Egale Canada
Encyclopedia
Egale Canada is an advocacy organization founded in 1986 to advance equality for Canadian lesbian
, gay
, bisexual
and transgender
(LGBT
) people and their families, across Canada
.
The organization's current executive director is former Toronto politician Helen Kennedy
. Past executive directors have included Gilles Marchildon
, John Fisher and Kaj Hasselriis
. Kennedy is the first woman to head the organization.
people, intervening in legal cases that have an impact on human rights and equality, and increasing public education
and awareness
by providing information to individuals, groups, and media. Egale has over 3,300 members including people in every province and territory of Canada. Founded in 1986, Egale Canada was incorporated as a federal not-for-profit organization in 1995, with a focus on education, advocacy, litigation and expert consultation.
The organization was initially named "Equality for Gays and Lesbians Everywhere". As they extended their efforts to include bisexual and transgendered issues, they felt that the acronym was not inclusive enough, and therefore changed the name from the acronym E.G.A.L.E. to simply "Egale" (égale being the French
word for "equal".) Egale Canada's partner organization, Egale Canada Human Rights Trust (ECHRT), was founded in 1995 as a charity dedicated to advancing LGBT human rights through education, research and community engagement.
Additionally, they have on two occasions challenged the legal definition of the word "spouse." The first instance was when the group intervened before the Supreme Court of Canada to challenge the opposite-sex definition of "spouse" in the Old Age Security Act (Egan v. Canada
). Although the challenge was unsuccessful, it did set a unanimous precedent by which sexual orientation was henceforth entered into the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
as a grounds for protection from discrimination. The second challenge was successful, and revised the opposite-sex definition of "spouse" in Ontario’s Family Law Act (M & H v Ontario) so that the right to common-law marriage
extended to same-sex couples.
They also helped convince Statistics Canada
to include same-sex families in the nation-wide census, and worked with LEGIT to advance equal immigration rights for gays and lesbians.
of exposing gays to hatred. Part of the ruling was financial compensation paid to Egale as requested by the complaintant Darren Lund (who is not homosexual), but Egale refused to accept the money.
and transphobia
in schools. The final report, entitled Every Class in Every School, was released in 2011.
Responding to data discovered in the report which indicates that schools with a Gay-straight alliance
are seen and felt as being more supportive Egale created the mygsa.ca website. The site provides an online community and resources for students who wish to start or maintain a gay-straight alliance in their school. The site also provides resources for faculty and parents who wish to support LGBT students.
Egale has also supported a number of legal challenges involving the rights of youth in the education system, especially the case of Marc Hall
who wanted to bring a same-sex date to his prom; fought against the ban by the Surrey School Board
of books depicting same-sex families.
to add “sexual orientation” to the Canadian Human Rights Act
to protect lesbians, gays and bisexuals from discrimination; lent support to many provincial and territorial efforts to have equal rights enshrined in legislation across the country; lobbied the Government to introduce more severe penalties for those convicted of gay-bashing and other hate crimes; supported the addition of “sexual orientation” to the grounds covered by hate propaganda legislation; intervened in the Nixon case to support the rights of transgendered people.
In 2007, responding to the suicide of an LGBT youth because of homophobic bullying, Egale created the Report Homophobic Violence, Period (RHVP) program in conjunction with the Toronto Police Service
. RHVP is a reporting, public awareness and education program that focuses on youth ages 13 to 25 and addresses the issue of homophobic and transphobic bullying and violence.
in Vienna and participated in the Fourth World Conference on Women
in Beijing.
, a controversial piece of legislation that revised the age of sexual consent. Xtra!
asserted that Egale was devoting so much time and effort to advocacy around same-sex marriage
that it was missing the boat on other important issues.
, a political strategist in the government of former Premier of Ontario
Mike Harris
, with its inaugural Leadership Award in honour of his role in supporting the provincial law that granted common-law marriage
rights to same-sex couples. The decision was denounced by some LGBT activists because of Watt's role in some other government policies that had been unpopular within the gay community.
Lesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
, gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
, bisexual
Bisexuality
Bisexuality is sexual behavior or an orientation involving physical or romantic attraction to both males and females, especially with regard to men and women. It is one of the three main classifications of sexual orientation, along with a heterosexual and a homosexual orientation, all a part of the...
and transgender
Transgender
Transgender is a general term applied to a variety of individuals, behaviors, and groups involving tendencies to vary from culturally conventional gender roles....
(LGBT
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
) people and their families, across Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
.
The organization's current executive director is former Toronto politician Helen Kennedy
Helen Kennedy
Helen Kennedy is a Canadian politician and social activist. She is the executive director of Egale Canada.-Background:Born in Ireland, she came to Canada in 1979 at age 21....
. Past executive directors have included Gilles Marchildon
Gilles Marchildon
Gilles Marchildon is a Canadian communications consultant and activist, who served as the executive director of Egale Canada from 2003 to 2006.A native of Penetanguishene, Ontario, Marchildon studied political science at the University of Ottawa...
, John Fisher and Kaj Hasselriis
Kaj Hasselriis
Kaj Hasselriis is a Canadian journalist, community activist and politician.Hasselriis is a life-long Winnipegger and earned a sociology degree from the University of Manitoba in 1995 as well as a journalism degree from Toronto's Ryerson University in 1997. From 1997 to 2002, Hasselriis worked as a...
. Kennedy is the first woman to head the organization.
Overview
Egale's work includes lobbying for more equitable laws for LGBTLGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
people, intervening in legal cases that have an impact on human rights and equality, and increasing public education
Public education
State schools, also known in the United States and Canada as public schools,In much of the Commonwealth, including Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United Kingdom, the terms 'public education', 'public school' and 'independent school' are used for private schools, that is, schools...
and awareness
Awareness
Awareness is the state or ability to perceive, to feel, or to be conscious of events, objects or sensory patterns. In this level of consciousness, sense data can be confirmed by an observer without necessarily implying understanding. More broadly, it is the state or quality of being aware of...
by providing information to individuals, groups, and media. Egale has over 3,300 members including people in every province and territory of Canada. Founded in 1986, Egale Canada was incorporated as a federal not-for-profit organization in 1995, with a focus on education, advocacy, litigation and expert consultation.
The organization was initially named "Equality for Gays and Lesbians Everywhere". As they extended their efforts to include bisexual and transgendered issues, they felt that the acronym was not inclusive enough, and therefore changed the name from the acronym E.G.A.L.E. to simply "Egale" (égale being the French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
word for "equal".) Egale Canada's partner organization, Egale Canada Human Rights Trust (ECHRT), was founded in 1995 as a charity dedicated to advancing LGBT human rights through education, research and community engagement.
Relationship recognition
Egale successfully lobbied for the introduction and passage of Bill C-23, which amended 68 federal statutes to provide same-sex couples with the same legal status as that of opposite-sex married couples. They also supported union activities and lobbied the federal government in support of equal employment benefits to those in same-sex relationships; coordinated coalitions of equality groups in cases on same-sex pension benefits and equal funeral leave for same-sex families.Additionally, they have on two occasions challenged the legal definition of the word "spouse." The first instance was when the group intervened before the Supreme Court of Canada to challenge the opposite-sex definition of "spouse" in the Old Age Security Act (Egan v. Canada
Egan v. Canada
Egan v. Canada, [1995] 2 S.C.R. 513, was one of a trilogy of equality rights cases published by a very divided Supreme Court of Canada in the spring of 1995...
). Although the challenge was unsuccessful, it did set a unanimous precedent by which sexual orientation was henceforth entered into the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is a bill of rights entrenched in the Constitution of Canada. It forms the first part of the Constitution Act, 1982...
as a grounds for protection from discrimination. The second challenge was successful, and revised the opposite-sex definition of "spouse" in Ontario’s Family Law Act (M & H v Ontario) so that the right to common-law marriage
Common-law marriage
Common-law marriage, sometimes called sui juris marriage, informal marriage or marriage by habit and repute, is a form of interpersonal status that is legally recognized in limited jurisdictions as a marriage even though no legally recognized marriage ceremony is performed or civil marriage...
extended to same-sex couples.
