitted to ‘woke’ politics. These letter has been written by an ally in support of our actions. They have allowed us to share them here. Please feel free to use the content of these letters for your own submissions. Self-declared gender on all BC legal identification documents Dear Adam Walker, Jinny Sims, Ellis Ross, and Nathan Cullen, I wish you all good health and courage in the debates this term. I am writing to you because of the January 14th announcement by the NDP government that anyone can now self-declare that they are the opposite sex (or no sex) on all government identification, including a birth certificate. The change can be made by simply filling out a form. I ask that you consider this proposition very carefully before proceeding. This is a shocking move and done with no analysis of the consequences. I am very concerned about the consequences of this action and lack of public consultation. I oppose this move. Why was such an important issue kept quiet. This is a serious misuse of power that will have harmful consequences to women. You may ask why I’m writing to you in particular. Adam Walker, you are my MLA, and I want you to represent this area well. Jinny Sims, I’ve worked with you for many years, we’ve shared concerns and worked hard on issues relating to the Status of Women. Ellis Ross, you would be my MLA if I were still living in Kitimat and I know that you share concerns about women’s issues, along with Nathan Cullen, as we all know the shattered lives of women that have occurred in the north and along Highway 16. We must do better. I thank you all for reading my concerns and the attached letter. This is a universal issue. Women’s rights must still be attended to. If you have daughters, sisters, mothers, granddaughters and nieces, think about how safe they’d feel if this law passes. Without any notice to or consultation with the people of BC, the NDP government went ahead with this action that will drastically alter the lives of women and girls. If anyone can self-identify as a woman (“female”), any man will be able to enter any and all women’s spaces, from changerooms and showers, transition houses for those who’ve experienced male violence, counselling programs, to sports, women’s prisons, and organizations meant for women to discuss our experiences and defend our rights. Youth can make this change with permission from parents – boys will have access to all spaces meant for girls. Women’s human rights will become meaningless. I would direct you to Women’s Space Vancouver, an organization that is presently working on this issue and will provide more information as you need to reconsider the steps you have started. For a first step, the government must initiate public hearings, consultations and listen to the women of British Columbia. Please read and consider the following statement which was published by Women’s Space Vancouver in response to the Jan 14th announcement by the NDP government before rash decisions are made by the government. Download our brochure on Gender Self-Declaration

Discussion on gender nonconforming children, safeguarding, and evidence-based approaches to care. Gender Nonconforming Children Transgender Trend Stephanie Davies-Arai's UK based organization Transgender Trend is an excellent source of information for families of gender nonconforming children. She has graciously allowed us to share her information here: School resources for parents and teachers Resources for parents of trans-identified children Detransition Useful links Terminology Social Transition Puberty blockers Detrans Canada Another useful site for support and information is Detrans Canada: "Detrans Canada is an independent and non-partisan advocacy organization that supports detransitioning, desisting, and re-identifying Canadians. We seek to fill the gap in research, resources, and platforms available to those detransitioning, desisting, and re-identifying. We believe those who are in the process of questioning, ending or reversing a gender identify or gender transition process should be offered support, access to high-quality research, access to informed medical professionals, and the ability to advocate for themselves." You can also find them on X (formerly Twitter) @DetransCanada and on Instagram at detranscanada. Abigail Shrier and Posie Parker There is a very good interview between Posie Parker (Kellie-Jay Keen) founder of Let Women Speak (formerly Standing for Women) and Abigail Shrier author of Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing our Daughters wherein they have a deep conversation about the dangers girls are in from institutional trans ideology. It is available on YouTube. Erica Anderson Erica Anderson is a trans psychologist and former president of the United States Professional Association for Transgender Health and former board member of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH). Anderson is speaking out against the affirmation model of treating gender non-conforming children. The health establishment is failing young adults who question their gender When it comes to trans youth, we're in danger of losing our way A Trans Pioneer Explains Her Resignation from the US Professional Association for Transgender Health Top Trans Doctors Blow the Whistle on ‘Sloppy’ Care More Information The Swedish U-Turn on Gender Transitioning for Children Reconsidering Informed Consent for Trans-Identified Children, Adolescents, and Young Adults Sweden’s Karolinska Ends All Use of Puberty Blockers and Cross-Sex Hormones for Minors Outside of Clinical Studies