I think it's really clear that, when people can see themselves in legislation, they're more likely to feel empowered. Most queer and trans people don't report hate crimes, hate incidents, or incidents of bias that happen in the community because they don't think anybody will listen. They don't think anybody really cares about whether or not I got called a name or was threatened in a washroom because I'm trans or any of those kinds of things.
What it does do is to say that I do matter, that my government has taken my life into consideration and has said it's important, that it's important enough to put on paper and to create a bar that's met by law.
What would it mean to the pride centre? Certainly it would make us feel safer. We haven't had, in this round of occupation, the current space that we have, anything pasted to our doors or anything like that, but we have received letters that we do report, and they sit in my cabinet telling us that we're evil, that we need to repent, that we're going to hell, and that we shouldn't exist.
Gender-diverse people are perhaps the most marginalized among us. Trans women are underemployed or unemployed. Trans women of colour are murdered violently. They're beaten. Trans people struggle every step of the way. I would say that we face injustice at every turn. I can say there isn't a day that goes by when we don't have to deal with some sort of conflict or confrontation in our lives. On my trip here this morning, I had to have a conversation with the airport screeners about who I am. So it's every day.
I think the government acknowledges who we are and says that people don't have a right to mistreat us or commit crimes against our property or the spaces that we're in. It's really significant.