They also helped convince Statistics Canada
Statistics Canada
Statistics Canada is the Canadian federal government agency commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and culture. Its headquarters is in Ottawa....
to include same-sex families in the nation-wide census, and worked with LEGIT to advance equal immigration rights for gays and lesbians.
Combating censorship and promoting freedom
Egale intervened to support efforts to have LGBT pride officially proclaimed in many cities; supported community initiatives in response to the Calgary bathhouse raids; decried the heavy-handed censorship practices of Canada Customs and helped Little Sisters Bookstore win their court case. Egale has also supported freedom of speech for people with anti-gay points of view, including Albertan pastor Stephen Boissoin, who was found guilty by the Alberta Human Rights CommissionCanadian Human Rights Commission
The Canadian Human Rights Commission is a quasi-judicial body that was established in 1977 by the government of Canada. It is empowered under the Canadian Human Rights Act to investigate and try to settle complaints of discrimination in employment and in the provision of services within federal...
of exposing gays to hatred. Part of the ruling was financial compensation paid to Egale as requested by the complaintant Darren Lund (who is not homosexual), but Egale refused to accept the money.
Helping create safer schools
In 2007 Egale commissioned a survey of 3700 high school students from across Canada in order to gain data on the situation of LGBT students in Canadian schools and gain insight into the level of homophobiaHomophobia
Homophobia is a term used to refer to a range of negative attitudes and feelings towards lesbian, gay and in some cases bisexual, transgender people and behavior, although these are usually covered under other terms such as biphobia and transphobia. Definitions refer to irrational fear, with the...
and transphobia
Transphobia
Transphobia is a range of negative attitudes and feelings towards transsexualism and transsexual or transgender people, based on the expression of their internal gender...
in schools. The final report, entitled Every Class in Every School, was released in 2011.
Responding to data discovered in the report which indicates that schools with a Gay-straight alliance
Gay-straight alliance
Gay–straight alliances are student organizations, found primarily in North American high schools and universities, that are intended to provide a safe and supportive environment for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth and their straight allies .-Goal:The goal of most, if not all,...
are seen and felt as being more supportive Egale created the mygsa.ca website. The site provides an online community and resources for students who wish to start or maintain a gay-straight alliance in their school. The site also provides resources for faculty and parents who wish to support LGBT students.
Egale has also supported a number of legal challenges involving the rights of youth in the education system, especially the case of Marc Hall
Marc Hall
Marc Hall v. Durham Catholic School Board was a 2002 court case in which Marc Hall, a Canadian teenager, fought a successful legal battle against the Durham Catholic District School Board to bring a same-sex date to his high school prom. The case made Canadian and international headlines.-Court...
who wanted to bring a same-sex date to his prom; fought against the ban by the Surrey School Board
School District 36 Surrey
School District 36 Surrey operates schools in Surrey, White Rock, and Barnston Island, British Columbia. It is the largest school district in British Columbia with 66,100 students during the 2005/2006 school year. District 36 includes 99 elementary schools, 20 secondary schools, and 6 learning...
of books depicting same-sex families.
Human rights protection and combating hate crimes
Egale successfully lobbied the federal governmentGovernment of Canada
The Government of Canada, formally Her Majesty's Government, is the system whereby the federation of Canada is administered by a common authority; in Canadian English, the term can mean either the collective set of institutions or specifically the Queen-in-Council...
to add “sexual orientation” to the Canadian Human Rights Act
Canadian Human Rights Act
The Canadian Human Rights Act is a statute originally passed by the Parliament of Canada in 1977 with the express goal of extending the law to ensure equal opportunity to individuals who may be victims of discriminatory practices based on a set prohibited grounds such as gender, disability, or...
to protect lesbians, gays and bisexuals from discrimination; lent support to many provincial and territorial efforts to have equal rights enshrined in legislation across the country; lobbied the Government to introduce more severe penalties for those convicted of gay-bashing and other hate crimes; supported the addition of “sexual orientation” to the grounds covered by hate propaganda legislation; intervened in the Nixon case to support the rights of transgendered people.
