Trans Day of Remembrance (TDoR) is observed annually and internationally on November 20 to honour the memory of the trans people who have lost their lives as a result of transphobic violence that year.
Trans and nonbinary people continue to face marginalization and discrimination in the form of transphobia. Transphobia can manifest as negative attitudes and beliefs about trans people, irrational fears and misunderstandings, a disbelief or discounting of a person’s pronouns or their gender identity, misgendering, derogatory language and name-calling, and bullying, abuse, and violence. Transphobia and associated stigma can also create barriers (and deterrents) for trans and nonbinary people’s access to and inclusion in services, resources, and communities. It is a collective responsibility to work to reduce these barriers. At the University of Toronto, we are committed to challenging marginalization and discrimination based on gender identity and gender expression.
Trans Day of Remembrance was first observed in 1998 by trans advocate Gwendolyn Ann Smith who hosted a vigil in memory of Rita Hester, a trans woman who had been killed that year. The vigil became a commemoration of all of the trans lives lost that year to violence and has since become an annual event.
The week before Nov 20 is also Transgender Awareness Week, which aims to increase awareness, visibility and knowledge of trans people and the issues faced by members of trans communities. It is also an opportunity to celebrate the lives of trans and nonbinary people and the contributions they have made and continue to make. This year, Trans Awareness Week will be recognized November 14-18, 2022.
The SGDO Calendar is open to Trans Awareness Week events across all three campuses. Read more.
Monday, November 14
CAPDHHE Webinar: What are your pronouns? Best practices for gender-inclusive spaces at universities and colleges
12:30pm – 2:00pm
Learn more and register to attend.
UTSC: Resilience, Empowerment, Visibility: Celebrating Trans Awareness Week
3:00PM – 4:30PM
HW 305 (Humanities Wing, third floor, UofT Scarborough)
Learn more and register to attend.
Tuesday, November 15
In Conversation with Health & Wellness: Trans-Affirming Health Care & De-Mystifying Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) (Students)
12:00PM – 1:00PM
Join a primary care physician, wellness counsellor, RNs, and members of the health teams at St. George Health & Wellness, UTM’s Health and Counselling Centre, and UTSC’s Health & Wellness Centre, to ask questions you have always wanted to ask in a non-judgmental space, talk about pressing issues related to trans-affirming and gender-affirming health care, and learn about the services available to trans, nonbinary, and other gender non-confirming students at the Health & Wellness Centre.
If you are attending a planned meeting and require accommodation(s) due to disability, please email the SGDO directly [sgdo@utoronto.ca] and we will work with you to make appropriate arrangements.
Learn more about Health & Wellness (St. George)
Learn more about the UTM Health & Counselling Centre (UTM)
Learn more about the UTSC Health & Wellness Centre (UTSC)
Daniels Faculty: Marking Trans Awareness Week and Trans Day of Remembrance and Resilience
3:30pm
DA 131 (Staff and Faculty Lounge)
Wednesday, November 16
VPRI In Conversation: Perspectives on Gender, Sex, and Race in Clinical Practice and Research
11:00am – 12:30pm
Learn more and register to attend.
Queerying Health Research Series: Merrick Pilling
12:00pm – 1:30pm
Learn more and register to attend.
Gender Identity, Gender Expression, and Building a Gender-Inclusive University (Faculty & Staff)
This introductory workshop is intended for employees who want to learn about core concepts about gender, including gender identity, gender expression, and trans and nonbinary identities. The session will also address relevant and current gender-inclusive policies and best practices for students and employees at the university. Participants will have the opportunity to learn about pronouns, inclusive language strategies, and there will be opportunities to ask questions and engage in discussions about collectively building more equitable and gender-inclusive learning and working environments.
Please note: This session is now full. Please see these upcoming trainings on LMS:
- February 2, 2023 10:00am – 12:00pm In-Person (LLC, room 610) Register
- March 15, 2023 1:00pm – 3:00pm Virtual Register
Thursday, November 17
UTSC Ballroom Workshop: Face, Runway & Vogue
11:00am – 1:00pm
TPASC Studio
Learn more about this event and register.
QTC (Queer & Trans Connections) (Students)
3:00PM – 4:30PM
21 Sussex Ave, St. George Campus
Join us for a discussion centring the expansiveness of trans lives. We will be exploring trans identities, experiences of transition (or not), as well as some of the possibilities and futures for trans people that we don’t often get to see.
We will be joined by a special guest facilitator, Avi Magidsohn. Avi is a Black, Jewish trans guy who has the great fortune to support trans, non-binary and gender expansive students, staff and families at the TDSB. More importantly, Avi is a partner, a parent, a friend, and an uncontrolled buyer of Lego sets! As Avi approaches retirement, he hopes to move to a more rural location and cook good food, grow things, and foster pregnant cats!
Learn more about Queer & Trans Connections.