In 2007, responding to the suicide of an LGBT youth because of homophobic bullying, Egale created the Report Homophobic Violence, Period (RHVP) program in conjunction with the Toronto Police Service
Toronto Police Service
The Toronto Police Service , formerly the Metropolitan Toronto Police, is the police service for the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the largest municipal police service in Canada and second largest police force in Canada after the Royal Canadian Mounted Police...
. RHVP is a reporting, public awareness and education program that focuses on youth ages 13 to 25 and addresses the issue of homophobic and transphobic bullying and violence.
Community outreach and public education
They developed fact sheets on current issues affecting the LGBT communities; established a Website and manages six e-mail discussion groups to help keep our communities informed across the country; hosted an historic national conference in Montreal (Rainbow Visions); testified before the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission in support of diversity in Canada’s broadcasting policy and to oppose the limitation of access to lesbian and gay materials on the Internet through restrictive regulations; presented to the plenary session of the United Nations World Conference on Human RightsWorld Conference on Human Rights
The World Conference on Human Rights was held by the United Nations in Vienna, Austria, on 14 to 25 June 1993. It was the first human rights conference held since the end of the Cold War...
in Vienna and participated in the Fourth World Conference on Women
Fourth World Conference on Women
The United Nations convened the Fourth World Conference on Women: Action for Equality, Development and Peace on 4-15 September 1995 in Beijing, China. 189 governments and more than 5,000 representatives from 2,100 non-governmental organizations participated in the Conference...
in Beijing.
Immigration issue
Egale blamed the Conservative government for allegedly failing to help gay immigrants from countries that have anti-gay laws, such as Iran, Malaysia, Jordan, Mexico and Nicaragua.Bill C-2
In 2005, the organization was criticized by some of Canada's gay press for failing to submit a brief, after indicating an intention to do so, to the Canadian House of Commons Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights regarding the potential impact on LGBT communities of Bill C-2Bill C-2
Bill C-2 is part of Canadian legislation. It was initially read October 8, 2004 and published on the net five days later. After moving from the House of Commons to the Senate, after its first Senate reading on June 14, 2005 it was amended two days later, four days prior to its second Senate reading...
, a controversial piece of legislation that revised the age of sexual consent. Xtra!
Xtra!
Xtra! is a gay magazine, on newsprint in tabloid format, published by Pink Triangle Press in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.-History and content :...
asserted that Egale was devoting so much time and effort to advocacy around same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage is marriage between two persons of the same biological sex or social gender. Supporters of legal recognition for same-sex marriage typically refer to such recognition as marriage equality....
that it was missing the boat on other important issues.
Leadership Award
In 2009, Egale Canada presented Jaime WattJaime Watt
Jaime Watt is a Canadian political strategist who was most notable for playing an important role in the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario's two election victories under the leadership of Mike Harris....
, a political strategist in the government of former Premier of Ontario
Premier of Ontario
The Premier of Ontario is the first Minister of the Crown for the Canadian province of Ontario. The Premier is appointed as the province's head of government by the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, and presides over the Executive council, or Cabinet. The Executive Council Act The Premier of Ontario...
Mike Harris
Mike Harris
Michael Deane "Mike" Harris was the 22nd Premier of Ontario from June 26, 1995 to April 15, 2002. He is most noted for the "Common Sense Revolution", his Progressive Conservative government's program of deficit reduction in combination with lower taxes and cuts to government...
, with its inaugural Leadership Award in honour of his role in supporting the provincial law that granted common-law marriage
Common-law marriage
Common-law marriage, sometimes called sui juris marriage, informal marriage or marriage by habit and repute, is a form of interpersonal status that is legally recognized in limited jurisdictions as a marriage even though no legally recognized marriage ceremony is performed or civil marriage...
rights to same-sex couples. The decision was denounced by some LGBT activists because of Watt's role in some other government policies that had been unpopular within the gay community.