Friday, November 18
In collaboration with the Anti-Racism and Cultural Diversity Office: A Restore Space for Black, Indigenous, and racialized Trans, Nonbinary, Two-Spirit people, and people who live outside of the gender binary
Breathing is a Radical Act (Students, Staff, Faculty, Librarians)
2:30PM – 3:30PM
We can deepen our experience of rest
, joy and pleasure by paying careful attention to our breath and our bodies. This type of awareness can be difficult for folks in our community because our bodies are often sites of violence and erasure. This session will give you the opportunity to practice breath and body awareness in an environment that honours the enormous risk involved in “being present.” Join Ronnie (they/them) for tender discussion and breath work to complement and support our day of remembrance – resistance <3
Ronnie Ali (they/them) is a Registered Psychotherapist and Lead Consultant at Leaves on a Stream, a consulting practice that centres ethics and mindfulness in consultation and trauma-informed social programming. They’re also a consultant with the equity and inclusion “dream team,” Challenge Accepted, and Associate Faculty at the Toronto Institute for Relational Psychotherapist. Ronnie has provided therapeutic supports to queer, trans, racialized, Indigenous and similarly marginalized communities for 10 years. In 2020, they built a consulting practice, Leaves on a Stream, to educate others about the roots of oppression and trauma in the hope of ending long-term cycles of violence that impact the most vulnerable people in our communities.
Ronnie is an immigrant-settler, trans femme, queer, person of colour, living and working on the traditional territories of the Anishinabek, Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, Haudenosaunee, Wendat, Chippewas, Seneca and Petun First Nation. The territory is the subject of the Dish With One Spoon Wampum Belt Covenant.
If you want to attend the virtual event and require accommodations due to accessibility, please contact sgdo@utoronto.ca and we will work with you to make appropriate arrangements.
Learn more about the Anti-Racism and Cultural Diversity Office.
UTSC Trans Day of Remembrance Vigil
11:00am – 3:00pm
Trans Day of Remembrance & Resilience (Students, Staff, Faculty, Librarians)
4:00PM – 5:45PM
Main Activity Hall (2nd Floor), Multi-Faith Centre, 569 Spadina Ave – St. George Campus (Entrance on Bancroft Ave)
Please join the SGDO and campus partners for arts-based activity supported by Get Crafty! and community-building at the Multi-Faith Centre, starting at 4:00PM. There will be light food and warm drinks available. After sundown, we will move outside for a short period to hold space to honour, mourn, and celebrate those whose lives have been lost to transphobia, and also to celebrate those who are still with us.
The Multi-Faith Centre is a wheelchair accessible building, and has an elevator to the second floor, gendered and all-gender washrooms, including accessible single-stall washrooms.
This event is open to all students, staff, faculty, and librarians across U of T who wish to celebrate, honour, and show solidarity with trans, nonbinary, Two-Spirit, and gender diverse U of T community members.
If you are attending a planned meeting and require accommodation(s) due to disability, please email us directly and we will work with you to make appropriate arrangements.
Monday, November 24
BIPOC / QTBIPOC Wellness Series: Trans Day of Remembrance & Resilience
12:00PM-1:00PM
The HCC is pleased to present a workshop for QTBIPOC (Queer & Trans Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour) students that will provide a virtual space focused on building community through conversations and shared experiences. Everything will be by invitation, so you are welcome to attend and listen or participate as you feel comfortable. Please join out special guest facilitator and UTM alumni, Berkha Gupta, and HCC Counsellor, Sofia Palaez, in finding ways to prioritize healing, joy, and community.
A little about our guest facilitator, Berkha Gupta:
Berkha (they/them) is a transmasculine queer South Asian that has spent most of their life building or increasing services/programs for 2SLGBTQ+ people, especially youth and people of colour. They live in Mississauga, are a UTM alum and have a deep commitment to building community and spaces in the suburbs; they are one of the co-founders of QTBIPOCSauga and were recently the Executive Director of LGBT YouthLine, a youth-led organization that provides peer support and leadership opportunities to 2SLGBTQ+ youth across Ontario. In the last few years, Berkha has continued to shift their focus away from just building and organizing (i.e. doing things) to finding ways to prioritizing healing, joy, and community (i.e. being present) in all of their spaces.
Resources
Want to learn more? Check out this resource assembled by the UTSC Library that aims to celebrate and education on Trans voices and experiences, identities, rights and activism, health and care, and fiction too!
The Family Care Office has created a resource for families to discuss Trans Awareness Week and gender diversity. There are resources for conversations with kids as well as community supports for families.
Show your support
Download the Trans Awareness Week icons and backgrounds for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Zoom, or Teams:
(Right-clicking the image and opening the image in a new tab will open the image in its full size, which will then allow you to right-click and save the image on your desktop)
(Right-clicking the image and opening the image in a new tab will open the image in its full size, which will then allow you to right-click and save the image on your desktop)